arXiv research

The paper explores non-trivial welded knots and ribbon torus-knots, proving their existence.

Paper shows how to twist knots to make them trivial or non-trivial.

Study shows non-trivial knot Floer homology for specific knots.

Jones polynomial for twisted torus knots is trivial if and only if the knot is trivial.

We give a short proof that if a non-trivial band sum of two knots results in a tight fibered knot, then the band sum is a connected sum. In particular, this means that any prime knot obtained by a non-trivial band sum is not tight fibered. Since a positive L-space knot is tight fibered, a non-trivial band sum never yie…

Satellite knots can be trivialized by a single band move.

New knots found with non-trivial Steenrod operations on Khovanov homology.

Proves cosmetic crossing conjecture for certain knots.

In this paper, we give the trivializing number of all minimal diagrams of positive 2-bridge knots, and study the relation between the trivializing number and the unknotting number for a part of these knots.

In this paper, we show the trivializing number of all minimal diagrams of positive 2-bridge knots and study the relation between the trivializing number and the unknotting number for a part of these knots.

Tanaka shows amphichiral symmetric unions of the unknot are trivial.

We prove all knots can be transformed into a trefoil using special diagrams.

Every non-trivial knot group is fully residually perfect.

The paper introduces a new filtration for knot invariants and proves the existence of nontrivial knots.

A knot k is called ``strongly (n-1)-trivial.'' if there exists a projection of k, such that one can choose n crossings of the projection with the property that making the crossing changes corresponding to any of the $2^{n}-1$ nontrivial combinations of the selected crossings turns the original knot into the unknot. We …

Vertex distortion detects if a knot is unknot.

There is a question asking whether a handle-irreducible summand of every stable-ribbon surface-link is a unique ribbon surface-link. This question for the case of a trivial surface-link is affirmatively answered. That is, a handle-irreducible summand of every stably trivial surface-link is only a trivial 2-link. By com…

By 2-twist-spinning the knotted graph that represents the knotted handlebody $5_2$, we obtain a knotted foam in 4-dimensional space with a non-trivial quandle cocycle invariant.

New moves help untangle complex knots.

Link-homotopy and self Delta-equivalence are equivalence relations on links. It was shown by J. Milnor (resp. the last author) that Milnor invariants determine whether or not a link is link-homotopic (resp. self Delta-equivalent) to a trivial link. We study link-homotopy and self Delta-equivalence on a certain componen…

The paper studies cylindrical handlebody-knots of genus two with unique unknotting annuli and finds trivial symmetry groups.

Bankwitz characterized an alternating diagram representing the trivial knot. A non-alternating diagram is called almost alternating if one crossing change makes the diagram alternating. We characterize an almost alternaing diagram representing the trivial knot. As a corollary we determine an unknotting number one alter…

There is a nonribbon 2-link all of whose components are trivial 2-knots and one of whose band-sums is a nonribbon 2-knot.

The paper deals with topologically trivial Legendrian knots in tight and overtwisted contact 3-manifolds. The first part contains a thorough exposition of the proof of the classification of topologically trivial Legendrian knots (i.e. Legendrian knots bounding embedded 2-disks) in tight contact 3-manifolds. This part w…

In this paper, we give a necessary condition for a diagram to represent the trivial knot.

New findings on Jones polynomial for 4-strand braids.

In this paper, we discuss filamentations on oriented chord diagrams. When a filamentation cannot be realized on an oriented chord diagram, then the corresponding flat virtual knot is non-trivial. If a flat knot diagram is non-trivial, then any virtual diagram whose shadow is the flat diagram must also be non-trivial. W…

We show that there exist non-trivial piecewise-linear (PL) knots with isolated singularities $S^{n-2}\subset S^n$, $n\geq 5$, whose complements have the homotopy type of a circle. This is in contrast to the case of smooth, PL locally-flat, and topological locally-flat knots, for which it is known that if the complement…

The paper defines new homotopy relations on knot projections and classifies certain knot types.

