Related papers: Alternating links have representativity 2

Let S(D) be the surface produced by applying Seifert's algorithm to the oriented link diagram D. I prove that if D has no negative crossings then S(D) is a quasipositive Seifert surface, that is, S(D) embeds incompressibly on a fiber…

It is natural to ask how many isotopy classes of embedded essential surfaces lie in a given 3-manifold. The first bounds on the number of such surfaces were exponential, using normal surfaces. More recently, by restricting to alternating…

Let $D$ be a reduced alternating diagram of a non-split link $L$ and $\tilde{L}$ be the link whose diagram is obtained from $D$ by a crossing change. If $\tilde{L}$ is alternating, then $c(\tilde{L})\leq c(L)-2$. In this paper we explore…

We show there exists a linear embedding of $K_{3,3,1}$ with n nontrivial 2-component links if and only if n = 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5.

Dasbach and Lin proved a "volumish theorem" for alternating links. We prove the analogue for alternating link diagrams on surfaces, which provides bounds on the hyperbolic volume of a link in a thickened surface in terms of coefficients of…

We extend the notion of thin multiple Heegaard splittings of a link in a 3-manifold to take into consideration not only compressing disks but also cut-disks for the Heegaard surfaces. We prove that if H is a c-strongly compressible bridge…

One can embed arbitrarily many disjoint, non-parallel, non-boundary parallel, incompressible surfaces in any three manifold with at least one boundary component of genus two or greater [4]. This paper proves the contrasting, but not…

Wu has shown that if a link or a knot $L$ in $S^3$ in thin position has thin spheres, then the thin sphere of lowest width is an essential surface in the link complement. In this paper we show that if we further assume that $L \subset S^3$…

Menasco proved that nontrivial links in the 3-sphere with connected prime alternating non-2-braid projections are hyperbolic. This was further extended to augmented alternating links wherein non-isotopic trivial components bounding disks…

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…

If M is a manifold with compressible boundary, we analyze essential disks in M, as well as incompressible, but not necessarily boundary incompressible, surfaces in M. We are most interested in the case where M is a handlebody or compression…

We show that if the branched double cover of an alternating link arises as $p/q \in \mathbb{Q} \setminus \mathbb{Z}$ surgery on a knot in $S^3$, then this is exhibited by a rational tangle replacement in an alternating diagram.

We show that the image of a nonconstant conformal harmonic map $\mathbb C\to \mathbb R^3$, not necessarily proper and possibly with branch points, intersects every properly embedded nonflat minimal surface of bounded curvature in $\mathbb…

We show that a knot in $S^3$ with an infinite number of distinct incompressible Seifert surfaces contains a closed incompressible surface in its complement.

Let L \subset S^3 denote an alternating link and Sigma(L) its branched double-cover. We give a short proof of the fact that the fundamental group of Sigma(L) admits a left-ordering iff L is an unlink. This result is originally due to…

We use a simple geometric argument and small cancellation properties of link groups to prove that alternating links are non-trivial. This proof uses only classic results in topology and combinatorial group theory.

In a paper of Menasco and Reid, it is conjectured that there exist no hyperbolic knots in S^3 for which the complement contains a closed embedded totally geodesic surface. In this note, we show that one can get "as close as possible" to a…

The ribbonlength of a link is a geometric invariant defined as the infimum of the ratio of the length to the width of a folded ribbon realization of the link. In this paper, we prove that if an alternating link admits an alternating diagram…

A projective link is a smooth closed 1-submanifold of the real projective space of dimension three. A projective link is said to be affine if it is isotopic to a link, which does not intersect some projective plane. The main result: a…

In this paper, we study alternating links in thickened surfaces in terms of the lattices of integer flows on their Tait graphs. We use this approach to give a short proof of the first two generalised Tait conjectures. We also prove that the…