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48 results for unknot

We prove that if an alternating knot has unknotting number one, then there exists an unknotting crossing in any alternating diagram. This is done by showing that the obstruction to unknotting number one developed by Greene in his work on alternating 3-braid knots is sufficient to identify all unknotting number one alte…

2013-12-04abs ↗pdf ↗

We determine a wide class of knots, which includes unknotting number one knots, within which Khovanov homology detects the unknot. A corollary is that the Khovanov homology of many satellite knots, including the Whitehead double, detects the unknot.

2008-05-28abs ↗pdf ↗

RL pipeline simplifies knot diagrams, including very hard unknots.

problem Simplifying complex knot diagrams, especially very hard unknots.
method Reinforcement learning for move proposals and heuristic navigation of Reidemeister moves.
result Trained agent simplifies diagrams, including a 41#9104_1\#9_{10} link to a three-step unknotting process.

Determining unknotting numbers is a large and widely studied problem. We consider the more general question of the unknotting number of a spatial graph. We show the unknotting number of spatial graphs is subadditive. Let gg be an embedding of a planar graph GG, then we show u(g)max{u(s)u(g) \geq \max\{u(s) | ss is a non-overl…

2017-10-14abs ↗pdf ↗

This paper concerns the H(2)-unknotting numbers of links related to 2-bridge links. It consists of three parts. In the first part, we consider a necessary and sufficient condition for a 2-bridge link to have H(2)-unknotting number one. The second part concerns an explicit form of composite links with H(2)-unknotting nu…

2011-04-22abs ↗pdf ↗

The virtual unknotting number of a virtual knot is the minimal number of crossing changes that makes the virtual knot to be the unknot, which is defined only for virtual knots virtually homotopic to the unknot. We focus on the virtual knot obtained from the standard (p,q)-torus knot diagram by replacing all crossings o…

2017-01-15abs ↗pdf ↗

The unknotting number is the classical invariant of a knot. However, its determination is difficult in general. To obtain the unknotting number from definition one has to investigate all possible diagrams of the knot. We tried to show the unknotting number can be obtained from any one diagram of the knot. To do this we…

2013-03-28abs ↗pdf ↗

The unknotting number of a knot is bounded from below by its slice genus. It is a well-known fact that the genera and unknotting numbers of torus knots coincide. In this note we characterize quasipositive knots for which the genus bound is sharp: the slice genus of a quasipositive knot equals its unknotting number, if …

2008-09-01abs ↗pdf ↗

Every knot can be unknotted with two generalized twists; this was first proved by Ohyama. Here we prove that any knot of genus g can be unknotted with 2g null-homologous twists and that there exist genus g knots that cannot be unknotted with fewer than 2g null-homologous twists.

2019-02-14abs ↗pdf ↗

Spatial embeddings of planar graphs can have higher unknotting numbers than crossing numbers.

problem Understanding the relationship between unknotting numbers and crossing numbers of spatial embeddings of planar graphs.
method Analyzing specific examples of planar graphs and their spatial embeddings to find counterexamples.
result There exist planar graphs and their spatial embeddings where the unknotting number is greater than half the crossing number.

This paper gives infinitely many examples of unknot diagrams that are hard, in the sense that the diagrams need to be made more complicated by Reidemeister moves before they can be simplified. In order to construct these diagrams, we prove theorems characterizing when the numerator of the sum of two rational tangles is…

2006-01-22abs ↗pdf ↗

A knot in the 3-sphere is said to have zero negative unknotting number if it can be transformed into the unknot by performing only positive crossing changes. In this paper, we provide an obstruction for a knot to having zero negative unknotting number, and discuss its application to two classes of knots.

2016-04-07abs ↗pdf ↗

For a knot K in S^3, let T(K) be the characteristic toric sub-orbifold of the orbifold (S^3,K) as defined by Bonahon and Siebenmann. If K has unknotting number one, we show that an unknotting arc for K can always be found which is disjoint from T(K), unless either K is an EM-knot (of Eudave-Munoz) or (S^3,K) contains a…

2006-01-11abs ↗pdf ↗

We use Heegaard Floer homology to obtain bounds on unknotting numbers. This is a generalisation of Ozsvath and Szabo's obstruction to unknotting number one. We determine the unknotting numbers of 9_10, 9_13, 9_35, 9_38, 10_53, 10_101 and 10_120; this completes the table of unknotting numbers for prime knots with crossi…

2005-06-23abs ↗pdf ↗

We resolve parts (A) and (B) of Problem 1.100 from Kirby's list by showing that many nontrivial links arise as cross-sections of unknotted holomorphic disks in the four-ball. The techniques can be used to produce unknotted ribbon surfaces with prescribed cross-sections, including unknotted Lagrangian disks with nontriv…

2018-01-16abs ↗pdf ↗

A knot is an an embedding of a circle into three-dimensional space. We say that a knot is unknotted if there is an ambient isotopy of the embedding to a standard circle. By representing knots via planar diagrams, we discuss the problem of unknotting a knot diagram when we know that it is unknotted. This problem is surp…

2010-06-21abs ↗pdf ↗

In this paper we introduce the notion of an unknotting index for virtual knots. We give some examples of computation by using writhe invariants, and discuss a relationship between the unknotting index and the virtual knot module. In particular, we show that for any non-negative integer nn there exists a virtual knot w…

2017-09-04abs ↗pdf ↗

New measure shows how links can be untangled as twists increase.

problem Understanding how links can be simplified through repeated twists.
method Introduced the stable unknotting number to analyze links in a twist family.
result The stable unknotting number depends only on the winding number of the link, not the wrapping number.

The surgery unknotting number of a Legendrian link is defined as the minimal number of particular oriented surgeries that are required to convert the link into a Legendrian unknot. Lower bounds for the surgery unknotting number are given in terms of classical invariants of the Legendrian link. The surgery unknotting nu…

2012-06-27abs ↗pdf ↗

We prove that if an alternating 3-braid knot has unknotting number one, then there must exist an unknotting crossing in any alternating diagram of it, and we enumerate such knots. The argument combines the obstruction to unknotting number one developed by Ozsváth and Szabó using Heegaard Floer homology, together with o…

2009-02-10abs ↗pdf ↗

Characterizes unknotted curves on Seifert surfaces of twist knots.

problem Identifying unknotted curves on Seifert surfaces of twist knots.
method Analyzing homologically essential simple closed curves on Seifert surfaces of genus one knots.
result Characterizes unknotted curves on Seifert surfaces of twist knots, including infinitely many for the figure eight knot and one for Whitehead doubles.