English

Unknotting with a single twist

Geometric Topology 2021-07-20 v1

Abstract

Given a knot in the three-sphere, is it possible to unknot it by performing a single twist, and if so, what are the possible linking numbers of such a twist? We develop obstructions to unknotting using a twist of a specified linking number. The obstructions we describe are built using classical knot invariants, Casson-Gordon invariants, and Heegaard Floer theory.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2005.10717,
  title  = {Unknotting with a single twist},
  author = {Samantha Allen and Charles Livingston},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2005.10717},
  year   = {2021}
}

Comments

26 pages, 4 figures

R2 v1 2026-06-23T15:43:10.605Z