Related papers: A minimality property for knots without Khovanov 2…
We prove that every $\mathbb{Z}_2$H-thin link has no $2^k$-torsion for $k>1$ in its Khovanov homology. Together with previous results by Eun Soo Lee and the author, this implies that integer Khovanov homology of non-split alternating links…
In the Khovanov homology of links, presence of $\mathbb{Z}_2$-torsion is a very common phenomenon. Finite number of examples of knots with $\mathbb{Z}_n$-torsion for $n>2$ were also known, none for $n>8$. In this paper, we prove that there…
We prove that the Khovanov homology of alternating knots and 2-component links is equal (as a singly graded group) to the singular homology of a certain space of trace- free, binary dihedral representations of the link group. More…
Building on work by Alishahi-Dowlin, we extract a new knot invariant $\lambda \ge 0$ from universal Khovanov homology. While $\lambda$ is a lower bound for the unknotting number, in fact more is true: $\lambda$ is a lower bound for the…
We prove that a knot is the unknot if and only if its reduced Khovanov cohomology has rank 1. The proof has two steps. We show first that there is a spectral sequence beginning with the reduced Khovanov cohomology and abutting to a knot…
A theorem of Kronheimer and Mrowka states that Khovanov homology is able to detect the unknot. That is, if a knot has the Khovanov homology of the unknot, then it is equivalent to it. Similar results hold for the trefoils and the…
Introducing a way to modify knots using $n$-trivial rational tangles, we show that knots with given values of Vassiliev invariants of bounded degree can have arbitrary unknotting number (extending a recent result of Ohyama, Taniyama and…
We construct an algebra of non-trivial homological operations on Khovanov homology with coefficients in $\mathbb Z_2$ generated by two Bockstein operations. We use the unified Khovanov homology theory developed by the first author to lift…
If L is an oriented link with $n$ components, then the rank of its Khovanov homology is at least $2^n$. We classify all the links whose Khovanov homology with Z/2-coefficients achieves this lower bound, and show that such links can be…
We show that the order of torsion homology classes in Bar-Natan deformation of Khovanov homology is a lower bound for the unknotting number. We give examples of knots that this is a better lower bound than |s(K)/2|, where s(K) is the…
Ribbon concordance gives a partial order on knot types, and applying a knot homology functor to a ribbon concordance gives an inclusion of the homologies. The question of the existence of global ribbon minima in each concordance class is a…
Examples of knots and links distinguished by the total rank of their Khovanov homology but sharing the same two-fold branched cover are given. As a result, Khovanov homology does not yield an invariant of two-fold branched covers.
In a previous paper by the authors, we found some patterns in link diagrams that give rise to torsion elements of order two in their Khovanov homology. In this paper we extend these results by providing new torsion patterns. Many of the…
For a connected cobordism S between two knots K1,K2 in S3, we establish an inequality involving the number of local maxima, the genus of S, and the torsion orders of Kht(K1),Kht(K2), where Kht denotes Lee's perturbation of Khovanov…
We give a fresh introduction to the Khovanov Homology theory for knots and links, with special emphasis on its extension to tangles, cobordisms and 2-knots. By staying within a world of topological pictures a little longer than in other…
We introduce an invariant of tangles in Khovanov homology by considering a natural inverse system of Khovanov homology groups. As application, we derive an invariant of strongly invertible knots; this invariant takes the form of a graded…
From the very beginning the Khovanov homology appears to be one of the most important invariant of knots; for computational and theoretical reasons it would be useful to operate with reduced version of it - nevertheless the definition given…
Khovanov homology for knots has generated a flurry of activity in the topology community. This paper studies the Khovanov type cohomology for graphs with a special attention to torsions. When the underlying algebra is $\mathbb{Z}[x]/(x^2)$,…
In the integral Khovanov homology of links, the presence of odd torsion is rare. Homologically thin links, that is links whose Khovanov homology is supported on two adjacent diagonals, are known to only contain $\mathbb{Z}_2$ torsion. In…
Given a knot, we ask how its Khovanov and Khovanov-Rozansky homologies change under the operation of introducing twists in a pair of strands. We obtain long exact sequences in homology and further algebraic structure which is then used to…