Related papers: The slice-ribbon conjecture for 3-stranded pretzel…

We introduce a new technique for showing classical knots and links are not slice. As one application we resolve a long-standing question as to whether certain natural families of knots contain topologically slice knots. We also present a…

This thesis develops some general calculational techniques for finding the orders of knots in the topological concordance group C. The techniques currently available in the literature are either too theoretical, applying to only a small…

We introduce the notion of slice depth of a 2-knot K, which is the minimal integer n such that K is n-slice. We give an upper bound for the slice depth of the n-twist spin of a classical knot which belongs to several specific classes,…

We show that twisted torus knots $T(p,q,3,s)$ are tunnel number one. A short spanning arc connecting two adjacent twisted strands is an unknotting tunnel.

Boyer, Gordon, and Watson have conjectured that an irreducible rational homology 3-sphere is an L-space if and only if its fundamental group is not left-orderable. Since Dehn surgeries on knots in $S^3$ can produce large families of…

The crosscap number of a knot in the 3-sphere is defined as the minimal first Betti number of non-orientable subsurfaces bounded by the knot. In this paper, we determine the crosscap numbers of pretzel knots. The key ingredient to obtain…

We show that most cabled knots over the figure eight knot in $S^3$ satisfy the AJ-conjecture, in particular, any $(r,s)$-cabled knot over the figure eight knot satisfies the $AJ$-conjecture if $r$ is not a number between $-4s$ and $4s$.

In this paper, we prove that the fundamental group of the manifold obtained by Dehn surgery along a $(-2,3,2s+1)$-pretzel knot ($s\ge 3$) with slope $\frac{p}{q}$ is not left orderable if $\frac{p}{q}\ge 2s+3$, and that it is left orderable…

The main goal of this paper is to prove that for odd free knots - that is free knots with all odd crossings - the problem of sliceness (the existence of a spanning disc) has an explicit answer based on the pairing of the knot diagram…

If there are any 2-component counterexamples to the Generalized Property R Conjecture, a least genus component of all such counterexamples cannot be a fibered knot. Furthermore, the monodromy of a fibered component of any such…

We find a formula for the L2 signature of a (p,q) torus knot, which is the integral of the omega-signatures over the unit circle. We then apply this to a theorem of Cochran-Orr-Teichner to prove that the n-twisted doubles of the unknot, for…

We define a nontrivial mod 2 valued additive concordance invariant defined on the torsion subgroup of the knot concordance group using involutive knot Floer package. For knots not contained in its kernel, we prove that their iterated…

The existence of topologically slice knots that are of infinite order in the knot concordance group followed from Freedman's work on topological surgery and Donaldson's gauge theoretic approach to 4-manifolds. Here, as an application of…

We give an algorithm which decides the Nielsen-Thurston type of a given four-strand braid. The complexity of our algorithm is quadratic with respect to word length. The proof of its validity is based on a result which states that for a…

We prove that certain fibered, $-$amphicheiral knots are rationally slice. Moreover, we show that the concordance invariants $\nu^+$ and $\Upsilon(t)$ from Heegaard Floer homology vanish for a class of knots that includes rationally slice…

We give necessary conditions of a surface-knot to be ribbon concordant to another, by introducing a new variant of the cocycle invariant of surface-knots in addition to using the invariant already known. We demonstrate that twist-spins of…

We prove that a special alternating knot does not decompose as a non-trivial band sum. This restricts concordances from special alternating knots, and we conjecture that special alternating knots are ribbon concordance minimal. We verify…

Kronheimer and Mrowka asked whether the difference between the four-dimensional clasp number and the slice genus can be arbitrarily large. This question is answered affirmatively by studying a knot invariant derived from equivariant…

We show that every trivial 3-strand braid diagram contains a disk, defined as a ribbon ending in opposed crossings. Under a convenient algebraic form, the result extends to every Artin--Tits group of dihedral type, but it fails to extend to…

We prove that all knots can be embedded into the Menger Sponge fractal. We prove that all Pretzel knots can be embedded into the Sierpinski Tetrahedron. Then we compare the number of iterations of each of these fractals needed to produce a…