Related papers: Linking Numbers in Three-Manifolds

One method for obtaining every closed orientable 3-manifold is as branched covering of the 3-sphere over a link. There is a classical topological result showing that the minimun possible number of sheets in the covering is three. In this…

In his 1957 paper, John Milnor introduced a collection of invariants for links in $S^3$ detecting higher-order linking phenomena by studying lower central quotients of link groups and comparing them to those of the unlink. These invariants,…

The ribbon number $r(K)$ of a ribbon knot $K \subset S^3$ is the minimal number of ribbon intersections contained in any ribbon disk bounded by $K$. We find new lower bounds for $r(K)$ using $\det(K)$ and $\Delta_K(t)$, and we prove that…

To each link $L$ in $S^3$ we associate a collection of certain labelled directed trees, called width trees. We interpret some classical and new topological link invariants in terms of these width trees and show how the geometric structure…

We prove that a graph is intrinsically linked in an arbitrary 3-manifold M if and only if it is intrinsically linked in S^3. Also, assuming the Poincare Conjecture, we prove that a graph is intrinsically knotted in M if and only if it is…

In this paper, we describe geometrical constructions to obtain triangulations of connected sums of closed orientable triangulated 3-manifolds. Using these constructions, we show that it takes time polynomial in the number of tetrahedra to…

Examples suggest that there is a correspondence between L-spaces and 3-manifolds whose fundamental groups cannot be left-ordered. In this paper we establish the equivalence of these conditions for several large classes of such manifolds. In…

This paper studies the Hilbert scheme of a curve on a complete-intersection K-trivial threefold, in the case in which the curve is unobstructed in the ambient variety in which the threefold lives. The basic result is that the obstruction…

Given a real analytic function $f$ from $\mathbb{R}^4$ to $\mathbb{R}^2$ with isolated critical point at the origin, the link $L_f$ of the singularity is a real fibred knot in $\mathbb{S}^{3}$. From this singularities, we construct a family…

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…

Suppose $K$ is a knot in a closed 3-manifold $M$ such that $\bar{M-N(K)}$ is irreducible. We show that for any positive integer $b$ there exists a triangulation of $\bar{M-N(K)}$ such that any weakly incompressible bridge surface for $K$ of…

Fix a finite group $G$. We analyze the computational complexity of the problem of counting homomorphisms $\pi_1(X) \to G$, where $X$ is a topological space treated as computational input. We are especially interested in requiring $G$ to be…

From a pseudo-triangulation with $n$ tetrahedra $T$ of an arbitrary closed orientable connected 3-manifold (for short, {\em a 3D-space}) $M^3$, we present a gem $J '$, inducing $\IS^3$, with the following characteristics: (a) its number of…

We present a new strategy for proving the Ambrose conjecture, a global version of the Cartan local lemma. A linking curve is defined as a curve in the tangent space whose composition with the exponential map is tree formed. This key idea is…

This is a survey article about the connections between knot theory and four-dimensional topology. Every four-manifold can be represented in terms of a link, by a Kirby diagram. This point of view has led to progress in computing invariants…

We prove that for any non-trivial knot K, infinitely many r-surgeries K(r) along K have a unique surgery description along a knot. Moreover, we show that for any hyperbolic L-space knot K and infinitely many integer slopes n, the manifold…

Updated rerefences and introduction. Given a knot in an integer homology sphere, one can construct a family of closed 3-manifolds (parametrized by the positive integers), namely the cyclic branched coverings of the knot. In this paper we…

Suppose F is a compact orientable surface, K is a knot in F x I, and N is the 3-manifold obtained by some non-trivial surgery on K. If F x {0} compresses in N, then there is an annulus in F x I with one end K and the other end an essential…

We present a short proof of the following Pontryagin theorem, whose original proof was complicated and has never been published in details: {\bf Theorem.} Let $M$ be a connected oriented closed smooth 3-manifold. Let $L_1(M)$ be the set of…

We give invariants of pairs $(M,L)$ consisting of a closed connected oriented three-manifold and an (oriented) framed link $L$ embedded in $M$. This invariant generalizes the Kuperberg and Hennings-Kauffman-Radford (HKR) invariants of…