Related papers: On $\chi-$slice pretzel links

Just as knots and links can be algebraically described as certain morphisms in the category of tangles in 3 dimensions, compact surfaces smoothly embedded in R^4 can be described as certain 2-morphisms in the 2-category of `2-tangles in 4…

We show that if a split link is obtained from a split link $L$ in $S^3$ by $1/n$-Dehn surgery along a trivial knot $C$, then the link $L\cup C$ is splittable. That is to say, it is impossible to obtain a split link from a split link via a…

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…

For an oriented surface link $S$, we can take a satellite construction called a 2-dimensional braid over $S$, which is a surface link in the form of a covering over $S$. We demonstrate that 2-dimensional braids over surface links are useful…

A lattice in Euclidean $d$-space is called well-rounded if it contains $d$ linearly independent vectors of minimal length. This class of lattices is important for various questions, including sphere packing or homology computations. The…

Alternative proof is given for an earlier presented result that if a link in 3-space bounds a compact oriented proper surface (without closed component) in the upper half 4-space, then the link bounds a ribbon surface in the upper half…

We investigate rational homology cobordisms of 3-manifolds with non-zero first Betti number. This is motivated by the natural generalization of the slice-ribbon conjecture to multicomponent links. In particular we consider the problem of…

We apply Donaldson's theorem on the intersection forms of definite 4--manifolds to characterize the lens spaces which smoothly bound rational homology 4--dimensional balls. Our result implies, in particular, that every smoothly slice…

We investigate zigzags in triangulations of connected closed $2$-dimensional surfaces and show that there is a one-to-one correspondence between triangulations with homogeneous zigzags and closed $2$-cell embeddings of directed Eulerian…

In the early 1980's Mike Freedman showed that all knots with trivial Alexander polynomial are topologically slice (with fundamental group Z). This paper contains the first new examples of topologically slice knots. In fact, we give a…

In the present work, we realize the space of 2-string links $\mathcal{L}$ as a free algebra over a colored operad denoted $\mathcal{SCL}$ (for "Swiss-Cheese for links"). This result extends works of Burke and Koytcheff about the quotient of…

For a knot $K$ in the 3-sphere and a simply connected closed 4-manifold $X$, we define the $X$-double slice genus of $K$, extending the notion from the case when $X$ is the 4-sphere. We show that for each integer $n$, there exists an…

If a knot K bounds a genus one Seifert surface F in the 3-sphere and F contains an essential simple closed curve alpha that has induced framing 0 and is smoothly slice, then K is smoothly slice. Conjecturally, the converse holds. It is…

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…

Let L be a link in the 3-sphere that is in thin position but not in bridge position and let P be a thin level sphere. We generalize a result of Wu by giving a bound on the number of disjoint irreducible compressing disks that P can have,…

Let $L$ be a oriented link such that $\Sigma_n(L)$, the $n$-fold cyclic cover of $S^3$ branched over $L$, is an L-space for some $n \geq 2$. We show that if either $L$ is a strongly quasipositive link other than one with Alexander…

We study a subset of square free positive braids and we give a few algebraic characterizations of them and one geometric characterization: the set of positive braids whose closures are unlinks. We describe canonical forms of these braids…

We determine the relationship between the contact structure induced by a fibered knot, K, in the three-sphere and the contact structures induced by its various cables. Understanding this relationship allows us to classify fibered cable…

In 2009, Kawauchi proved that every strongly negative amphichiral knot is rationally slice. However, as shown by Hartley in 1980, there are examples of negative amphichiral knots that are not strongly negative amphichiral. In this paper, we…

We characterize sandwiched singularities in terms of their link in two different settings. We first prove that such singularities are precisely the normal surface singularities having self-similar non-archimedean links. We describe this…