English

Linear independence of cables in the knot concordance group

Geometric Topology 2021-10-25 v1

Abstract

We produce infinite families of knots {Ki}i1\{K^i\}_{i\geq 1} for which the set of cables {Kp,1i}i,p1\{K^i_{p,1}\}_{i,p\geq 1} is linearly independent in the knot concordance group. We arrange that these examples lie arbitrarily deep in the solvable and bipolar filtrations of the knot concordance group, denoted by {Fn}\{F_n\} and {Bn}\{B_n\} respectively. As a consequence, this result cannot be reached by any combination of algebraic concordance invariants, Casson-Gordon invariants, and Heegaard-Floer invariants such as tau, epsilon, and Upsilon. We give two applications of this result. First, for any n>=0, there exists an infinite family {Ki}i1\{K^i\}_{i\geq 1} such that for each fixed i, {K2j,1i}j0\{K^i_{2^j,1}\}_{j\geq 0} is a basis for an infinite rank summand of FnF_n and {Kp,1i}i,p1\{K^i_{p,1}\}_{i, p\geq 1} is linearly independent in Fn/Fn.5F_{n}/F_{n.5}. Second, for any n>=1, we give filtered counterexamples to Kauffman's conjecture on slice knots by constructing smoothly slice knots with genus one Seifert surfaces where one derivative curve has nontrivial Arf invariant and the other is nontrivial in both Fn/Fn.5F_n/F_{n.5} and Bn1/Bn+1B_{n-1}/B_{n+1}. We also give examples of smoothly slice knots with genus one Seifert surfaces such that one derivative has nontrivial Arf invariant and the other is topologically slice but not smoothly slice.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1806.06225,
  title  = {Linear independence of cables in the knot concordance group},
  author = {Christopher W. Davis and JungHwan Park and Arunima Ray},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1806.06225},
  year   = {2021}
}

Comments

27 pages, 13 figures