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A zigzag in a map (a $2$-cell embedding of a connected graph in a connected closed $2$-dimensional surface) is a cyclic sequence of edges satisfying the following conditions: 1) any two consecutive edges lie on the same face and have a…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2019-04-04 Mark Pankov , Adam Tyc

We prove that if a graph contains the complete bipartite graph $K_{134, 12}$ as an induced minor, then it contains a cycle of length at most~12 or a theta as an induced subgraph. With a longer and more technical proof, we prove that if a…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2025-11-04 Maria Chudnovsky , Meike Hatzel , Tuukka Korhonen , Nicolas Trotignon , Sebastian Wiederrecht

Knotted trivalent graphs (KTGs) form a rich algebra with a few simple operations: connected sum, unzip, and bubbling. With these operations, KTGs are generated by the unknotted tetrahedron and Moebius strips. Many previously known…

Geometric Topology · Mathematics 2007-05-23 Dylan P. Thurston

It is shown that for any locally knotted edge of a 3-connected graph in $S^3$, there is a ball that contains all of the local knots of that edge and is unique up to an isotopy setwise fixing the graph. This result is applied to the study of…

Geometric Topology · Mathematics 2015-03-17 Erica Flapan , Blake Mellor , Ramin Naimi

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…

Geometric Topology · Mathematics 2009-04-17 Erica Flapan , Hugh Howards , Don Lawrence , Blake Mellor

A knot is an an embedding of a circle into three-dimensional space. We say that a knot is unknotted if there is an ambient isotopy of the embedding to a standard circle. By representing knots via planar diagrams, we discuss the problem of…

Geometric Topology · Mathematics 2011-11-08 Allison Henrich , Louis H. Kauffman

An embedded graph is called $z$-knotted if it contains the unique zigzag (up to reversing). We consider $z$-knotted triangulations, i.e. $z$-knotted embedded graphs whose faces are triangles, and describe all cases when the connected sum of…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2017-08-15 Mark Pankov , Adam Tyc

This note gives the first example of a hyperbolic knot in the 3-sphere that lacks a nonorientable essential spanning surface; this disproves the Strong Neuwirth Conjecture formulated by Ozawa and Rubinstein. Moreover, this knot has no even…

Geometric Topology · Mathematics 2017-09-15 Nathan M. Dunfield

We study theta-curves embedded in a standard torus in the 3-sphere. We show that each nontrivial torus knot together with an essential arc determines a prime theta-curve, yielding explicit infinite families of prime theta-curves. We compute…

Geometric Topology · Mathematics 2026-04-01 Jack S. Calcut , Samantha E. Nieman

A hole in a graph is a chordless cycle of length at least 4. A theta is a graph formed by three internally vertex-disjoint paths of length at least 2 between the same pair of distinct vertices. A wheel is a graph formed by a hole and a node…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2023-10-23 Marko Radovanović , Nicolas Trotignon , Kristina Vušković

We classify graphs that are 0, 1, or 2 edges short of being complete partite graphs with respect to intrinsic linking and intrinsic knotting. In addition, we classify intrinsic knotting of graphs on 8 vertices. For graphs in these families,…

Geometric Topology · Mathematics 2007-05-23 Thomas W. Mattman , Ryan Ottman , Matt Rodrigues

We show that, for any prime p, a knot K in the 3-sphere is determined by its p-fold cyclic unbranched covering. We also investigate when the m-fold cyclic unbranched covering of a knot coincides with the n-fold cyclic unbranched covering of…

Geometric Topology · Mathematics 2008-05-27 Bruno P. Zimmermann

We describe an algorithm that recognizes some (perhaps all) intrinsically knotted (IK) graphs, and can help find knotless embeddings for graphs that are not IK. The algorithm, implemented as a Mathematica program, has already been used by…

Geometric Topology · Mathematics 2013-10-10 Jonathan Miller , Ramin Naimi

We consider intrinsic linking and knotting in the context of directed graphs. We construct an example of a directed graph that contains a consistently oriented knotted cycle in every embedding. We also construct examples of intrinsically…

Geometric Topology · Mathematics 2017-12-29 Thomas Fleming , Joel Foisy

A wheel is a graph that consists of a chordless cycle of length at least 4 plus a vertex with at least three neighbors on the cycle. It was shown recently that detecting induced wheels is an NP-complete problem. In contrast, it is shown…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2015-02-27 Frédéric Maffray

Johnson, Kidwell, and Michael showed that intrinsically knotted graphs have at least 21 edges. Also it is known that K7 and the thirteen graphs obtained from K7 by rY moves are intrinsically knotted graphs with 21 edges. We prove that these…

Geometric Topology · Mathematics 2015-12-02 Min Jung Lee , Hyoung Jun Kim , Hwa Jeong Lee , Seungsang Oh

We prove a folklore theorem of W. Thurston which provides necessary and sufficient conditions for primality of a certain class of theta-curves. Namely, a theta-curve in the 3-sphere with an unknotted constituent knot U is prime if and only…

Geometric Topology · Mathematics 2016-03-01 Jack S. Calcut , Jules R. Metcalf-Burton

We present evidence in support of a conjecture that a bipartite graph with at least five vertices in each part and |E(G)| \geq 4 |V(G)| - 17 is intrinsically knotted. We prove the conjecture for graphs that have exactly five or exactly six…

Geometric Topology · Mathematics 2008-11-04 Sophy Huck , Alexandra Appel , Miguel-Angel Manrique , Thomas W Mattman

We introduce a notion of intrinsic linking and knotting for virtual spatial graphs. Our theory gives two filtrations of the set of all graphs, allowing us to measure, in a sense, how intrinsically linked or knotted a graph is; we show that…

Geometric Topology · Mathematics 2014-10-01 Thomas Fleming , Blake Mellor

Let K be a knot in the 3-sphere. A slope p/q is said to be characterising for K if whenever p/q surgery on K is homeomorphic, via an orientation-preserving homeomorphism, to p/q surgery on another knot K' in the 3-sphere, then K and K' are…

Geometric Topology · Mathematics 2018-08-08 Marc Lackenby