Related papers: Tangle decompositions of alternating link compleme…

The problem of classification of Legendrian knots (links) up to isotopy in the class of Legendrian embeddings (Legendrian isotopy) naturally leads to the following two subproblems. The first of them is: which combinations of the three…

Let $L$ be a fixed link. Given a link diagram $D$, is there a sequence of crossing exchanges and smoothings on $D$ that yields a diagram of $L$? We approach this problem from the computational complexity point of view. It follows from work…

We generalize the Wriggle polynomial, first introduced by L. Folwaczny and L. Kauffman, to the case of virtual tangles. This generalization naturally arises when considering the self-crossings of the tangle. We prove that the generalization…

This paper gives two new combinatorial topological proofs of the classification of rational tangles. Each proof rests on an elegant lemma showing that rational tangles are isotopic to canonical alternating rational tangles. The first proof…

In \cite{Kim} it is shown that knots in $S_{g} \times S^{1}$ can be presented by virtual diagrams with a decoration, so called, {\em double lines}. In this paper, we study the essential diagram for each knot in $S_{g} \times S^{1}$, which…

We extend the equality-type results of Ito--Takimura and Kindred for the non-orientable genera of alternating knots to the setting of two-component alternating links. We show that, for such links, a unified quantity capturing both…

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.

Final revision. To appear in the Journal of Differential Geometry. This paper studies knots that are transversal to the standard contact structure in $\reals^3$, bringing techniques from topological knot theory to bear on their transversal…

We introduce a new invariant of tangles along with an algebraic framework in which to understand it. We claim that the invariant contains the classical Alexander polynomial of knots and its multivariable extension to links. We argue that of…

We introduce an alternative stratification of knots: by the size of lattice on which a knot can be first met. Using this classification, we find ratio of unknots and knots with more than 10 minimal crossings inside different lattices and…

Menasco showed that a closed surface in the complement of a non-split prime alternating link in $S^3$ contains a circle isotopic in the link complement to a meridian of the links. This result is known as the meridian lemma for alternating…

Quasi-alternating links are a generalization of alternating links. They are homologically thin for both Khovanov homology and knot Floer homology. Recent work of Greene and joint work of the first author with Kofman resulted in the…

In the early 1980's Mike Freedman showed that all knots with trivial Alexander polynomial are topologically slice (with fundamental group Z). This paper contains the first new examples of topologically slice knots. In fact, we give a…

Frequently, knots are enumerated by their crossing number. However, the number of knots with crossing number $c$ grows exponentially with $c$, and to date computer-assisted proofs can only classify diagrams up to around twenty crossings.…

We construct an infinite family of links which are both almost alternating and quasi-alternating from a given either almost alternating diagram representing a quasi-alternating link, or connected and reduced alternating tangle diagram. To…

Let $L$ be an alternating prime non-split link in $S^3$. We use the category of flypes between reduced alternating diagrams for $L$ to classify involutions on $L$. As consequences, we show that the quotient of an alternating periodic link…

In this paper we present a systematic method to generate prime knot and prime link minimal triple-point projections, and then classify all classical prime knots and prime links with triple-crossing number at most four. We also extend the…

If a link $L$ can be decomposed into the union of two tangles $T\cup_{S^2} S$ along a 2-sphere intersecting $L$ in 4 points, then the intersections of perturbed traceless SU(2) character varieties of tangles in a space called the pillowcase…

We construct an infinite collection of knots with the property that any knot in this family has $n$-string essential tangle decompositions for arbitrarily high $n$.

For any virtual link, a class of new links can be defined called stacks, in which copies of the virtual link are placed on top of one another. The resulting virtual link depends only on the virtual isotopy class of the original link, and…