Related papers: Prime component-preservingly amphicheiral link wit…

This paper gives an alternate definition of the Affine Index Polynomial (called the Wriggle Polynomial) using virtual linking numbers and explores applications of this polynomial. In particular, it proves the Cosmetic Crossing Change…

This is the third paper in a series devoted to enumerating the prime alternating knots and links. This paper establishes a method for enumerating the prime alternating links. It is shown that one may choose any prime alternating link…

In a previous paper, we introduced special types of fusions, so called simple-ribbon fusions on links. A knot obtained from the trivial knot by a finite sequence of simple-ribbon fusions is called a simple-ribbon knot. Every ribbon knot…

If a knot has the Alexander polynomial not equal to 1, then it is linear $n$-colorable. By means of such a coloring, such a knot is given an upper bound for the minimal quandle order, i.e., the minimal order of a quandle with which the knot…

We call a knot $K$ a complete Alexander neighbor if every possible Alexander polynomial is realized by a knot one crossing change away from $K$. It is unknown whether there exists a complete Alexander neighbor with nontrivial Alexander…

It is well known that for $m\geq 2$ there are at most two non-equivalent $m$-knots with diffeomorphic exterior. Such pair of knots will be called $\textit{ non-reflexive knot pair}$. A classical problem in topology is to determine all…

The central question of knot theory is that of distinguishing links up to isotopy. The first polynomial invariant of links devised to help answer this question was the Alexander polynomial (1928). Almost a century after its introduction, it…

We give a list of minimal grid diagrams of the 13 crossing prime nonalternating knots which have arc index 13. There are 9,988 prime knots with crossing number 13. Among them 4,878 are alternating and have arc index 15. Among the other…

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…

We revisit the issue of the existence of infinitely many distinct prime knots with the same Alexander invariant. We present infinitely many distinct families, each family made up of infinitely many distinct knots. Within each family, the…

It has been conjectured that the algebraic crossing number of a link is uniquely determined in minimal braid representation. This conjecture is true for many classes of knots and links. The Morton-Franks-Williams inequality gives a lower…

In this paper, a link diagram is said to be minimal if no Reidemeister move I or II can be applied to it to reduce the number of crossings. We show that for an arbitrary diagram D of a link without a trivial split component, a minimal…

We give characterizations of the skein polynomial for links (as well as Jones and Alexander-Conway polynomials derivable from it), avoiding the usual "smoothing of a crossing" move. As by-products we have characterizations of these…

This is the first in a series of four papers wherein we enumerate all prime alternating knots and links. In this first paper, we introduce four operators on knots and show that, when used according to very simple rules on the prime…

For prime knots $K_1$ and $K_2$, we write $K_1 \geq K_2$ if there is an epimorphism from the knot group of $K_1$ to that of $K_2$ which preserves the meridian. We construct a family of pairs of knots with $K_1 \geq K_2$ such that an…

Based on a vanishing theorem for non-fibered knots due to Friedl and Vidussi, we define the twisted Alexander vanishing order of a knot to be the order of the smallest finite group such that the corresponding twisted Alexander polynomial is…

For any link in the 3-sphere, there is a natural lower bound for the unlinking number in terms of the classical signature. We prove that if this lower bound is sharp for a special alternating link $L$, then the unlinking number of $L$ is…

We prove that any diagram of the unknot with c crossings may be reduced to the trivial diagram using at most (236 c)^{11} Reidemeister moves. Moreover, every diagram in this sequence has at most (7 c)^2 crossings. We also prove a similar…

A Chebyshev knot ${\cal C}(a,b,c,\phi)$ is a knot which has a parametrization of the form $ x(t)=T_a(t); y(t)=T_b(t) ; z(t)= T_c(t + \phi), $ where $a,b,c$ are integers, $T_n(t)$ is the Chebyshev polynomial of degree $n$ and $\phi \in \R.$…

This article is about applications of linear algebra to knot theory. For example, for odd prime p, there is a rule (given in the article) for coloring the arcs of a knot or link diagram from the residues mod p. This is a knot invariant in…