arXiv research

Classifies prime algebraic tangles up to 14 crossings.

Decomposing knots and links into tangles is a useful technique for understanding their properties. The notion of prime tangles was introduced by Kirby and Lickorish in [3]; Lickorish proved [5] that by summing prime tangles one obtains a prime link. In a similar spirit, summing two prime alternating tangles will produc…

New results on splitting tangles and spatial graphs.

New findings on prime theta-curves with simple tangles.

The preceding paper constructed tangle machines as diagrammatic models, and illustrated their utility with a number of examples. The information content of a tangle machine is contained in characteristic quantities associated to equivalence classes of tangle machines, which are called invariants. This paper constructs …

New method for simplifying knots with specific properties.

This paper tabulates prime knot projections up to eight double points.

The paper examines when 2-string tangles can be embedded into specific link types.

We extend the tangle model, originally developed by Ernst and Sumners, to include composite knots. We show that, for any prime tangle, there are no rational tangle attachments of distance greater than one that first yield a 4-plat and then a connected sum of 4-plats. This is done by building on results on exceptional D…

Let $Σ_0,Σ_1$ be closed oriented surfaces. Two oriented knots $K_0 \subset Σ_0 \times [0,1]$ and $K_1 \subset Σ_1 \times [0,1]$ are said to be (virtually) concordant if there is a compact oriented $3$-manifold $W$ and a smoothly and properly embedded annulus $A$ in $W \times [0,1]$ such that $\partial W=Σ_1 \sqcup -Σ_0…

The paper improves bounds on knot crossings and tabulates minimal diagrams.

We study 2-string free tangle decompositions of knots with tunnel number two. As an application, we construct infinitely many counter-examples to a conjecture in the literature stating that the tunnel number of the connected sum of prime knots doesn't degenerate by more than one.

New quasi-alternating links created from existing ones.

Integrase proteins acting on circular double-stranded DNA often change its topology by transforming unknotted circles into torus knots and links. Two systems of tangle equations--corresponding to the two initial DNA sequences--arise when modelling this transformation: direct and inverted. With no a priori assumptions o…

Study grid homology of diagonal knots, finding key terms related to prime factors and decompositions.

Wu has shown that if a link or a knot $L$ in $S^3$ in thin position has thin spheres, then the thin sphere of lowest width is an essential surface in the link complement. In this paper we show that if we further assume that $L \subset S^3$ is prime, then the thin sphere of lowest width also does not have any vertical c…

Families of alternating knots (links) and tangles are studied using as building block the conway defined as the twisting of two strands. The regular representation of knots assumes the projection has the minimal number of overpassings, and the minimal number of conways. The continued fraction associated to rational kno…

We explore a knot invariant derived from colorings of corresponding $1$-tangles with arbitrary connected quandles. When the quandle is an abelian extension of a certain type the invariant is equivalent to the quandle $2$-cocycle invariant. We construct many such abelian extensions using generalized Alexander quandles w…

Examples are given of prime Legendrian knots in the standard contact 3-space that have arbitrarily many distinct Chekanov polynomials, refuting a conjecture of Lenny Ng. These are constructed using a new `Legendrian tangle replacement' technique. This technique is then used to show that the phenomenon of multiple Cheka…

Paper defines new topological invariants for DP tangles.

Simpler method detects trivial rational 3-tangle.

An enhanced trivalent tangle is a trivalent tangle with some of its edges labeled. We use enhanced trivalent tangles and classical knot theory to provide a recipe for constructing invariants for trivalent tangles, and in particular, for knotted trivalent graphs. Our method also yields invariants of, what we refer to as…

Introduces XC-tangles for quantum tangle invariants.

Study connects taffy pulling, fractions, and rational tangles.

Method for computing Khovanov homology of tangles.

This article addresses persistent tangles. These are tangles whose presence in a knot diagram forces that diagram to be knotted. We provide new methods for constructing persistent tangles. Our techniques rely mainly on the existence of non-trivial colorings for the tangles in question. Our main result in this article i…

We introduce a generalization of oriented tangles, which are still called tangles, so that they are in one-to-one correspondence with the sutured manifolds. We define cobordisms between sutured manifolds (tangles) by generalizing cobordisms between oriented tangles. For every commutative algebra A over Z/2Z, we define …

Paper explores conditions for constructing new quasi-alternating links.

The paper extends knot contact homology to tangles and proves a gluing formula.

Paper defines and analyzes mathematical equivalence of periodic tangles.

This paper gives two new combinatorial topological proofs of the classification of rational tangles. Each proof rests on an elegant lemma showing that rational tangles are isotopic to canonical alternating rational tangles. The first proof defines the tangle fraction from the canonical form and uses flyping to prove in…

Updated polynomial for virtual tangles, compatible with decompositions.

Spatial graphs study tangle replacement with equivalence classes.

Paper defines linking numbers for periodic tangles.

We show that for a tangle $T$ with $-\partial^0T \cong \partial^1 T$ the Hochschild homology of the tangle Floer homology $\widetilde{\mathit{CT}}(T)$ is equivalent to the link Floer homology of the closure $T' = T/(-\partial^0T \sim \partial^1 T)$ of the tangle, linked with the tangle axis. In addition, we show that t…

Computes Kauffman bracket polynomial for specific 2-tangle shadows.

In this paper, We introduce an invariant of rational n-tangles which is obtained from the Kauffman bracket. It forms a vector with Laurent polynomial entries. We prove that the invariant classifies the rational 2-tangles and the reduced alternating rational 3-tangles. We conjecture that it classifies the rational 3-tan…

The paper addresses the $k$-tangle enumeration problem. We introduce a notion of cascade diagram for $k$-tangle projections. An effective enumeration algorithm for projections is proposed based on cascade representation. Tangles projections with up to 12 crossings are tabulated. We provide also pictures of alternating …

We note that a rational $3$-tangle diagram is obtained from a combination of four generators. There is an algorithm to distinguish two rational $3$-tangle diagrams up to isotopy. However, there is no perfect classification about rational $3$-tangle diagrams such as the classification of rational $2$-tangle diagrams cor…

A tangle is an oriented 1-submanifold of the cylinder whose endpoints lie on the two disks in the boundary of the cylinder. Using an algebraic tool developed by Lescop, we extend the Burau representation of braids to a functor from the category of oriented tangles to the category of Z[t,t^{-1}]-modules. For (1,1)-tangl…

Tangle machines are a topologically inspired diagrammatic formalism to describe information flow in networks. This paper begins with an expository account of tangle machines motivated by the problem of describing `covariance intersection' fusion of Gaussian estimators in networks. It then gives two examples in which ta…

Positive Thompson links are arborescent tangles.

To study embeddings of tangles in knots, we use quandle cocycle invariants. Computations are carried out for the tables of knots and tangles, to investigate which tangles may or may not embed in knots in the tables.

We generalize our previous work on categorification of Kauffman bracket skein module of surfaces, by extending our homology to tangles in cylinders over surfaces, F x [0,1]. Our homology of 0-tangles and 1-tangles in D^3 coincides (up to normalization) with Khovanov link homology and the reduced Khovanov link homology.…

Study on coloring virtual tangles with integer and modular arithmetic.

Study on 3D surfaces and tangles formed by Poncelet triangles.

We compute Khovanov homology for tangles using TQFT.

It is known that there are 21 ribbon knots with 10 crossings or fewer. We show that for every ribbon knot, there exists a tangle that satisfies two properties associated with the knot. First, under a specific closure, the closed tangle is equivalent to its corresponding knot. Second, under a different closure, the clos…