Related papers: Widths of surface knots
We use grid diagrams to present a unified picture of braids, Legendrian knots, and transverse knots.
State surfaces are spanning surfaces of links that are obtained from link diagrams guided by the combinatorics underlying Kauffman's construction of the Jones polynomial via state models. Geometric properties of such surfaces are often…
In this paper, we introduce a method, called a plat form, of describing a surface-link in the 4-space using a braided surface. We prove that every surface-link, which is not necessarily orientable, can be described in a plat form. The plat…
This is a review article on the Bennequin-Birman-Menasco machinery for studying embedded incompressible surfaces in 3-space via their `braid foliations'. Two cases are investigated: case (1) The surface has non-empty boundary; the boundary…
We look at complete minimal surfaces of finite total curvature in $\mathbb{R}^4$. Similarly to the case of complex curves in $\mathbb{C}^2$ we introduce their {\it link at infinity}; we derive the {\it writhe number at infinity} which gives…
This paper studies properly embedded surfaces in the 4-ball that are exotically knotted (i.e., topologically but not smoothly isotopic), and leverages this local phenomenon to study surfaces in larger 4-manifolds. The main results provide a…
Let $M$ be a 3-manifold. Every knotted (embedded) surface in $M \times \R$ can be moved via an ambient isotopy in such a way that its projection into $M$ is a generic surface. A surface is generic if every point on it is either a regular,…
We formulate the holographic principle for knots and links. For the "space" of all knots and links, torus knots T(2m+1,2) and torus links L(2m,2) play the role of the "boundary" of this space. Using the holographic principle, we find the…
We define a new kind of Gauss diagrams to describe knots in the solid torus with projections in the annulus. We see that it provides an efficient tool for showing that a knot diagram can be fully recovered from its decorated Gauss diagram,…
Virtual knot theory is a generalization (discovered by the author in 1996) of knot theory to the study of all oriented Gauss codes. (Classical knot theory is a study of planar Gauss codes.) Graph theory studies non-planar graphs via…
We study the relationship between the areas of the consecutive quadrilaterals cut from a convex quadrilateral in the plane by means of a finite or infinite number of straight lines intersecting two of its opposite sides. Moreover, we obtain…
Whitehead doubles provide a plethora of examples of knots that are topologically slice but not smoothly slice. We discuss the problem of the Whitehead double of the Figure 8 knot and survey commonly used techniques to obstructing sliceness.…
Ng constructed an invariant of knots in ${\mathbb{R}}^3$, a combinatorial knot contact homology. Extending his study, we construct an invariant of surface-knots in ${\mathbb{R}}^4$ using marked graph diagrams.
A slope $p/q$ is said to be characterizing for a knot $K$ if the homeomorphism type of the $p/q$-Dehn surgery along $K$ determines the knot up to isotopy. Extending previous work of Lackenby and McCoy on hyperbolic and torus knots…
Contours may be viewed as the 2D outline of the image of an object. This type of data arises in medical imaging as well as in computer vision and can be modeled as data on a manifold and can be studied using statistical shape analysis.…
Near a singular point of a surface or a curve, geometric invariants diverge in general, and the orders of diverge, in particular the boundedness about these invariants represent geometry of the surface and the curve. In this paper, we study…
Topological gauge theories in four dimensions which admit surface operators provide a natural framework for realizing homological knot invariants. Every such theory leads to an action of the braid group on branes on the corresponding moduli…
We survey some tools and techniques for determining geometric properties of a link complement from a link diagram. In particular, we survey the tools used to estimate geometric invariants in terms of basic diagrammatic link invariants. We…
We introduce a geometric invariant of knots in the three-sphere, called the first-order genus, that is derived from certain 2-complexes called gropes, and we show it is computable for many examples. While computing this invariant, we draw…
A knot invariant is called skein if it is determined by a finite number of skein relations. In the paper we discuss some basic properties of skein invariants and mention some known examples of skein invariants.