Related papers: State invariants of two-bridge knots

This elementary article introduces easy-to-manage invariants of genus one knots in homology 3-spheres. To prove their invariance, we investigate properties of an invariant of 3-dimensional genus two homology handlebodies called the…

We study relationships between the colored Jones polynomial and the A-polynomial of a knot. We establish for a large class of 2-bridge knots the AJ conjecture (of Garoufalidis) that relates the colored Jones polynomial and the A-polynomial.…

We show that two-bridge knots and alternating fibered knots admit no purely cosmetic surgeries, i.e., no pair of distinct Dehn surgeries on such a knot produce 3-manifolds that are homeomorphic as oriented manifolds. Our argument, based on…

Any 2-bridge knot in the 3-sphere has a bridge sphere from which any other bridge surface can be obtained by stabilization, meridional stabilization, perturbation and proper isotopy.

The Links-Gould invariant of links $LG^{2,1}$ is a two-variable generalization of the Alexander-Conway polynomial. Using representation theory of $U_{q}\mathfrak{gl}(2 \vert 1)$, we prove that the degree of the Links-Gould polynomial…

We give upper and lower bounds on the leading coefficients of the $L^2$-Alexander torsions of a $3$-manifold $M$ in terms of hyperbolic volumes and of relative $L^2$-torsions of sutured manifolds obtained by cutting $M$ along certain…

New lower bounds on the unknotting number of a knot are constructed from the classical knot signature function. These bounds can be twice as strong as previously known signature bounds. They can also be stronger than known bounds arising…

In this paper we apply the twisted Alexander polynomial to study the fibering and genus detecting problems for oriented links. In particular we generalize a conjecture of Dunfield, Friedl and Jackson on the torsion polynomial of hyperbolic…

Several classical knot invariants, such as the Alexander polynomial, the Levine-Tristram signature and the Blanchfield pairing, admit natural extensions from knots to links, and more generally, from oriented links to so-called colored…

Let $K,K'$ be two-bridge knots of genus $n,k$ respectively. We show the necessary and sufficient condition of $n$ in terms of $k$ that there exists an epimorphism from the knot group of $K$ onto that of $K'$.

Using the theory of perverse sheaves of vanishing cycles, we define a homological invariant of knots in three-manifolds, similar to the three-manifold invariant constructed by Abouzaid and the second author. We use spaces of SL(2,C) flat…

We study the topology of the boundary manifold of a line arrangement in CP^2, with emphasis on the fundamental group G and associated invariants. We determine the Alexander polynomial Delta(G), and more generally, the twisted Alexander…

In an earlier paper, we introduced a knot invariant for a null-homologous knot K in an oriented three-manifold Y, which is closely related to the Heegaard Floer homology of Y. In this paper we investigate some properties of these knot…

We study the degree of polynomial representations of knots. We obtain the lexicographic degree for two-bridge torus knots and generalized twist knots. The proof uses the braid theoretical method developed by Orevkov to study real plane…

We study the twisted Alexander polynomial $\Delta_{K,\rho}$ of a knot $K$ associated to a non-abelian representation $\rho$ of the knot group into $SL_2(\BC)$. It is known for every knot $K$ that if $K$ is fibered, then for every…

We study the twisted Alexander polynomial from the viewpoint of the SL(2,C)-character variety of nonabelian representations of a knot group. It is known that if a knot is fibered, then the twisted Alexander polynomials associated with…

Holonomy invariants in strict higher gauge theory have been studied in depth, aiming to applications to higher Chern-Simons theory. For a flat 2-connection, the holonomy of surface knots of arbitrary genus has been defined and its…

In this paper we describe what should perhaps be called a `type-2' Vassiliev invariant of knots S^2 -> S^4. We give a formula for an invariant of 2-knots, taking values in Z_2 that can be computed in terms of the double-point diagram of the…

We use the G-signature theorem to define an invariant of strongly invertible knots analogous to the knot signature.

We generalize the classical study of Alexander polynomials of smooth or PL locally-flat knots to PL knots that are not necessarily locally-flat. We introduce three families of generalized Alexander polynomials and study their properties.…