Related papers: Covering link calculus and iterated Bing doubles

We show that three natural decision problems about links and 3-manifolds are computationally hard, assuming some conjectures in complexity theory. The first problem is determining whether a link in the 3-sphere bounds a Seifert surface with…

This paper contains the results of efforts to determine values of the smooth and the topological slice genus of 11- and 12-crossing knots. Upper bounds for these genera were produced by using a computer to search for genus one concordances…

We construct ribbon surfaces of Euler characteristic one for several infinite families of alternating 3-braid closures. We also use a twisted Alexander polynomial obstruction to conclude the classification of smoothly slice knots which are…

Milnor's $\bar{\mu}$-invariants of links in the $3$-sphere $S^3$ vanish on any link concordant to a boundary link. In particular, they are trivial on any knot in $S^3$. Here we consider knots in thickened surfaces $\Sigma \times [0,1]$,…

The doubly slice genus of a knot in the 3-sphere is the minimal genus among unknotted orientable surfaces in the 4-sphere for which the knot arises as a cross-section. We use the classical signature function of the knot to give a new lower…

Clustering a graph when the clusters can overlap can be seen from three different angles: We may look for cliques that cover the edges of the graph with bounded overlap, we may look to add or delete few edges to uncover the cluster…

The study of a certain class of matrix integrals can be motivated by their interpretation as counting objects of knot theory such as alternating prime links, tangles or knots. The simplest such model is studied in detail and allows to…

We define a notion of complexity for shake-slice knots which is analogous to the definition of complexity for h-cobordisms studied by Morgan-Szab\'o. We prove that for each framing $n \ne 0$ and complexity $c \ge 0$, there is an…

The $T$-genus of a knot is the minimal number of borromean-type triple points on a normal singular disk with no clasp bounded by the knot; it is an upper bound for the slice genus. Kawauchi, Shibuya and Suzuki characterized the slice knots…

We develop new algebraic methods refining the Witt group of linking forms and Ranicki's torsion algebraic L-groups into double Witt groups and double L-groups. At each prime ideal of the underlying ring, our double Witt groups capture…

We prove that any knot or link in any 3-manifold can be nicely decomposed (splitted) by a filling Dehn sphere. This has interesting consequences in the study of branched coverings over knots and links. We give an algorithm for computing…

It has been conjectured that the algebraic crossing number of a link is uniquely determined in minimal braid representation. This conjecture is true for many classes of knots and links. The Morton-Franks-Williams inequality gives a lower…

Consider a dihedral cover $f: Y\to X$ with $X$ and $Y$ four-manifolds and $f$ branched along an oriented surface embedded in $X$ with isolated cone singularities. We prove that only a slice knot can arise as the unique singularity on an…

Using Gauge theoretical techniques employed by Lisca for 2-bridge knots and by Greene-Jabuka for 3-stranded pretzel knots, we show that no member of the family of Montesinos knots M(0;[m_1+1,n_1+2],[m_2+1,n_2+2],q), with certain…

Freedman and Krushkal showed that if the surgery conjecture and the $s$-cobordism conjecture hold for all topological 4-manifolds, then every link with pairwise zero linking numbers is topologically round handle slice. Kim, Powell, and…

We construct an infinite family of smoothly slice knots that we prove are topologically doubly slice. Using the correction terms coming from Heegaard Floer homology, we show that none of these knots is smoothly doubly slice. We use these…

When does the double cover of the three-sphere branched along an alternating link bound a rational homology ball? Heegaard Floer homology generates a necessary condition for it to bound: the link's chessboard lattice must be cubiquitous,…

We use the combinatorial techniques of graphs of intersection to study reducible Dehn surgeries on knots in the three-sphere. In particular, in the event that a reducible surgery on a knot K in the three-sphere of slope r produces a…

The trace of $n$-framed surgery on a knot in $S^3$ is a 4-manifold homotopy equivalent to the 2-sphere. We characterise when a generator of the second homotopy group of such a manifold can be realised by a locally flat embedded 2-sphere…

We address the primary decomposition of the knot concordance group in terms of the solvable filtration and higher-order von Neumann $\rho$-invariants by Cochran, Orr, and Teichner. We show that for a nonnegative integer n, if the connected…