Related papers: A counterexample to the Bernhard-Jablan unknotting…
We prove that the detection rate of n-crossing alternating links by many standard link invariants decays exponentially in n, implying that they detect alternating links with probability zero. This phenomenon applies broadly, in particular…
The Newton polytope related to a ``minimal" counterexample to the Jacobian conjecture is introduced and described. This description allows to obtain a sharper estimate for the geometric degree of the polynomial mapping given by a Jacobian…
The recent proof by Bigelow and Krammer that the braid groups are linear opens the possibility of applications to the study of knots and links. It was proved by the first author and Menasco that any closed braid representative of the unknot…
We introduce an invariant of alternating knots and links (called here WRP), namely a pair of integer polynomials associated with their two checkerboard planar graphs from their minimal diagram. We prove that the invariant is well-defined…
We give an obstruction to unknotting a knot by adding a twisted band, derived from Heegaard Floer homology.
We prove that a knot is the unknot if and only if its reduced Khovanov cohomology has rank 1. The proof has two steps. We show first that there is a spectral sequence beginning with the reduced Khovanov cohomology and abutting to a knot…
Kearton observed that mutation can change the concordance class of a knot. A close examination of his example reveals that it is of 4-genus 1 and has a mutant of 4-genus 0. The first goal of this paper is to construct examples to show that…
In this paper we introduce a representation of knots and links called a cube diagram. We show that a property of a cube diagram is a link invariant if and only if the property is invariant under two types of cube diagram operations. A knot…
It is known that each knot has a semimeander diagram (i. e. a diagram composed of two smooth simple arcs), however the number of crossings in such a diagram can only be roughly estimated. In the present paper we provide a new estimate of…
We develop a model characterizing all possible knots and links arising from recombination starting with a twist knot substrate, extending previous work of Buck and Flapan. We show that all knot or link products fall into three…
We establish a characterization of alternating links in terms of definite spanning surfaces. We apply it to obtain a new proof of Tait's conjecture that reduced alternating diagrams of the same link have the same crossing number and writhe.…
We study cosmetic crossings in knots of genus one and obtain obstructions to such crossings in terms of knot invariants determined by Seifert matrices. In particular, we prove that for genus one knots the Alexander polynomial and the…
Let c(K;F) denote the surface crossing number of a knot K with respect to a closed connected surface F in S^3. We relate c(K;F) to the tunnel number t(K) and to the Heegaard deficiency delta(F)=g(M_1;F)+g(M_2;F)-g(F), where S^3=M_1 union_F…
We present a counter-example to the statement that there is a linear reduction in both directionsbetween the largest common subtree and the smallest common supertrees. Moreover, we show that in general, even having of one of them, it is…
We prove that the crossing number of a graph decays in a continuous fashion in the following sense. For any epsilon>0 there is a delta>0 such that for a sufficiently large n, every graph G with n vertices and m > n^{1+epsilon} edges, has a…
This paper gives infinitely many examples of unknot diagrams that are hard, in the sense that the diagrams need to be made more complicated by Reidemeister moves before they can be simplified. In order to construct these diagrams, we prove…
Every knot has a plat projection, obtained by closing up a braid with bridges. The plat projection is determined by the number of strands and the number of rows of twist regions in the braid, and an integer number of crossings in each twist…
We exhibit pairs of transverse knots with the same self-linking number that are not transversely isotopic, using the recently defined knot Floer homology invariant for transverse knots and some algebraic refinements of it.
We prove new lower bounds on the crossing number of a complete graphs assuming that it is drawn in such a way that it contains a Hamiltonian cycle with no crossings.
The cosmetic crossing conjecture (also known as the "nugatory crossing conjecture") asserts that the only crossing changes that preserve the oriented isotopy class of a knot in the 3-sphere are nugatory. We use the Dehn surgery…