arXiv research

We determine the genus one fibered knots in lens spaces that have tunnel number one. We also show that every tunnel number one, once-punctured torus bundle is the result of Dehn filling a component of the Whitehead link in the 3-sphere.

We characterize composite tunnel number one genus two handlebody-knots.

Let $K$ be a tunnel number one knot in $M$ with irreducible knot exterior, where $M$ is either $S^3$, or a connected sum of $S^2\times S^1$ with any lens space. (In particular, this includes $M = S^2\times S^1$.) We prove that if a non-trivial Dehn surgery on $K$ yields a lens space, then $K$ is a doubly primitive knot…

We show that for each pair of positive integers g and n, there are infinitely many tunnel number one knots, whose exteriors contain an essential meridional surface of genus g, and with 2n boundary components. We also show that for each positive integer n, there are tunnel number one knots whose exteriors contain n disj…

Study calculates twisted Alexander polynomials for Montesinos knots.

We show that twisted torus knots $T(p,q,3,s)$ are tunnel number one. A short spanning arc connecting two adjacent twisted strands is an unknotting tunnel.

This paper gives a complete classification of all alternating knots with tunnel number one, and all their unknotting tunnels. We prove that the only such knots are two-bridge knots and certain Montesinos knots.

We provide criteria ensuring that a tunnel number one knot $K$ is not determined by its double branched cover, in the sense that the double branched cover is also the double branched cover of a knot $K'$ not equivalent to $K$.

The genus of satellite tunnel number one knots and torti-rational knots is computed using the tools introduced by Floyd and Hatcher. An implementation of an algorithm is given to compute genus and slopes of minimal genus Seifert surfaces for such knots.

We show that there are hyperbolic tunnel-number one knots with arbitrarily high bridge number and that "most" tunnel-number one knots are not one-bridge with respect to an unknotted torus. The proof relies on a connection between bridge number and a certain distance in the curve complex of a genus-two surface.

The only knots that are tunnel number one and genus one are those that are already known: 2-bridge knots obtained by plumbing together two unknotted annuli and the satellite examples classified by Eudave-Munoz and by Morimoto-Sakuma. This confirms a conjecture first made by Goda and Teragaito.

It is proven here that if the connected sum of two tunnel number one knots in the 3-sphere is a tunnel number two knot, then at least one of the summand knots has a genus two Heegaard splitting with a meridian as a primitive element. Hence this is a necessary and sufficient condition for tunnel number one knots to have…

This paper constructs Seifert-fibered Dehn surgeries for hyperbolic tunnel-number-one knots.

We show that the bridge number of a $t$ bridge knot in $S^3$ with respect to an unknotted genus $t$ surface is bounded below by a function of the distance of the Heegaard splitting induced by the $t$ bridges. It follows that for any natural number $n$, there is a tunnel number one knot in $S^3$ that is not $(1,n)$.

A knot in S^3 is said to have crosscap number two if it bounds a once-punctured Klein bottle but not a Moebius band. In this paper we give a method of constructing crosscap number two hyperbolic (1,2)-knots with tunnel number one which are neither 2-bridge nor (1,1)-knots. An explicit infinite family of such knots is d…

We address the question: how common is it for a 3-manifold to fiber over the circle? One motivation for considering this is to give insight into the fairly inscrutable Virtual Fibration Conjecture. For the special class of 3-manifolds with tunnel number one, we provide compelling theoretical and experimental evidence t…

We show that the set of cusp shapes of hyperbolic tunnel number one manifolds is dense in the Teichmuller space of the torus. A similar result holds for tunnel number n manifolds. As a consequence, for fixed n, there are infinitely many hyperbolic tunnel number n manifolds with at most one exceptional Dehn filling. Thi…

A knot k in a closed orientable 3-manifold is called nonsimple if the exterior of k possesses a properly embedded essential surface of nonnegative Euler characteristic. We show that if k is a nonsimple prime tunnel number one knot in a lens space M (where M does not contain any embedded Klein bottles), then k is a (1,1…

This paper classifies knots with simple curves in genus 2 handlebodies.

We show there exist tunnel number one hyperbolic 3-manifolds with arbitrarily long unknotting tunnel. This provides a negative answer to an old question of Colin Adams.

Let K be a tunnel number one, fibered link in S^3, with fiber F, and unknotting tunnel $τ$. We show that $τ$ can be isotoped to lie in F.

