Related papers: Bridge trisections and classical knotted surface t…

The Meridional Rank Conjecture asks whether the bridge number of a knot in $S^3$ is equal to the minimal number of meridians needed to generate the fundamental group of its complement. In this paper we investigate the analogous conjecture…

Given a triangulation of a closed, oriented, irreducible, atoroidal 3-manifold every oriented, incompressible surface may be isotoped into normal position relative to the triangulation. Such a normal oriented surface is then encoded by…

We introduce the concept of pseudo-trisections of smooth oriented compact 4-manifolds with boundary. The main feature of pseudo-trisections is that they have lower complexity than relative trisections for given 4-manifolds. We prove…

Meier and Zupan introduced bridge trisections of surface links in $S^4$ as a 4-dimensional analogue to bridge decompositions of classical links, which gives a numerical invariant of surface links called the bridge number. We prove that…

A fast algorithm for counting intersections of two normal curves on a triangulated surface is proposed. It yields a convenient way for treating mapping class groups of punctured surfaces by presenting mapping classes by matrices, and the…

Following Matveev, a k-normal surface in a triangulated 3-manifold is a generalization of both normal and (octagonal) almost normal surfaces. Using spines, complexity, and Turaev-Viro invariants of 3-manifolds, we prove the following…

We extend Turaev's theory of Euler structures and torsion invariants on 3-manifolds to the case of vector fields having generic behavior on the boundary. This allows to easily define gluings of Euler structures and to develop a completely…

We use the combinatorial techniques of graphs of intersection to study reducible Dehn surgeries on knots in the three-sphere. In particular, in the event that a reducible surgery on a knot K in the three-sphere of slope r produces a…

We define the notion of a twisted topological graph algebra associated to a topological graph and a $1$-cocycle on its edge set. We prove a stronger version of a Vasselli's result. We expand Katsura's results to study twisted topological…

We show that if $K$ is a knot in $S^3$ and $\Sigma$ is a bridge sphere for $K$ with high distance and $2n$ punctures, the number of perturbations of $K$ required to interchange the two balls bounded by $\Sigma$ via an isotopy is $n$. We…

Computational knot theory and 3-manifold topology have seen significant breakthroughs in recent years, despite the fact that many key algorithms have complexity bounds that are exponential or greater. In this setting, experimentation is…

We consider the natural problem of counting isotopy classes of essential surfaces in 3-manifolds, focusing on closed essential surfaces in a broad class of hyperbolic 3-manifolds. Our main result is that the count of (possibly disconnected)…

Normal surface theory is a central tool in algorithmic three-dimensional topology, and the enumeration of vertex normal surfaces is the computational bottleneck in many important algorithms. However, it is not well understood how the number…

Suppose $K$ is a knot in a closed 3-manifold $M$ such that $\bar{M-N(K)}$ is irreducible. We show that for any positive integer $b$ there exists a triangulation of $\bar{M-N(K)}$ such that any weakly incompressible bridge surface for $K$ of…

We construct ribbon surfaces of Euler characteristic one for several infinite families of alternating 3-braid closures. We also use a twisted Alexander polynomial obstruction to conclude the classification of smoothly slice knots which are…

We define and compare several natural ways to compute the bridge number of a knot diagram. We study bridge numbers of crossing number minimizing diagrams, as well as the behavior of diagrammatic bridge numbers under the connected sum…

We introduce a new numerical knot invariant, termed the \textit{segment number}, which is derived from partitioned knot diagrams subject to specific over/under-crossing constraints. We prove that a knot is non-trivial if and only if its…

In three-dimensional computational topology, the theory of normal surfaces is a tool of great theoretical and practical significance. Although this theory typically leads to exponential time algorithms, very little is known about how these…

The search for universality in random triangulations of manifolds, like those featuring in (Euclidean) Dynamical Triangulations, is central to the random geometry approach to quantum gravity. In case of the 3-sphere, or any other manifold…

In the present paper, we propose a new discrete surface theory on 3-valent embedded graphs in the 3-dimensional Euclidean space which are not necessarily discretization or approximation of smooth surfaces. The Gauss curvature and the mean…