arXiv research

The study finds conditions for positive braid knots to be Gordian adjacent and explores their unknotting sequences.

In this paper, the authors give an unknotting sequence for torus knots and also provide unknotting numbers of $_n14_{17191}, \ _n14_{14274}, \ _n14_{18351}, \ _n14_{24498}$ and some other knots from the knot table of Hoste-Thistlethwite.

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 …

Agent finds unknotting sequences for complex knots.

The H(n)-move simplifies virtual and welded knots and links.

We show that the page at which the Lee spectral sequence collapses gives a bound on the unknotting number, u(K). In particular, for knots with u(K)<3, we show that the Lee spectral sequence must collapse at the E_2 page. An immediate corollary is that the Knight Move Conjecture is true when u(K)<3.

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…

This paper explores the problem of unknotting closed braids and classical knots in mathematical knot theory. We apply evolutionary computation methods to learn sequences of moves that simplify knot diagrams, and show that this can be effective both when the evolution is carried out for individual knots and when a gener…

The UNKNOT problem solved using natural language processing and machine learning.

Study uses instanton Floer theory to obstruct knot unknotting operations.

Study instanton Floer homology for links in RP^3 and use it to detect knots.

The forbidden moves can be combined with Gauss diagram Reidemeister moves to obtain move sequences with which we may change any Gauss diagram (and hence any virtual knot) into any other, including in particular the unknotted diagram

Given a knot K in S^3, let u^-(K) (respectively, u^+(K)) denote the minimum number of negative (respectively, positive) crossing changes among all unknotting sequences for K. We use knot Floer homology to construct the invariants l^-(K), l^+(K) and l(K), which give lower bounds on u^-(K), u^+(K) and the unknotting numb…

Using unknotting number, we introduce a link diagram invariant of Hass and Nowik type, which changes at most by 2 under a Reidemeister move. As an application, we show that a certain infinite sequence of diagrams of the trivial two-component link need quadratic number of Reidemeister moves for being unknotted with resp…

Lee's work on twisted torus knots with Fibonacci parameters is extended to Horadam parameters.

We present a sequence of diagrams of the unknot for which the minimum number of Reidemeister moves required to pass to the trivial diagram is quadratic with respect to the number of crossings. These bounds apply both in $S^2$ and in $\R^2$.

We prove that a knot is the unknot if and only if its reduced Khovanov cohomology has rank 1. The proof has two steps. We show first that there is a spectral sequence beginning with the reduced Khovanov cohomology and abutting to a knot homology defined using singular instantons. We then show that the latter homology i…

New diagonal move simplifies knots and links efficiently.

4-move kills Alexander polynomial

The paper studies unknotting operations and numbers for plus-welded knotoids.

We show that the order of torsion homology classes in Bar-Natan deformation of Khovanov homology is a lower bound for the unknotting number. We give examples of knots that this is a better lower bound than |s(K)/2|, where s(K) is the Rasmussen s invariant defined by the Bar-Natan spectral sequence.

There is a positive constant $c_1$ such that for any diagram $D$ representing the unknot, there is a sequence of at most $2^{c_1 n}$ Reidemeister moves that will convert it to a trivial knot diagram, $n$ is the number of crossings in $D$. A similar result holds for elementary moves on a polygonal knot $K$ embedded in t…

Every classical or virtual knot is equivalent to the unknot via a sequence of extended Reidemeister moves and the so-called forbidden moves. The minimum number of forbidden moves necessary to unknot a given knot is an invariant we call the {\it forbidden number}. We relate the forbidden number to several known invarian…

The paper extends Khovanov homology results to $\mathfrak{sl}(n)$ homologies and provides bounds on knot properties.

New virtualized Δ-move simplifies virtual knots and links.

We show that the following unlinking strategy does not always yield an optimal sequence of crossing changes: first split the link with the minimal number of crossing changes, and then unknot the resulting components.

Any one-cusped hyperbolic manifold M with an unknotting tunnel tau is obtained by Dehn filling a cusp of a two-cusped hyperbolic manifold. In the case where M is obtained by "generic" Dehn filling, we prove that tau is isotopic to a geodesic, and characterize whether tau is isotopic to an edge in the canonical decompos…

We show that a smooth unknotted curve in R^3 satisfies an isoperimetric inequality that bounds the area of an embedded disk spanning the curve in terms of two parameters: the length L of the curve and the thickness r (maximal radius of an embedded tubular neighborhood) of the curve. For fixed length, the expression giv…

Robot untangles knots by walking and switching crossings.

Simplified plat diagrams for unlink without stabilization.

Study extends knot genus results to two-component alternating links.

The paper classifies virtual links using the arc shift operation.

Jones-Wenzl projectors lifted to Khovanov spectra, proving knot conjectures.

Paper constructs a spectral sequence linking annular Khovanov homology to reduced Khovanov homology.

The Knight Move Conjecture claims that the Khovanov homology of any knot decomposes as direct sums of some "knight move" pairs and a single "pawn move" pair. This is true for instance whenever the Lee spectral sequence from Khovanov homology to Q^2 converges on the second page, as it does for all alternating knots and …

The abstract discusses knots and their isotopy to the unknot, proving a specific case.

The paper extends graph signatures to Klein graphs and foams, linking signatures to knot properties.

Arnold introduced invariants $J^+$, $J^-$ and $St$ for generic planar curves. It is known that both $J^+ /2 + St$ and $J^- /2 + St$ are invariants for generic spherical curves. Applying these invariants to underlying curves of knot diagrams, we can obtain lower bounds for the number of Reidemeister moves for uknotting.…

Study on hard Legendrian unknots using normal rulings.

If a rectangular diagram represents the trivial knot, then it can be deformed into the trivial rectangular diagram with only four edges by a finite sequence of merge operations and exchange operations, without increasing the number of edges, which was shown by I. A. Dynnikov. Using this, Henrich and Kauffman gave an up…

Lawrence Roberts, extending the work of Ozsvath-Szabo, showed how to associate to a link, L, in the complement of a fixed unknot, B, in S^3, a spectral sequence from the Khovanov homology of a link in a thickened annulus to the knot Floer homology of the preimage of B inside the double-branched cover of L. In a previou…

We prove that any diagram of the unknot with c crossings may be reduced to the trivial diagram using at most (236 c)^{11} Reidemeister moves. Moreover, every diagram in this sequence has at most (7 c)^2 crossings. We also prove a similar theorem for split links, which provides a polynomial upper bound on the number of …

Given a sequence of oriented links L^1,L^2,L^3,... each of which has a distinguished, unknotted component, there is a decomposition of the 3-sphere naturally associated to it, which is constructed as the components of the intersection of an infinite sequence of nested solid tori. The Bing and Whitehead continua are sim…

New moves help untangle complex 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…

The (ordinary) unknotting-number of 1-dimensional knots, which is defined by using the crossing-change, is a very basic and important invariant. It is very natural to consider the `unknotting-number' associated with other local-moves on n-dimensional knots, where n is a natural number. In this paper we prove the follow…

Shows large unknotting number for simple knots.

We show that the only irreducible three-manifold with positive first Betti number and Heegaard Floer homology of rank two is homeomorphic to zero-framed surgery on the trefoil. We classify links whose branched double cover gives rise to this manifold. Together with a spectral sequence from Khovanov homology to the Floe…