Related papers: Topologically and rationally slice knots
We introduce a 4-dimensional analogue of the rational Seifert genus of a knot $K\subset Y$, which we call the rational slice genus, that measures the complexity of a homology class in $H_2(Y\times [0,1],K;\mathbb{Q})$. Our main theorem is a…
We consider slice disks for knots in the boundary of a smooth compact 4-manifold $X^{4}$. We call a knot $K \subset \partial X$ deep slice in $X$ if there is a smooth properly embedded 2-disk in $X$ with boundary $K$, but $K$ is not…
We give infinitely many examples of manifold-knot pairs (Y, J) such that Y bounds an integer homology ball, J does not bound a non-locally-flat PL-disk in any integer homology ball, but J does bound a smoothly embedded disk in a rational…
We discuss an obstruction to a knot being smoothly slice that comes from minimum-genus bounds on smoothly embedded surfaces in definite 4-manifolds. As an example, we provide an alternate proof of the fact that the (2,1)-cable of the figure…
We give a flexible construction for knots in the 3-sphere that bound surfaces of unexpectedly low genus in punctured open books on 3-manifolds. We use this construction to give the first examples of knots whose genus differs in different…
Conjecturally, a knot is slice if and only if its positive Whitehead double is slice. We consider an analogue of this conjecture for slice disks in the four-ball: two slice disks of a knot are smoothly isotopic if and only if their positive…
We study locally flat disks in $(\mathbb{C} P^2)^\circ:=(\mathbb{C} P^2)\setminus \mathring{B^4}$ with boundary a fixed knot $K$ and whose complement has fundamental group $\mathbb{Z}$. We show that up to topological isotopy rel. boundary,…
Any knot in $S^3$ may be reduced to a slice knot by crossing changes. Indeed, this slice knot can be taken to be the unknot. In this paper we study the question of when the same holds for knots in homology spheres. We show that a knot in a…
We use classical techniques to answer some questions raised by Daniele Celoria about almost-concordance of knots in arbitrary closed $3$-manifolds. We first prove that, given $Y^3 \neq S^3$, for any non-trivial element $g\in \pi_1(Y)$ there…
A knot in the three-sphere is doubly slice if it is the cross-section of an unknotted two-sphere in the four-sphere. For low-crossing knots, the most complete work to date gives a classification of doubly slice knots through 9 crossings. We…
For each $g>0$ we give infinitely many knots that are strongly negative amphichiral, hence rationally slice and representing 2-torsion in the smooth concordance group, yet which do not bound any locally flatly embedded surface in the 4-ball…
The stable Kauffman conjecture posits that a knot in $S^3$ is slice if and only if it admits a slice derivative. We prove a related statement: A knot is handle-ribbon (also called strongly homotopy-ribbon) in a homotopy 4-ball $B$ if and…
This paper presents evidence supporting the surprising conjecture that in the topological category the slice genus of a satellite knot $P(K)$ is bounded above by the sum of the slice genera of $K$ and $P(U)$. Our main result establishes…
As a corollary of work of Ozsvath and Szabo [math.GT/0301149], it is shown that the classical concordance group of algebraically slice knots has an infinite cyclic summand and in particular is not a divisible group.
A polynomial knot in $\mathbb{R}^n$ is a smooth embedding of $\mathbb{R}$ in $\mathbb{R}^n$ such that the component functions are real polynomials. In the earlier paper with Mishra, we have studied the space $\mathcal{P}$ of polynomial…
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…
We investigate the disparity between smooth and topological almost concordance of knots in general 3-manifolds Y. Almost concordance is defined by considering knots in Y modulo concordance in Yx[0,1] and the action of the concordance group…
We prove a recent conjecture of Manolescu-Willis which states that the $s$-invariant of a knot in $\mathbb{RP}^3$ (as defined by them) gives a lower bound on its null-homologous slice genus in the unit disk bundle of $TS^2$. We also…
A link is called $\chi-$slice if it bounds a smooth properly embedded surface in the 4-ball with no closed components and Euler characteristic 1. If a link has a single component, then it is $\chi-$slice if and only if it is slice. One…
From Furuta's $\frac{10}{8}$ theorem, we derive a smooth slicing obstruction for knots in $S^3$ using a spin $4$-manifold whose boundary is $0$-surgery on a knot. We show that this obstruction is able to detect torsion elements in the…