Related papers: Characterizing slopes for the $(-2,3,7)$-pretzel k…
We construct the first explicit example of a simplicial 3-ball B_{15,66} that is not collapsible. It has only 15 vertices. We exhibit a second 3-ball B_{12,38} with 12 vertices that is collapsible and evasive, but not shellable. Finally, we…
Given a hyperbolic knot $K$ and any $n\geq 2$ the abelian representations and the holonomy representation each give rise to an $(n-1)$-dimensional component in the $\operatorname{SL}(n,\Bbb{C})$-character variety. A component of the…
We give a complete description of exceptional surgeries on pretzel knots of type $(-2, p, p)$ with $p \ge 5$. It is known that such a knot admits a unique toroidal surgery yielding a toroidal manifold with a unique incompressible torus. By…
R. F. Williams showed that all knots in the Lorenz template are prime. His proof included the cases where any number of positive twists were added to one of the template's branches. However, Williams does give an example of a composite knot…
We discuss the fundamental (relative) 3-classes of knots (or hyperbolic links), and provide diagrammatic descriptions of the push-forwards with respect to every link-group representation. The point is an observation of a bridge between the…
We describe a new method of producing equations for the canonical component of representation variety of a knot group into $PSL_2(\mathbb{C})$. Unlike known methods, this one does not involve any polyhedral decomposition or triangulation of…
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 prove that every knot type in $\mathbb{R}^3$ can be parametrised by a smooth function $f:S^1\to\mathbb{R}^3$, $f(t)=(x(t),y(t),z(t))$ such that all derivatives $f^{(n)}(t)=(x^{(n)}(t),y^{(n)}(t),z^{(n)}(t))$, $n\in\mathbb{N}$,…
We give a necessary, and in some cases sufficient, condition for sliceness inside the family of pretzel knots $P (p_1,...,p_n)$ with one $p_i$ even. The three stranded case yields two interesting families of examples: the first consists of…
In this paper we study the concept of characteristic numbers and Chern slopes in the context of curve configurations in the real and complex projective plane. We show that some extremal line configurations inherit the same asymptotic…
Let X be a norm curve in the SL(2,C)-character variety of a knot exterior M. Let t = || b || / || a || be the ratio of the Culler-Shalen norms of two distinct non-zero classes a, b in H_1(\partial M, Z). We demonstrate that either X has…
We describe four hyperbolic knot complements in $\mathbb{S}^3$, each of which covers a prism orbifold: the quotient of $\mathbb{H}^3$ by the action of a discrete group generated by reflections in the faces of a polyhedron that has the…
We identify all hyperbolic knots whose complements are in the census of orientable one-cusped hyperbolic manifolds with eight ideal tetrahedra. We also compute their Jones polynomials.
For any given number of crossings $c$, there exists a formula to determine the number of 2-bridge knots of $c$ crossings, and indeed it is a simple matter to actually construct presentations of these knots. However, the determination of…
We find explicit models for the PSL(2,C)- and SL(2,C)-character varieties of the fundamental groups of complements in S^3 of an infinite family of two-bridge knots that contains the twist knots. We compute the genus of the components of…
We show that for the pretzel knots $K_k=P(3,-3,-2k-1)$, the $n$-fold cyclic branched covers are L-spaces for all $n\geq 1$. In addition, we show that the knots $K_k$ with $k\geq 1$ are quasipositive and slice, answering a question of…
For a knot in the 3-sphere, the Upsilon invariant is a piecewise linear function defined on the interval [0,2]. For an L-space knot, the Upsilon invariant is determined only by the Alexander polynomial of the knot. We exhibit infinitely…
We consider the Reidemeister torsion associated with SL(2, C)-representations of a knot group. A bifurcation point in the SL(2, C)-character variety of a knot group is a character which is given by both an abelian SL(2, C)-representation…
We call a knot in the 3-sphere $SU(2)$-simple if all representations of the fundamental group of its complement which map a meridian to a trace-free element in $SU(2)$ are binary dihedral. This is a generalisation of being a 2-bridge knot.…
It is conjectured that a hyperbolic knot admits at most three Dehn surgeries which yield closed three manifolds containing incompressible tori. We show that there exist infinitely many hyperbolic knots which attain the conjectural maximum…