Related papers: The Unknotting Problem and Normal Surface Q-Theory
Computational knot theory and 3-manifold topology have seen significant breakthroughs in recent years, despite the fact that many key algorithms have complexity bounds that are exponential or greater. In this setting, experimentation is…
This paper is concerned with a covering problem of Euclidean space by a particular arrangement of cones that are not necessarily full and are allowed to overlap. The problem provides an equivalent geometric reformulation of the solvability…
In this paper, we develop a general existence theory for properly embedded minimal surfaces with free boundary in any compact Riemannian 3-manifold $M$ with boundary $\partial M$. The main feature of our result is that no convexity…
This} paper presents relations between least area and normal surfaces, embedded in either a Euclidean or hyperbolic $3$-manifold. A relaxed version of normal surfaces, termed quasi-normal, is introduced, and it is shown that under…
Some generalizations and variations of the Fintushel-Stern rim surgery are known to produce smoothly knotted surfaces. We show that if the fundamental groups of their complements are cyclic, then these surfaces are topologically unknotted.…
In this paper, we introduce the concept of 3-alterfolds with embedded separating surfaces. When the separating surface is decorated by a spherical fusion category, we obtain quantum invariants of 3-alterfold, which is consistent with many…
We study incompressible surfaces constructed by Culler-Shalen theory in the context of twisted Alexander polynomials. For a $1$st cohomology class of a $3$-manifold the coefficients of twisted Alexander polynomials induce regular functions…
We study a canonical spanning surface obtained from a knot or link diagram depending on a given Kauffman state, and give a sufficient condition for the surface to be essential. By using the essential surface, we can see the triviality and…
In this paper we describe a procedure for refining the given triangulation of a 3-manifold that scales the PL-metric according to a given weight function while creating no new normal surfaces. It is known that an incompressible surface $F$…
Suppose $K$ is a knot in a closed 3-manifold $M$ such that $\bar{M-N(K)}$ is irreducible. We show that for any positive integer $b$ there exists a triangulation of $\bar{M-N(K)}$ such that any weakly incompressible bridge surface for $K$ of…
In this paper, we give some examples of area minimizing surfaces to clarify some well-known features of these surfaces in more general settings. The first example is about Meeks-Yau's result on embeddedness of solution to the Plateau…
We present a new construction of four dimensional $\mathcal N=3$ theories, given by M5 branes wrapping a $T^2$ in an M-theory U-fold background. The resulting setup generalizes the one used in the usual class $\mathcal S$ construction of…
Given a triangulation of a closed, oriented, irreducible, atoroidal 3-manifold every oriented, incompressible surface may be isotoped into normal position relative to the triangulation. Such a normal oriented surface is then encoded by…
Given a sequence of properly embedded minimal surfaces in a $3$-manifold with local bounds on area and genus, we prove subsequential convergence, smooth away from a discrete set, to a smooth embedded limit surface, possibly with…
It is natural to ask how many isotopy classes of embedded essential surfaces lie in a given 3-manifold. The first bounds on the number of such surfaces were exponential, using normal surfaces. More recently, by restricting to alternating…
We define the notion of an exceptional manifold to be a flat Riemannian manifold with boundary which supports a positive harmonic function satisfying simultaneously a zero Dirichlet condition and a constant (nonzero) Neumann condtion at the…
A $Q$-manifold $M$ is a supermanifold endowed with an odd vector field $Q$ squaring to zero. The Lie derivative $L_Q$ along $Q$ makes the algebra of smooth tensor fields on $M$ into a differential algebra. In this paper, we define and study…
Let $M$ be a compact 3-manifold with a triangulation $\tau$. We give an inequality relating the Euler characteristic of a surface $F$ normally embedded in $M$ with the number of normal quadrilaterals in $F$. This gives a relation between a…
The formula for the Turaev-Viro invariant of a 3-manifold depends on a complex parameter t. When t is not a root of unity, the formula becomes an infinite sum. This paper analyzes convergence of this sum when t does not lie on the unit…
Normal and almost normal surfaces are essential tools for algorithmic 3-manifold topology, but to use them requires exponentially slow enumeration algorithms in a high-dimensional vector space. The quadrilateral coordinates of Tollefson…