English

Double branched covers of theta-curves

Geometric Topology 2016-03-01 v2

Abstract

We prove a folklore theorem of W. Thurston which provides necessary and sufficient conditions for primality of a certain class of theta-curves. Namely, a theta-curve in the 3-sphere with an unknotted constituent knot U is prime if and only if lifting the third arc of the theta-curve to the double branched cover over U produces a prime knot. We apply this result to Kinoshita's theta-curve.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1509.07788,
  title  = {Double branched covers of theta-curves},
  author = {Jack S. Calcut and Jules R. Metcalf-Burton},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1509.07788},
  year   = {2016}
}

Comments

8 pages, 5 figures. Results the same, proof of Lemma 2.2 simplified, Example 3.1 simplified, three references added