Related papers: The Unknotting Problem and Normal Surface Q-Theory

This paper illustrates a computational approach to Culler-Morgan-Shalen theory using ideal triangulations, spun-normal surfaces and tropical geometry. Certain affine algebraic sets associated to the Whitehead link complement as well as…

We develop a general regulated volume expansion for the volume of a manifold with boundary whose measure is suitably singular along a separating hypersurface. The expansion is shown to have a regulator independent anomaly term and a…

In this paper we prove two theorems. The first one is a structure result that describes the extrinsic geometry of an embedded surface with constant mean curvature (possibly zero) in a homogeneously regular Riemannian three-manifold, in any…

Given a compact Riemannian manifold $M^{n+1}$ with dimension $3\leq n+1\leq 7$ and $\partial M\neq\emptyset$, the free boundary min-max theory built by Martin Man-Chun Li and Xin Zhou shows the existence of a smooth almost properly embedded…

We prove the existence of nontrivial closed surfaces with constant anisotropic mean curvature with respect to elliptic integrands in closed smooth $3$-dimensional Riemannian manifolds. The constructed min-max surfaces are smooth with at…

Revised Version. An example of a locally smoothable stable surface that does not have a global smoothing has been added.

Neuwirth asked if any non-trivial knot in the 3-sphere can be embedded in a closed surface so that the complement of the surface is a connected essential surface for the knot complement. In this paper, we examine some variations on this…

This note studies the Burnside problem for homeomorphism groups of compact connected manifolds. For surfaces, we prove that the identity component of the homeomorphism group is torsion-free precisely when the surface is not the sphere,…

We use topological quantum field theory to derive an invariant of a three-manifold with boundary. We then show how to use this invariant as an obstruction to embedding one three-manifold in another.

A generic surface in Euclidean 3-space is determined uniquely by its metric and curvature. Classification of all special surfaces where this is not the case, i.e. of surfaces possessing isometries which preserve the mean curvature, is known…

This article is concerned with locally flatly immersed surfaces in simply-connected $4$-manifolds where the complement of the surface has fundamental group $\mathbb{Z}$. Once the genus and number of double points are fixed, we classify such…

Let $S$ be a $P^2$-knot which is the connected sum of a 2-knot with normal Euler number 0 and an unknotted $P^2$-knot with normal Euler number $\pm2$ in a closed 4-manifold $X$ with trisection $T_{X}$. Then, we show that the trisection of…

In three-dimensional computational topology, the theory of normal surfaces is a tool of great theoretical and practical significance. Although this theory typically leads to exponential time algorithms, very little is known about how these…

A new approach to the theory of polynomial solutions of q - difference equations is proposed. The approach is based on the representation theory of simple Lie algebras and their q - deformations and is presented here for U_q(sl(n)). First a…

This paper develops a technique for applying one-parameter prescribed mean curvature min-max theory in certain non-compact manifolds. We give two main applications. First, fix a dimension $3\le n+1 \le 7$ and consider a smooth function…

Given a closed four-manifold $X$ with an indefinite intersection form, we consider smoothly embedded surfaces in $X \setminus $int$(B^4)$, with boundary a knot $K \subset S^3$. We give several methods to bound the genus of such surfaces in…

The paper contains a general construction which produces new examples of non simply-connected smooth projective surfaces. We analyze the resulting surfaces and their fundamental groups. Many of these fundamental groups are expected to be…

Let $(M,Q)$ be a compact, three dimensional manifold of strictly negative sectional curvature. Let $(\Sigma,P)$ be a compact, orientable surface of hyperbolic type (i.e. of genus at least two). Let $\theta:\pi_1(\Sigma,P)\to\pi_1(M,Q)$ be a…

Closed essential surfaces in a three-manifold can be detected by ideal points of the character variety or by algebraic non-integral representations. We give examples of closed essential surfaces not detected in either of these ways. For…

We use convex decomposition theory to (1) reprove the existence of a universally tight contact structure on every irreducible 3-manifold with nonempty boundary, and (2) prove that every toroidal 3-manifold carries infinitely many…