Related papers: Homogeneous links, Seifert surfaces, digraphs and …

Let K be a knot in S^3 of genus g and let n>0. We show that if rk HFK(K,g) < 2^{n+1} (where HFK denotes knot Floer homology), in particular if K is an alternating knot such that the leading coefficient a_g of its Alexander polynomial…

It is known that the minimal degree of the Jones polynomial of a positive knot is equal to its genus, and the minimal coefficient is 1. We extend this result to almost positive links and partly identify the 3 following coefficients for…

Let $L$ be a non-split prime alternating link with $n>0$ crossings. We show that for each fixed $g$, the number of genus-$g$ Seifert surfaces for $L$ is bounded by an explicitly given polynomial in $n$. The result also holds for all…

Homogeneous links were introduced by Peter Cromwell, who proved that the projection surface of these links, that given by the Seifert algorithm, has minimal genus. Here we provide a different proof, with a geometric rather than…

We give an elementary, self-contained proof of the theorem, proven independently in 1958-9 by Crowell and Murasugi, that the genus of an alternating knot equals half the breadth of its Alexander polynomial, and that applying Seifert's…

It is well known that the minimum crossing number of an alternating link equals the number of crossings in any reduced alternating link diagram of the link. This remarkable result is an application of the Jones polynomial. In the case of…

Roberts proved that a family of alternating, arborescent, prime knots each have at least $2^{2n-1}$ distinct minimal genus Seifert surfaces, where $n$ is the genus of the knot in question. We give a subfamily of these knots that have…

We study invariant Seifert surfaces for strongly invertible knots, and prove that the gap between the equivariant genus (the minimum of the genera of invariant Seifert surfaces) of a strongly invertible knot and the (usual) genus of the…

We denote by Q_F the family of the Alexander quandle structures supported by finite fields. For every k-component oriented link L, every partition P of L into h:=|P| sublinks, and every labelling z of such a partition by the natural numbers…

The coefficients of twisted Alexander polynomials of a knot induce regular functions of the $SL_2(\mathbb{C})$-character variety. We prove that the function of the highest degree has a finite value at an ideal point which gives a minimal…

We use the 2-loop term of the Kontsevich integral to show that there are (many) knots with trivial Alexander polynomial which don't have a Seifert surface whose genus equals the rank of the Seifert form. This is one of the first…

We establish a characterization of alternating links in terms of definite spanning surfaces. We apply it to obtain a new proof of Tait's conjecture that reduced alternating diagrams of the same link have the same crossing number and writhe.…

We give a complete proof of results announced by Hirasawa and Sakuma describing explicitly the Kakimizu complex of a non-split, prime, special, alternating link.

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…

A classification of spanning surfaces for alternating links is provided up to genus, orientability, and a new invariant that we call aggregate slope. That is, given an alternating link, we determine all possible combinations of genus,…

It is known that knot Floer homology detects the genus and Alexander polynomial of a knot. We investigate whether knot Floer homology of $K$ detects more structure of minimal genus Seifert surfaces for $K$. We define an invariant of…

Let $K$ be a genus $g$ alternating knot with Alexander polynomial $\Delta_K(T)=\sum_{i=-g}^ga_iT^i$. We show that if $|a_g|=|a_{g-1}|$, then $K$ is the torus knot $T_{2g+1,\pm2}$. This is a special case of the Fox Trapezoidal Conjecture.…

A geometric argument is given to prove that the Seifert genus of a positive knot equals its slice genus. A combinatorial invariant, giving a lower bound for the slice genus, is formulated for arbitrary knots. Properties and applications of…

We study knots in $\mathbb{S}^3$ obtained by the intersection of a minimal surface in $\mathbb{R}^4$ with a small 3-sphere centered at a branch point. We construct examples of new minimal knots. In particular we show the existence of…

Edmonds famously proved that every periodic knot of genus g possesses an equivariant Seifert surface of genus g. We show that this is not true if one instead considers nonorientable spanning surfaces of a periodic knot. We demonstrate by…