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The first and last named authors have demonstrated the existence of knots for which every integral slope is non-characterizing. In this short note, we extend this result in two ways. There exists a knot that shares for every integer n the…

Geometric Topology · Mathematics 2025-12-16 Kenneth L. Baker , Marc Kegel , Kimihiko Motegi

We give a first example of 2-knots with the same knot group but different knot quandles by analyzing the knot quandles of twist spins. As a byproduct of the analysis, we also give a classification of all twist spins with finite knot…

Geometric Topology · Mathematics 2023-08-16 Kokoro Tanaka , Yuta Taniguchi

The algebraic genus of a knot is an invariant that arises when one considers upper bounds for the topological slice genus coming from Freedman's theorem that Alexander polynomial one knots are topologically slice. This paper develops…

Geometric Topology · Mathematics 2019-08-13 Duncan McCoy

In this note, we attempt to find counterexamples to the conjecture that the ideal form of a knot, that which minimizes its contour length while respecting a no-overlap constraint, also minimizes the volume of the knot, as determined by its…

Geometric Topology · Mathematics 2021-11-17 Alexander R. Klotz

This paper concerns the H(2)-unknotting numbers of links related to 2-bridge links. It consists of three parts. In the first part, we consider a necessary and sufficient condition for a 2-bridge link to have H(2)-unknotting number one. The…

Geometric Topology · Mathematics 2011-04-25 Yuanyuan Bao

We present two families of knots which have straight number higher than crossing number. In the case of the second family, we have computed the straight number explicitly. We also give a general theorem about alternating knots that states…

Geometric Topology · Mathematics 2018-05-18 Nicholas Owad

A knot in the 3-sphere is said to have zero negative unknotting number if it can be transformed into the unknot by performing only positive crossing changes. In this paper, we provide an obstruction for a knot to having zero negative…

Geometric Topology · Mathematics 2016-04-08 Yuanyuan Bao

We construct families of trivial $2$-knots $K_i$ in $\mathbb{R}^4$ such that the maximal complexity of $2$-knots in any isotopy connecting $K_i$ with the standard unknot grows faster than a tower of exponentials of any fixed height of the…

Metric Geometry · Mathematics 2019-12-17 Boris Lishak , Alexander Nabutovsky

We prove that deciding if a diagram of the unknot can be untangled using at most $k$ Riedemeister moves (where $k$ is part of the input) is NP-hard. We also prove that several natural questions regarding links in the $3$-sphere are NP-hard,…

Geometric Topology · Mathematics 2018-10-09 Arnaud de Mesmay , Yo'av Rieck , Eric Sedgwick , Martin Tancer

Using a sieve-theoretic argument, we show that almost all gaps $(p_n, p_{n+1})$ between consecutive primes $p_n, p_{n+1}$ contain a natural number $m$ whose least prime factor $p(m)$ is at least the length $p_{n+1} - p_n$ of the gap,…

Number Theory · Mathematics 2025-08-11 Ayla Gafni , Terence Tao

An $n$-crossing is a point in the projection of a knot where $n$ strands cross so that each strand bisects the crossing. An \"ubercrossing projection has a single $n$-crossing and a petal projection has a single $n$-crossing such that there…

A twisted torus link $T(p,q,r,s)$ is obtained by performing $s$ full twists on $r$ adjacent strands of the $(p,q)$-torus link. In this paper, we classify twisted torus links that are unlinks. We give a complete characterization of all…

Geometric Topology · Mathematics 2026-02-05 Hong Chang , Thiago de Paiva , Qing Lan

The Gordian distance between two knots measures how many crossing changes are needed to transform one knot into the other. It is known that there are always infinitely many non-equivalent knots `between' a pair of knots of Gordian distance…

Geometric Topology · Mathematics 2007-05-23 Sebastian Baader

We compose the table of knots in the thickened torus T x I having diagrams with at most 4 crossings. The knots are constructed by the three-step process. First we list regular graphs of degree 4 with at most 4 vertices, then for each graph…

Geometric Topology · Mathematics 2012-07-02 A. A. Akimova , S. V. Matveev

We give sharp two-sided linear bounds of the crosscap number (non-orientable genus) of alternating links in terms of their Jones polynomial. Our estimates are often exact and we use them to calculate the crosscap numbers for several…

Geometric Topology · Mathematics 2016-04-19 Efstratia Kalfagianni , Christine Ruey Shan Lee

Twisting a given knot $K$ about an unknotted circle $c$ a full $n \in \mathbb{N}$ times, we obtain a "twist family" of knots $\{ K_n \}$. Work of Kouno-Motegi-Shibuya implies that for a non-trivial twist family the crossing numbers…

Geometric Topology · Mathematics 2024-04-09 Kenneth L. Baker , Kimihiko Motegi

The surgery unknotting number of a Legendrian link is defined as the minimal number of particular oriented surgeries that are required to convert the link into a Legendrian unknot. Lower bounds for the surgery unknotting number are given in…

Symplectic Geometry · Mathematics 2016-01-20 A. Bianca Boranda , Lisa Traynor , Shuning Yan

We present four models for a random graph and show that, in each case, the probability that a graph is intrinsically knotted goes to one as the number of vertices increases. We also argue that, for $k \geq 18$, most graphs of order $k$ are…

Geometric Topology · Mathematics 2018-11-27 Kazuhiro Ichihara , Thomas W. Mattman

Although most knots are nonalternating, modern research in knot theory seems to focus on alternating knots. We consider here nonalternating knots and their properties. Specifically, we show certain classes of knots have nontrivial Jones…

Geometric Topology · Mathematics 2009-07-13 Neil R. Nicholson

We prove that fibred knots cannot be untied with $\bar{t}_{2k}$-moves, for all $k \geq 2$. More generally, we give an upper bound on the number of two strand twist operations that allow to untie a knot with non-trivial HOMFLY polynomial, in…

Geometric Topology · Mathematics 2022-09-15 Lambert A'Campo , Sebastian Baader , Livio Ferretti , Levi Ryffel