Related papers: A Fox-Milnor Theorem for Knots in a Thickened Surf…
The coefficients of twisted Alexander polynomials of a knot induce regular functions of the $SL_2(\mathbb{C})$-character variety. We prove that the function of the highest degree has a finite value at an ideal point which gives a minimal…
These notes present two normal surface theory algorithms to detect the unknot and use the split-link algorithm to prove that the figure-eight knot is knotted.
In this thesis, we prove several results concerning field-theoretic invariants of knots and 3-manifolds. In Chapter 2, for any knot $K$ in a closed, oriented 3-manifold $M$, we use $SU(2)$ representation spaces and the Lagrangian field…
Solenoids are ``inverse limits'' of the circle, and the classical knot theory is the theory of tame embeddings of the circle into the 3-space. We give some general study, including certain classification results, of tame embeddings of…
Knotted line defects in continuous fields entrain a complex arrangement of the material sur- rounding them. Recent experimental realisations in optics, fluids and nematic liquid crystals make it important to fully characterise these…
We define homotopy-theoretic invariants of knots in prime 3-manifolds. Fix a knot J in a prime 3-manifold M. Call a knot K in M concordant to J if it cobounds a properly embedded annulus with J in MxI, and call K J-characteristic if there…
Many well studied knots can be realized as positive braid knots where the braid word contains a positive full twist; we say that such knots are twist positive. Some important families of knots are twist positive, including torus knots,…
In this paper we present a sequence of link invariants, defined from twisted Alexander polynomials, and discuss their effectiveness in distinguish knots. In particular, we recast and extend by geometric means a recent result of Silver and…
What length of rope (of given diameter) is required to tie a particular knot? To answer this question, we define some new notions of thickness for a space curve, one based on Gromov's distortion, and another generalizing the thickness of…
We define a differential graded algebra associated to Legendrian knots in thickened convex surfaces $\Sigma\times \mathbb{R}$. The algebra is defined in the same spirit as the Chekanov-Eliashberg DGA for Legendrians in $\mathbb{R}^3$, but…
In this manuscript we introduce a method to measure entanglement of curves in 3-space that extends the notion of knot and link polynomials to open curves. We define the bracket polynomial of curves in 3-space and show that it has real…
By considering a particular type of invariant Seifert surfaces we define a homomorphism $\Phi$ from the (topological) equivariant concordance group of directed strongly invertible knots $\widetilde{\mathcal{C}}$ to a new equivariant…
The motivation for this work is to construct a map from classical knots to virtual ones. What we get in the paper is a series of maps from knots in the full torus (thickened torus) to flat-virtual knots. We give definition of flat-virtual…
The main goal of this paper is to prove that for odd free knots - that is free knots with all odd crossings - the problem of sliceness (the existence of a spanning disc) has an explicit answer based on the pairing of the knot diagram…
A geometric argument is given to prove that the Seifert genus of a positive knot equals its slice genus. A combinatorial invariant, giving a lower bound for the slice genus, is formulated for arbitrary knots. Properties and applications of…
A torti-rational knot, denoted by K(2a,b|r), is a knot obtained from the 2-bridge link B(2a,b) by applying Dehn twists an arbitrary number of times, r, along one component of B(2a,b). We determine the genus of K(2a,b|r) and solve a question…
The Alexander polynomial of a knot has been generalized in three different ways to give twisted invariants. The resulting invariants are usually referred to as twisted Alexander polynomials, higher-order Alexander polynomials and…
We introduce and study knotoids. Knotoids are represented by diagrams in a surface which differ from the usual knot diagrams in that the underlying curve is a segment rather than a circle. Knotoid diagrams are considered up to Reidemeister…
We define a filtration on the vector space spanned by Seifert matrices of knots related to Vassiliev's filtration on the space of knots. Further we show that the invariants of knots derived from the filtration can be expressed by…
We construct an infinite family of topologically slice knots that are not smoothly concordant to their reverses. More precisely, if T denotes the concordance group of topologically slice knots and R is the involution of T induced by string…