Related papers: Slice genus, $T$-genus and $4$-dimensional clasp n…

There exist knots having positive and negative four-dimensional clasp numbers zero but having four-genus, and hence clasp number, arbitrarily large. Such examples were first constructed by Allison Miller, answering a question of…

Knots and links which are closed 3-braids are a very special class. Like 2-bridge knots and links, they are simple enough to admit a complete classification. At the same time they are rich enough to serve as a source of examples on which,…

We describe a condition involving noncommutative Alexander modules which ensures that a knot with Alexander module $\mathbb{Z}[t^{\pm 1}]/(t-2) \oplus \mathbb{Z}[t^{\pm 1}]/(t^{-1}- 2)$ is topologically doubly slice. As an application, we…

Let $K$ be a knot in the 3-sphere, viewed as the ideal boundary of hyperbolic 4-space $\mathbb{H}^4$. We prove that the number of minimal discs in $\mathbb{H}^4$ with ideal boundary $K$ is a knot invariant. I.e.\ the number is finite and…

The clasp number $c(K)$ of a knot $K$ is the minimum number of clasp singularities among all clasp disks bounded by $K$. It is known that the genus $g(K)$ and the unknotting number $u(K)$ are lower bounds of the clasp number, that is,…

Kawauchi proved that every strongly negative amphichiral knot $K \subset S^3$ bounds a smoothly embedded disk in some rational homology ball $V_K$, whose construction a priori depends on $K$. We show that $V_K$ is independent of $K$ up to…

Given a compact oriented 3-manifold M in S^3 with boundary, an (M,2n)-tangle T is a 1-manifold with 2n boundary components properly embedded in M. We say that T embeds in a link L in S^3 if T can be completed to L by a 1-manifold with 2n…

In a recent paper, McMullen showed an inequality between the Thurston norm and the Alexander norm of a 3-manifold. This generalizes the well-known fact that twice the genus of a knot is bounded from below by the degree of the Alexander…

For every integer g, we construct a 2-solvable and 2-bipolar knot whose topological 4-genus is greater than g. Note that 2-solvable knots are in particular algebraically slice and have vanishing Casson-Gordon obstructions. Similarly all…

A knot in the 3-sphere is called doubly slice if it is a slice of an unknotted 2-sphere in the 4-sphere. We give a bi-sequence of new obstructions for a knot being doubly slice. We construct it following the idea of Cochran-Orr-Teichner's…

We give a useful classification of the metabelian unitary representations of pi_1(M_K), where M_K is the result of zero-surgery along a knot K in S^3. We show that certain eta invariants associated to metabelian representations pi_1(M_K)…

The trunk of a knot in $S^3$, defined by Makoto Ozawa, is a measure of geometric complexity similar to the bridge number or width of a knot. We prove that for any two knots $K_1$ and $K_2$, we have $tr(K_1 \# K_2) =…

Let p and q be distinct integers greater than one. We show that the 2-component pretzel link P(p,q,-p,-q) is not slice, even though it has a ribbon mutant, by using 3-fold branched covers and an obstruction based on Donaldson's…

We define a family of link concordance invariants $\left\{ s_n \right\}_{n=2,3, \cdots}$. These link concordance invariants give lower bounds on the slice genus of a link $L$. We compute the slice genus of positive links. Moreover, these…

We give examples of knots with some unusual properties of the crossing number of positive diagrams or strand number of positive braid representations. In particular we show that positive braid knots may not have positive minimal (strand…

For every genus $g\geq 2$, we construct an infinite family of strongly quasipositive fibred knots having the same Seifert form as the torus knot $T(2,2g+1)$. In particular, their signatures and four-genera are maximal and their homological…

Using Gauge theoretical techniques employed by Lisca for 2-bridge knots and by Greene-Jabuka for 3-stranded pretzel knots, we show that no member of the family of Montesinos knots M(0;[m_1+1,n_1+2],[m_2+1,n_2+2],q), with certain…

We develop a model characterizing all possible knots and links arising from recombination starting with a twist knot substrate, extending previous work of Buck and Flapan. We show that all knot or link products fall into three…

For an oriented link $L \subset S^3 = \Bd\!D^4$, let $\chi_s(L)$ be the greatest Euler characteristic $\chi(F)$ of an oriented 2-manifold $F$ (without closed components) smoothly embedded in $D^4$ with boundary $L$. A knot $K$ is {\it…

The genus of knots is a one of the fundamental invariant and can be seen as a complexity of knots. In this paper, we give a lower bound of genus using Dehornoy floor, which is a measure of complexity of braids in terms of braid ordering.