We determine the PSL_2(C) and SL_2(C) character varieties of the once-punctured torus bundles with tunnel number one, i.e. the once-punctured torus bundles that arise from filling one boundary component of the Whitehead link exterior. In particular, we determine `natural' models for these algebraic sets, identify them …

It is a consequence of theorems of Gordon-Reid [Tangle decompositions of tunnel number one knots and links, J. Knot Theory and its Ramifications, 4 (1995) 389-409] and Thompson [Thin position and bridge number for knots in the 3-sphere, Topology, 36 (1997) 505-507] that a tunnel number one knot, if put in thin position…

We show that lens space surgeries on knots in $S^3$ which arise from the primitive/Seifert type construction also arise from the primitive/primitive construction. This is the first step of a three step program to prove the Berge conjecture for tunnel number one knots.

We describe the genus two knots which admit a genus one, one bridge position. These are divided into several families, one consists of vertical bandings of two genus one $(1,1)$-knots, other consists of vertical bandings of two cross cap number two 2-bridge knots, and the last one consists of genus two tunnel number on…

For any n\ge 2, we give infinitely many unsplittable links of n components in the 3-sphere which admit non-trivial surgery yielding the 3-sphere again and whose components are mutually distinct hyperbolic knots. Berge and Kawauchi gave 2-component hyperbolic links with those two properties. We can also give infinitely …

In "Tunnel one, fibered links", the second author showed that the tunnel of a tunnel number one, fibered link can be isotoped to lie as a properly embedded arc in the fiber surface of the link. In this paper, we analyze how the arc behaves under the monodromy action, and show that the tunnel arc is nearly clean, with t…

M. Scharlemann has recently proved that any genus one tunnel number one knot is either a satellite or 2-bridge knot, as conjectured by H. Goda and M. Teragaito; all such knots admit a (1,1) decomposition. In this paper we give a classification of the family of (1,1) knots in $S^3$ with crosscap number two (i.e., boundi…

The Thurston norm of a 3-manifold measures the complexity of surfaces representing two-dimensional homology classes. We study the possible unit balls of Thurston norms of 3-manifolds $M$ with $b_1(M) = 2$, and whose fundamental groups admit presentations with two generators and one relator. We show that even among this…

We give a description of all (1,2)-knots in S^3 which admit a closed meridionally incompressible surface of genus 2 in their complement. That is, we give several constructions of (1,2)-knots having a meridionally incompressible surface of genus 2, and then show that any such surface for a (1,2)-knot must come from one …

Which slopes can or cannot appear as Seifert fibered slopes for hyperbolic knots in the 3-sphere S^3? It is conjectured that if r-surgery on a hyperbolic knot in S^3 yields a Seifert fiber space, then r is an integer. We show that for each integer n, there exists a tunnel number one, hyperbolic knot K_n in S^3 such tha…

We use Heegaard splittings to give a criterion for a tunnel number one knot manifold to be non-fibered and to have large cyclic covers. We also show that such a knot manifold (satisfying the criterion) admits infinitely many virtually Haken Dehn fillings. Using a computer, we apply this criterion to the 2 generator, no…

We compute the genus zero bridge numbers and give lower bounds on the genus one bridge numbers for a large class of sufficiently generic hyperbolic twisted torus knots. As a result, the bridge spectra of these knots have two gaps which can be chosen to be arbitrarily large, providing the first known examples of hyperbo…

The paper supports a conjecture about a vanishing identity for certain 3-manifolds.

Let M be $S^3$, $S^1\times S^2$, or a lens space L(p,q), and let k be a (1,1)-knot in M, i.e., a knot which is of 1-bridge with respect to a Heegaard torus. We show that if there is a closed meridionally incompressible surface in the complement of k, then the surface and the knot can be put in a special position, namel…

A torti-rational knot, denoted by K(2a,b|r), is a knot obtained from the 2-bridge link B(2a,b) by applying Dehn twists an arbitrary number of times, r, along one component of B(2a,b). We determine the genus of K(2a,b|r) and solve a question of when K(2a,b|r) is fibred. In most cases, the Alexander polynomials determine…

Attaching a 2-handle to a genus two or greater boundary component of a 3-manifold is a natural generalization of Dehn filling a torus boundary component. We prove that there is an interesting relationship between an essential surface in a sutured 3-manifold, the number of intersections between the boundary of the surfa…

We discuss an "extrinsic" property of knots in a 3-subspace of the 3-sphere $S^3$ to characterize how the subspace is embedded in $S^3$. Specifically, we show that every knot in a subspace of the 3-sphere is transient if and only if the exterior of the subspace is a disjoint union of handlebodies, i.e. regular neighbor…

Unique arcs create slopes in genus two handlebodies.