We show that if K is a non-trivial knot inside a homology sphere X, the rank of the knot Floer homology group associated with K is strictly bigger than the rank of the Heegaard Floer homology group associated with X.

Knot invariants from XC-structures on Sweedler algebra are trivially determined.

Virtual knots, defined by Kauffman, provide a natural generalization of classical knots. Most invariants of knots extend in a natural way to give invariants of virtual knots. In this paper we study the fundamental groups of virtual knots and observe several new and unexpected phenomena. In the classical setting, if the…

Explicit formulas for pretzel knots' Alexander polynomials.

We consider knot theories possessing a {\em parity}: each crossing is decreed {\em odd} or {\em even} according to some universal rule. If this rule satisfies some simple axioms concerning the behaviour under Reidemeister moves, this leads to a possibility of constructing new invariants and proving minimality and non-t…

The A-polynomial of a knot in S^3 defines a complex plane curve associated to the set of representations of the fundamental group of the knot exterior into SL(2,C). Here, we show that a non-trivial knot in S^3 has a non-trivial A-polynomial. We deduce this from the gauge-theoretic work of Kronheimer and Mrowka on SU_2-…

In this article it is proven that if a knot, K, bounds an imbedded grope of class n, then the knot is n/2-trivial in the sense of Gusarov and Stanford. That is, all type n/2 invariants vanish on K. We also give a simple way to construct all knots bounding a grope of a given class. It is further shown that this result i…

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…

Proves special alternating knots cannot be decomposed as non-trivial band sums.

2-twist trefoil has 6 crossings, proving non-trivial knotted surface.

The paper studies hyperbolic geometry of links formed by adding trivial components to knots.

If a rectangular diagram represents the trivial knot, then it can be deformed into the rectangular diagram with only two vertical edges by a finite sequence of merge operations and exchange operations, without increasing the number of vertical edges, which was shown by I. A. Dynnikov. We show in this paper that we need…

We construct an infinite family of topologically slice knots that are not smoothly concordant to their reverses. More precisely, if T denotes the concordance group of topologically slice knots and R is the involution of T induced by string reversal, then T/Fix(R) contains an infinitely generated free subgroup. The resu…

Let $P(K)$ be a satellite knot where the pattern, $P$, is a Berge-Gabai knot (i.e., a knot in the solid torus with a non-trivial solid torus Dehn surgery), and the companion, $K$, is a non-trivial knot in $S^3$. We prove that $P(K)$ is an L-space knot if and only if $K$ is an L-space knot and $P$ is sufficiently positi…

We address the question: Does there exist a non-trivial knot with a trivial Jones polynomial? To find such a knot, it is almost certainly sufficient to find a non-trivial braid on four strands in the kernel of the Burau representation. I will describe a computer algorithm to search for such a braid.

Virtual knot theory is a generalization (discovered by the author in 1996) of knot theory to the study of all oriented Gauss codes. (Classical knot theory is a study of planar Gauss codes.) Graph theory studies non-planar graphs via graphical diagrams with virtual crossings. Virtual knot theory studies non-planar Gauss…

We construct the first combinatorial 1-cocycle with values in the $\mathbb{Z} [x,x^{-1}]$-module of isotopy classes of singular long knots in 3-space with a signed planar double point, and which represents a non trivial cohomology class in the topological moduli space of long knots. It can be interpreted as an invaria…

We show that a $(p,q)$-cable of a non-trivial knot $K$ does not admit chirally cosmetic surgery for $q\neq 2$, or $q=2$ with additional assumptions. In particular, we show that $(p,q)$-cable of non-trivial knot $K$ does not admit chirally cosmetic surgery as long as the JSJ piece of knot exterior does not contain $(2,r…

We show that every non-trivial tame knot or link in R^3 has a quadrisecant, i.e. four collinear points. The quadrisecant must be topologically non-trivial in a precise sense. As an application, we show that a nonsingular, algebraic surface in R^3 which is a knotted torus must have degree at least eight.