Related papers: On a Conjecture by Kauffman on Alternative and Pse…
Let p and q be distinct integers greater than one. We show that the 2-component pretzel link P(p,q,-p,-q) is not slice, even though it has a ribbon mutant, by using 3-fold branched covers and an obstruction based on Donaldson's…
Quasi-alternating links are a natural generalization of alternating links. In this paper, we show that quasi-alternating links are "homologically thin" for both Khovanov homology and knot Floer homology. In particular, their bigraded…
Fox conjectured the Alexander polynomial of an alternating knot is trapezoidal, i.e. the coefficients first increase, then stabilize and finally decrease in a symmetric way. Recently, Hirasawa and Murasugi further conjectured a relation…
This article provides an overview of relative strengths of polynomial invariants of knots and links, such as the Alexander, Jones, Homflypt, and Kaufman two-variable polynomial, Khovanov homology, factorizability of the polynomials, and…
The Collatz and $abc$ conjectures, both well known and thoroughly studied, appear to be largely unrelated at first sight. We show that assuming the $abc$ conjecture true is helpful to improve the lower bound of integers initiating a…
The altenating knots, links and twists projected on the S_2 sphere are identified with the phase Space of a Hamiltonian dynamic system of one degree of freedom. The saddles of the system correspond to the crossing points, the edges, to the…
In this note we prove that alternating chainmail links are L-space links. The proof is inspired by corresponding proofs for double branched covers of alternating links. We also more generally show that flat augmented chainmail links are…
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…
The Jones polynomial and the Kauffman bracket are constructed, and their relation with knot and link theory is described. The quantum groups and tangle functor formalisms for understanding these invariants and their descendents are given.…
We use the idea of expressing a nonoriented link as a sum of all oriented links corresponding to the link to present a short proof of the Lickorish-Millett-Turaev formula for the Kauffman polynomial at $z= -a- a^{-1}$. Our approach explains…
It is well known that the braid index of a link equals the minimum number of Seifert circles among all link diagrams representing it. For a link with a reduced alternating diagram $D$, $s(D)$, the number of Seifert circles in $D$, equals…
We apply the twisting technique that was first introduced in \cite{CK} and later generalized in \cite{QCQ} to obtain an infinite family of adequate, homogeneous or alternative links from a given adequate, homogeneous or alternative link,…
We study random knots and links in R^3 using the Petaluma model, which is based on the petal projections developed by Adams et al. (2012). In this model we obtain a formula for the distribution of the linking number of a random…
We use an estimate on the Thurston--Bennequin invariant of a Legendrian link in terms of its Kauffman-polynomial to show that links of topological unknots, e.g. the Borromean rings or the Whithead link, may not be represented by Legendrian…
We give a geometric proof of the following result of Juhasz. \emph{Let $a_g$ be the leading coefficient of the Alexander polynomial of an alternating knot $K$. If $|a_g|<4$ then $K$ has a unique minimal genus Seifert surface.} In doing so,…
The slope conjecture gives a precise relation between the degree of the colored Jones polynomial of a knot and the boundary slopes of essential surfaces in the knot complement. In this note we propose a generalization of the slope…
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…
The aim of this article is to give a characterization of strongly quasipositive quasi-alternating links and detect new classes of strongly quasipositive Montesinos links and non-strongly quasipositive Montesinos links. In this direction, we…
The set of isotopy classes of nontrivial torus knots $T(p,q)$ in $S^3$ is in bijection with the set of coprime integer pairs $(p,q)$ satisfying $|p|>q\geq 2$. We verify the AJ conjecture for the connected sums $T(p,q)\# T(a,b)$ when $p$ and…
We define new notions of groups of virtual and welded knots (or links) and we study their relations with other invariants, in particular the Kauffman group of a virtual knot.