Related papers: The Trieste look at Knot Theory
Given a class of objects, a pattern theorem is a powerful result describing their structure. We show that alternating knots exhibit a pattern theorem, and use this result to prove a long-standing conjecture that alternating knots grow rare.…
Using the duality between Wilson loop expectation values of SU(N) Chern-Simons theory on $S^3$ and topological open-string amplitudes on the local mirror of the resolved conifold, we study knots on $S^3$ and their invariants encoded in…
A knot is a circle piecewise-linearly embedded into the 3-sphere. The topology of a knot is intimately related to that of its exterior, which is the complement of an open regular neighborhood of the knot. Knots are typically encoded by…
Eisermann has shown that the Jones polynomial of a $n$-component ribbon link $L\subset S^3$ is divided by the Jones polynomial of the trivial $n$-component link. We improve this theorem by extending its range of application from links in…
We review a constructions of knots from elements of the Thompson groups due to Vaughan Jones, which comes in two flavours: oriented and unoriented.
We point out the connection between mathematical knot theory and spin glass/search problem. In particular, we present a statistical mechanical formulation of the problem of computing a knot invariant; p-colorability problem, which provides…
We give a combinatorial treatment of transverse homology, a new invariant of transverse knots that is an extension of knot contact homology. The theory comes in several flavors, including one that is an invariant of topological knots and…
We construct new knot polynomials. Let $V$ be the standard solid torus in 3-space and let $pr$ be its standard projection onto an annulus. Let $M$ be the space of all smooth oriented knots in $V$ such that the restriction of $pr$ is an…
The purpose of this paper is to discuss how topology and geometry provide, in many instances, the connective tissue that enables logical comprehension. We illustrate this theme with many examples including Venn diagrams, knot diagrams,…
The motivation for this work was to construct a nontrivial knot with trivial Jones polynomial. Although that open problem has not yielded, the methods are useful for other problems in the theory of knot polynomials. The subject of the…
We investigate the coefficients of the highest and lowest terms (also called the head and the tail) of the colored Jones polynomial and show that they stabilize for alternating links and for adequate links. To do this we apply techniques…
This book is an introduction to hyperbolic geometry in dimension three, and its applications to knot theory and to geometric problems arising in knot theory. It has three parts. The first part covers basic tools in hyperbolic geometry and…
We construct two distinct yet related M-theory models that provide suitable frameworks for the study of knot invariants. We then focus on the four-dimensional gauge theory that follows from appropriately compactifying one of these M-theory…
In mathematical phylogenetics, evolutionary relationships are often represented by trees and networks. The latter are typically used whenever the relationships cannot be adequately described by a tree, which happens when so-called…
The lectures review the state of affairs in modern branch of mathematical physics called probabilistic topology. In particular we consider the following problems: (i) We estimate the probability of a trivial knot formation on the lattice…
In the first part of this paper, we present general results concerning the colorability of torus knots using conjugation quandles over any abstract group. Subsequently, we offer a numerical characterization for the colorability of torus…
The contents of this 6-page paper have been subsumed into the 13-page paper, "A note on closed 3-braids", arXiv:0802.1072 [math.GT]. This paper is correct, but contains less information than the new one. The topological classification of…
These notes are an introduction to knot theory from the perspective of surfaces. The notes cover fundamental concepts such as isotopies, Reidemeister moves, torus knots, and (orientable, connected) surfaces with one boundary component. They…
We review recent developments in the theory of Thompson group representations related to knot theory.
Niebrzydowski introduced a theory of region colorings for surface links. In this paper, we translate the coloring invariant to the context of triplane diagrams and movies of knots. We provide inequalities between the number of region…