Related papers: Links with small lattice stick numbers

We give a criterion for distinguishing a prime knot $K$ in $S^3$ from every other knot in $S^3$ using the finite quotients of $\pi_1(S^3\setminus K)$. Using recent work of Baldwin-Sivek, we apply this criterion to the hyperbolic knots…

Almost a decade ago Vaughan Jones introduced a method to produce knots from elements of the Thompson groups $F$, which was later extended to the Brown-Thompson group $F_3$. In this article we define a way to produce permutations out of…

The viscous flow of polymer chains in dense melts is dominated by topological constraints whenever the single chain contour length, N, becomes larger than the characteristic scale Ne, defining comprehensively the macroscopic rheological…

The harmonic knot $\H(a,b,c)$ is parametrized as $K(t)= (T_a(t) ,T_b (t), T_c (t))$ where $a$, $b$ and $c$ are pairwise coprime integers and $T_n$ is the degree $n$ Chebyshev polynomial of the first kind. We classify the harmonic knots…

The n-th hull of a union of curves in R^3 is the set of points with the property: Any plane passing through the point intersects the curves at least 2n times. The hull number u(L) of a link L is defined as the minimum number of non-empty…

The transient number of a knot K, denoted tr(K), is the minimal number of simple arcs that have to be attached to K, in order that K can be homotoped to a trivial knot in a regular neighborhood of the union of K and the arcs. We give a…

In this paper we first investigate minimal sufficient sets of colors for p=11 and 13. For odd prime p and any p-colorable link L with non-zero determinant, we give alternative proofs of mincol_p L \geq 5 for p \geq 11 and mincol_p L \geq 6…

We classify all links whose Khovanov homology have ranks no greater than 8, and all three-component links whose Khovanov homology have ranks no greater than 12, where the coefficient ring is Z/2. The classification is based on the previous…

A Lissajous knot is one that can be parameterized by a single cosine function in each coordinate. Lissajous knots are highly symmetric, and for this reason, not all knots are Lissajous. We prove several theorems which allow us to place…

In the early 1980's Mike Freedman showed that all knots with trivial Alexander polynomial are topologically slice (with fundamental group Z). This paper contains the first new examples of topologically slice knots. In fact, we give a…

For a knot $K$, the doubly slice genus $g_{ds}(K)$ is the minimal $g$ such that $K$ divides a closed, orientable, and unknotted surface of genus $g$ embedded in $S^4$. In this paper, we identify the doubly slice genera of 2909 of the 2977…

This paper contains linear systems of equations which can distinguish knots without knot invariants. Let $M_n$ be the topological moduli space of all n-component string links and such that a fixed projection into the plane is an immersion.…

In knot concordance three genera arise naturally, g(K), g_4(K), and g_c(K): these are the classical genus, the 4-ball genus, and the concordance genus, defined to be the minimum genus among all knots concordant to K. Clearly 0 <= g_4(K) <=…

We analyze properties of links which have diagrams with a small number of negative crossings. We show that if a nontrivial link has a diagram with all crossings positive except possibly one, then the signature of the link is negative. If a…

Twisted torus links $T(p,q;r,s)$ generalize torus links by introducing $s$ additional twists on $r$ adjacent strands of the torus link $T(p,q)$. It is well known that the number of components of a torus link $T(p, q)$ is given by the…

We introduce new skein invariants of links based on a procedure where we first apply the skein relation only to crossings of distinct components, so as to produce collections of unlinked knots. We then evaluate the resulting knots using a…

The slicing number of a knot, $u_s(K)$, is the minimum number of crossing changes required to convert $K$ to a slice knot. This invariant is bounded above by the unknotting number and below by the slice genus $g_s(K)$. We show that for many…

In an earlier paper (math.NT/9906019) we showed that any integral unimodular lattice L of rank n which is not isometric with Z^n has a characteristic vector of norm at most n-8. [A "characteristic vector" of L is a vector w in L such that…

Twisted torus knots and links are given by twisting adjacent strands of a torus link. They are geometrically simple and contain many examples of the smallest volume hyperbolic knots. Many are also Lorenz links. We study the geometry of…

Twisted torus links are given by twisting a subset of strands on a closed braid representative of a torus link. T--links are a natural generalization, given by repeated positive twisting. We establish a one-to-one correspondence between…