Related papers: Thin position for knots, links, and graphs in 3-ma…

Kashaev's invariants for a knot in a three sphere are generalized to invariants of a knot in a three manifold. A relation between the newly constructed invariants and the hyperbolic volume of the knot complement is observed for some knots…

We introduce stable equivalence classes of oriented links in orientable three-manifolds that are orientation $I$-bundles over closed but not necessarily orientable surfaces. We call these twisted links, and show that they subsume the…

By considering graphs as discrete analogues of Riemann surfaces, Baker and Norine (Adv. Math. 2007) developed a concept of linear systems of divisors for graphs. Building on this idea, a concept of gonality for graphs has been defined and…

We establish inequalities that constrain the genera of smooth cobordisms between knots in 4-dimensional cobordisms. These "relative adjunction inequalities" improve the adjunction inequalities for closed surfaces which have been…

We introduce a new topological invariant, which is a nonnegative integer, of compact manifolds with boundaries associated with a kind of decomposition of them. Let M and N be m-dimensional compact connected manifolds with boundaries. The…

We construct a simple topological invariant of certain 3-manifolds, including quotients of the 3-sphere by finite groups, based on the fact that the tangent bundle of an orientable 3-manifold is trivialisable. This invariant is strong…

We present a topological interpretation of knot and braid contact homology in degree zero, in terms of cords and skein relations. This interpretation allows us to extend the knot invariant to embedded graphs and higher-dimensional knots. We…

The topological framework of circuit topology has recently been introduced to complement knot theory and to help in understanding the physics of molecular folding. Naturally evolved linear molecular chains, such as proteins and nucleic…

The bridge index and superbridge index of a knot are important invariants in knot theory. We define the bridge map of a knot conformation, which is closely related to these two invariants, and interpret it in terms of the tangent indicatrix…

A homological invariant of 3-manifolds is defined, using abelian Yang-Mills gauge theory. It is shown that the construction, in an appropriate sense, is functorial with respect to the families of 4-dimensional cobordisms. This construction…

We explicitly show that the new polynomial invariants for knots, upto nine crossings, agree with the Ooguri-Vafa conjecture relating Chern-Simons gauge theory to topological string theory on the resolution of the conifold.

We introduce a geometric invariant of knots in the three-sphere, called the first-order genus, that is derived from certain 2-complexes called gropes, and we show it is computable for many examples. While computing this invariant, we draw…

We construct quantum $\mathcal{U}_q(\mathfrak{sl}_{\,2})$ type invariants for handlebody-knots in the 3-sphere $S^3$. A handlebody-knot is an embedding of a handlebody in a 3-manifold. These invariants are linear sums of Yokota's invariants…

The entanglement of open curves in 3-space appears in many physical systems and affects their material properties and function. A new framework in knot theory was introduced recently, that enables to characterize the complexity of…

Let M be a closed oriented 3-manifold with first Betti number one. Its equivariant linking pairing may be seen as a two-dimensional cohomology class in an appropriate infinite cyclic covering of the space of ordered pairs of distinct points…

It has been conjectured by Rovelli that there is a correspondence between the space of link classes of a Riemannian 3-manifold and the space of 3-geometries (on the same manifold). An exact statement of his conjecture will be established…

We introduce a triple coproduct for knots on surfaces, providing a commutative framework that decomposes a single-component diagram into three components (Section 2). This construction is motivated by the interplay between intersection…

A theory of complexity for pairs (M,G) with M an arbitrary closed 3-manifold and G a 3-valent graph in M was introduced by the first two named authors, extending the original notion due to Matveev. The complexity c is known to be always…

We use categories of representations of finite dimensional quantum groupoids (weak Hopf algebras) to construct ribbon and modular categories that give rise to invariants of knots and 3-manifolds.

Mazur, Kapranov, Reznikov, and others developed ``Arithmetic Topology,'' a theory describing some surprising analogies between 3-dimensional topology and number theory, which can be summarized by saying that knots are like prime numbers. We…