Related papers: Bridge trisections of knotted surfaces in $S^4$

For a genus-1 1-bridge knot in the 3-sphere, that is, a (1,1)-knot, a middle tunnel is a tunnel that is not an upper or lower tunnel for some (1,1)-position. Most torus knots have a middle tunnel, and non-torus-knot examples were obtained…

We define two new families of invariants for (3-manifold, graph) pairs which detect the unknot and are additive under connected sum of pairs and (-1/2)-additive under trivalent vertex sum of pairs. The first of these families is closely…

The twin-width of a graph measures its distance to co-graphs and generalizes classical width concepts such as tree-width or rank-width. Since its introduction in 2020 (Bonnet et. al. 2020), a mass of new results has appeared relating twin…

We introduce multisections of smooth, closed 4-manifolds, which generalize trisections to decompositions with more than three pieces. This decomposition describes an arbitrary smooth, closed 4-manifold as a sequence of cut systems on a…

This is a preliminary note on a family of minimal surfaces in the 3-sphere defined by a compatible fourth order equation. The minimal surfaces are geometrically characterized either by having a surface of revolution like induced metric, or…

We prove that all knots with unknotting number at most 21 are smoothly slice in the K3 surface. We also prove a more general statement for 4-manifolds that contain a plumbing tree of spheres. Our strategy is based on a flexible method to…

We investigate the question of when distinct branched surfaces in the complement of a 2-bridge knot support essential surfaces with identical boundary slopes. We determine all instances in which this occurs and identify an infinite family…

The Kinoshita graph is a particular embedding in the 3-sphere of a graph with three edges, two vertices and no loops. It has the remarkable property that although the removal of any edge results in an unknotted loop, the Kinoshita graph is…

Given any closed, connected, orientable $3$--manifold and integers $g\geq g(M), D > 0$, we show the existence of knots in $M$ whose genus $g$ bridge number is greater than $D$. These knots lie in a page of an open book decomposition of $M$,…

We produce embeddings of knots in thin position that admit compressible thin levels. We also find the bridge number of tangle sums where each tangle is high distance.

This paper develops an algorithm that identifies and decomposes a median graph of a triangulation of a 2-dimensional (2D) oriented bordered surface and in addition restores all corresponding triangulation whenever they exist. The algorithm…

We interpret a normal surface in a (singular) three-manifold in terms of the homology of a chain complex. This allows us to study the relation between normal surfaces and their quadrilateral co-ordinates. Specifically, we give a proof of an…

In this paper we investigate the Alexander polynomial of (1,1)-knots, which are knots lying in a 3-manifold with genus one at most, admitting a particular decomposition. More precisely, we study the connections between the Alexander…

We determine the relationship between the contact structure induced by a fibered knot, K, in the three-sphere and the contact structures induced by its various cables. Understanding this relationship allows us to classify fibered cable…

Kuperberg [Algebr. Geom. Topol. 3 (2003) 587-591] has shown that a virtual knot corresponds (up to generalized Reidemeister moves) to a unique embedding in a thichened surface of minimal genus. If a virtual knot diagram is equivalent to a…

Analogous to a classical knot diagram, a surface-link can be generically projected to 3-space and given crossing information to create a broken sheet diagram. The triple point number of a surface-link is the minimal number of triple points…

We present a practical algorithm to determine the minimal genus of non-orientable spanning surfaces for 2-bridge knots, called the crosscap numbers. We will exhibit a table of crosscap numbers of 2-bridge knots up to 12crossings (all 362 of…

We prove that any knot or link in any 3-manifold can be nicely decomposed (splitted) by a filling Dehn sphere. This has interesting consequences in the study of branched coverings over knots and links. We give an algorithm for computing…

If a knot K in a closed, orientable 3-manifold M has a bridge surface T with distance at least 3 in the curve complex of T - K, then the genus of any essential surface in its exterior with non-empty, non-meridional boundary gives rise to an…

Let S be a triangulated 2-sphere with fixed triangulation T. We apply the methods of thin position from knot theory to obtain a simple version of the three geodesics theorem for the 2-sphere [5]. In general these three geodesics may be…