Related papers: Comparing 2-handle additions to a genus 2 boundary…

This paper investigates the relationship between the signature and the crossing number of knots and links. We refine existing theorems and provide a comprehensive classification of links with specific properties, particularly those with…

Suppose a genus two handlebody is removed from a 3-manifold M and then a single meridian of the handlebody is restored. The result is a knot or link complement in M and it is natural to ask whether geometric properties of the link…

We define a set of "second-order" L^(2)-signature invariants for any algebraically slice knot. These obstruct a knot's being a slice knot and generalize Casson-Gordon invariants, which we consider to be "first-order signatures". As one…

For $\ell >1$, we develop $L^{(2)}$-signature obstructions for $(4\ell-3)$-dimensional knots with metabelian knot groups to be doubly slice. For each $\ell>1$, we construct an infinite family of knots on which our obstructions are non-zero,…

We show that the simplicial volume is superadditive with respect to gluings along certain submanifolds of the boundary. Our criterion applies to boundary connected sums and 1-handle attachments. Moreover, we generalize a well-known…

A conjecture proposed by J. Tripp in 2002 states that the crossing number of any knot coincides with the canonical genus of its Whitehead double. In the meantime, it has been established that this conjecture is true for a large class of…

We construct a small, hyperbolic 3-manifold $M$ such that, for any integer $g\geq 2$, there are infinitely many separating slopes $r$ in $\partial M$ so that $M(r)$, the 3-manifold obtained by attaching a 2-handle to $M$ along $r$, is…

We consider closed acylindrical surfaces in 3-manifolds and in knot and link complements, and show that the genus of these surfaces is bounded linearly by the number of tetrahedra in the triangulation of the manifold and by the number of…

We introduce and study knots and links in 2-dimensional complexes. In particular, we define linking numbers for oriented two-component links in 2-complexes and a Kauffman-type bracket polynomial for links in 2-complexes. We also discuss…

This is a companion paper to earlier work of the author, which generalizes to an infinite family of $(2,2w+1)$-cabling of the figure eight knot ($|w|>3$) and proposes general formulas for the two-variable series invariant of the family of…

Among the knots that are the connected sum of two torus knots with cobordism distance 1, we characterize those that have 4-dimensional clasp number at least 2, and we show that their n-fold connected self-sum has 4-dimensional clasp number…

We prove that if positive integer p-surgery along a knot K \subset S^3 produces an L-space and it bounds a sharp 4-manifold, then the knot genus obeys the bound 2g(K) -1 \leq p - \sqrt{3p+1}. Moreover, there exists an infinite family of…

We introduce a new technique for finding lower bounds on the Heegaard genus of a 3-manifold obtained by gluing a pair of 3-manifolds together along an incompressible torus or annulus. We deduce a number of inequalities, including one which…

The Links-Gould invariant of links $LG^{2,1}$ is a two-variable generalization of the Alexander-Conway polynomial. Using representation theory of $U_{q}\mathfrak{gl}(2 \vert 1)$, we prove that the degree of the Links-Gould polynomial…

Let $X$ be a closed indefinite $4$-manifold with $b_+(X) = 3 \; ({\rm mod} \; 4)$ and with non-vanishing mod $2$ Seiberg--Witten invariants. We prove a new lower bound on the genus of a properly embedded surface in $X \setminus B^4$…

We show that if the connected sum of two knots with coprime Alexander polynomials has vanishing von Neumann rho-invariants associated with certain metabelian representations then so do both knots. As an application, we give a new example of…

In a recent paper, McMullen showed an inequality between the Thurston norm and the Alexander norm of a 3-manifold. This generalizes the well-known fact that twice the genus of a knot is bounded from below by the degree of the Alexander…

Associated to a hyperbolic knot complement in $S^3$ is a set of prime numbers corresponding to the residue characteristics of the ramified places of the quaternion algebras obtained by Dehn surgery on the knots. Previous work by…

The stable Kauffman conjecture posits that a knot in $S^3$ is slice if and only if it admits a slice derivative. We prove a related statement: A knot is handle-ribbon (also called strongly homotopy-ribbon) in a homotopy 4-ball $B$ if and…

We consider the relationship between the crosscap number $\gamma$ of knots and a partial order on the set of all prime knots, which is defined as follows. For two knots $K$ and $J$, we say $K \geq J$ if there exists an epimorphism…