Related papers: Cabling Conjecture for Small Bridge Number

We show that there exist knots K in S^3 with g(E(K))=2 and g(E(K#K#K))=6. Together with Theorem~1.5 of [1], this proves existence of counterexamples to Morimoto's Conjecture (Conjecture 1.5 of [2]). This is a special case of…

Ribbon concordances between knots generalize the notion of ribbon knots. Agol, building on work of Gordon, proved ribbon concordance gives a partial order on knots in $S^3$. In previous work, the author and Greene conjectured that positive…

We survey, complete, and modify a proof, involving knot theory, of Stiefel's theorem that all orientable $3$-manifolds are parallelizable. The completion of the proof is done by using the relationship between the tangent bundle and normal…

A slope $p/q$ is said to be characterizing for a knot $K$ if the homeomorphism type of the $p/q$-Dehn surgery along $K$ determines the knot up to isotopy. Extending previous work of Lackenby and McCoy on hyperbolic and torus knots…

We show that given a 3-manifold $Y$ there is only a finite number of alternating knots $K \subset S^3$ such that $Y$ can be obtained by surgery on $K$. A very similar but somewhat not complete statement has been obtained in a recent…

In this paper, we study the behavior of $\Upsilon_K(t)$ under the cabling operation, where $\Upsilon_K(t)$ is the knot concordance invariant defined by Ozsv\'ath, Stipsicz, and Szab\'o, associated to a knot $K\subset S^3$. The main result…

In this paper, we show that, for each non-trivial two bridge knot K and for each g > 2, every genus g Heegaard splitting of the exterior E(K) of K is reducible.

Meier and Zupan introduced bridge trisections of surface links in $S^4$ as a 4-dimensional analogue to bridge decompositions of classical links, which gives a numerical invariant of surface links called the bridge number. We prove that…

A knot type is exchange reducible if an arbitrary closed n-braid representative can be changed to a closed braid of minimum braid index by a finite sequence of braid isotopies, exchange moves and +/- destabilizations. In the manuscript [J…

While the problem of computing the genus of a knot is now fairly well understood, no algorithm is known for its four-dimensional variants, both in the smooth and in the topological locally flat category. In this article, we investigate a…

The unknotting number of a knot is the minimum number of crossings one must change to turn that knot into the unknot. We work with a generalization of unknotting number due to Mathieu-Domergue, which we call the untwisting number. The…

The pair (K,r) consisting of a knot K and a surjective map r from the knot group onto a dihedral group is said to be a p-colored knot. D. Moskovich conjectured that for any odd prime p there are exactly p equivalence classes of p-colored…

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 $\phi \in \R.$…

Suppose $K$ is a knot in $S^3$ with bridge number $n$ and bridge distance greater than $2n$. We show that there are at most ${2n\choose n}$ distinct minimal genus Heegaard splittings of $S^3\setminus\eta(K)$. These splittings can be divided…

Using Gauge theoretical techniques employed by Lisca for 2-bridge knots and by Greene-Jabuka for 3-stranded pretzel knots, we show that no member of the family of Montesinos knots M(0;[m_1+1,n_1+2],[m_2+1,n_2+2],q), with certain…

The strong thin tree conjecture states that every $k$-edge-connected graph $G$ contains an $O(1/k)$-thin spanning tree, meaning a spanning tree which contains at most an $O(1/k)$ fraction of the edges across each cut in $G$. This conjecture…

We prove that every smoothly embedded surface in a 4--manifold can be isotoped to be in bridge position with respect to a given trisection of the ambient 4--manifold; that is, after isotopy, the surface meets components of the trisection in…

We present a new theory which describes the collection of all tunnels of tunnel number 1 knots in the 3-sphere (up to orientation-preserving equivalence in the sense of Heegaard splittings) using the disk complex of the genus-2 handlebody…

It was conjectured by Lopez that every closed irreducible non-Haken 3-manifold contains a small knot. In this paper, we give explicit examples of hyperbolic small knots in most closed orientable spherical 3-manifolds other than prism…

Using the Bordered Floer theory of Lipshitz-Ozsv\'ath-Thurston we prove that the $(p,q)$-cables of any non-trivial knots are not Heegaard Floer homologically thin. Using the proof and a theorem of Zemke, we find a larger set of satellite…