Related papers: On Free Knots

Virtual braids are a combinatorial generalization of braids. We present abstract braids as equivalence classes of braid diagrams on a surface, joining two distinguished boundary components. They are identified up to isotopy, compatibility,…

We observe that any knot invariant extends to virtual knots. The isotopy classification problem for virtual knots is reduced to an algebraic problem formulated in terms of an algebra of arrow diagrams. We introduce a new notion of finite…

Two welded (respectively virtual) link diagrams are homotopic if one may be transformed into the other by a sequence of extended Reidemeister moves, classical Reidemeister moves, and self crossing changes. In this paper, we extend Milnor's…

We develop a reinforcement learning pipeline for simplifying knot diagrams. A trained agent learns move proposals and a value heuristic for navigating Reidemeister moves. The pipeline applies to arbitrary knots and links; we test it on…

We suggest a categorification procedure for the SO(2N) one-variable specialization of the two-variable Kauffman polynomial. The construction has many similarities with the HOMFLYPT categorification: a planar graph formula for the polynomial…

In this article we extend evaluations of the Kauffman bracket on regular isotopy classes of knots and links to a variety of functors defined on the category of framed tangles. We show that many such functors exist, and that they correspond…

We show that there are links whose individual components are concordant to the unknot, but which are not concordant to any link with unknotted components. We give examples in the topological category, and examples in the smooth category…

We introduce \textit{dual graph diagrams} representing oriented knots and links. We use these combinatorial structures to define corresponding algebraic structures we call \textit{biquasiles} whose axioms are motivated by dual graph…

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…

We define several equivariant concordance invariants using knot Floer homology. We show that our invariants provide a lower bound for the equivariant slice genus and use this to give a family of strongly invertible slice knots whose…

Kishino's knot is not detected by the fundamental group or the bracket polynomial; these invariants cannot differentiate between Kishino's knot and the unknot. However, we can show that Kishino's knot is not equivalent to unknot by applying…

Twisted knot theory, introduced by M.O.Bourgoin, is a generalization of virtual knot theory. It is easily shown that any virtual knot can be deformed into a trivial knot by a finite sequence of generalized Reidemeister moves and two…

We prove that any arc-presentation of the unknot admits a monotonic simplification by elementary moves; this yields a simple algorithm for recognizing the unknot. We obtain similar results for split links and composite links.

Singular knot theory extends classical knot theory by allowing transverse double points without over/under information, together with singular Reidemeister moves of types IV and V. A central open problem in this theory is to determine the…

In a previous paper, the authors proved that Milnor link-homotopy invariants modulo $n$ classify classical string links up to $2n$-move and link-homotopy. As analogues to the welded case, in terms of Milnor invariants, we give here two…

We study two sorts of actions on the space of conjugacy classes of irreducible $SU_2$-representations of a knot group. One of them is an involution which comes from the algebraic structure of $SU_2$ and the other is the action by the outer…

Inspired by the paper on quantum knots and knot mosaics [23] and grid diagrams (or arc presentations), used extensively in the computations of Heegaard-Floer knot homology [2,3,7,24], we construct the more concise representation of knot…

There is an infinitely generated free subgroup of the smooth knot concordance group with the property that no nontrivial element in this subgroup can be represented by an alternating knot. This subgroup has the further property that every…

We give a generating set of the generalized Reidemeister moves for oriented singular links. We use it to introduce an algebraic structure arising from the study of oriented singular knots. We give some examples, including some…

A (weak chord) index is a function on the crossings of knot diagrams such that: 1) the index of a crossing does not change under Reidemeister moves; 2) crossings which can be paired by a second Reidemeister move have the same index. We show…