Related papers: Doubled Disks and Satellite Surfaces

We give a complete characterization of the topological slice status of odd 3-strand pretzel knots, proving that an odd 3-strand pretzel knot is topologically slice if and only if either it is ribbon or has trivial Alexander polynomial. (By…

These notes present two normal surface theory algorithms to detect the unknot and use the split-link algorithm to prove that the figure-eight knot is knotted.

In this paper we study rational real algebraic knots in $\R P^3$. We show that two real algebraic knots of degree $\leq5$ are rigidly isotopic if and only if their degrees and encomplexed writhes are equal. We also show that any irreducible…

We consider the question of when a slice knot admits a reducible Dehn surgery. By analyzing the correction terms associated to such a surgery, we show that slice knots cannot admit surgeries with more than two summands. We also give a…

We introduce an oriented rational band move, a generalization of an ordinary oriented band move, and show that if a knot $K$ in the three-sphere can be made into the $(n+1)$-component unlink by $n$ oriented rational band moves, then $K$ is…

Let $(M,g)$ be a (complete) Riemannian surface, and let $\Omega\subset M$ be an open subset whose closure is homeomorphic to a disk. We prove that if $\partial\Omega$ is smooth and it satisfies a strong concavity assumption, then there are…

Motivated by a result of L.P. Roberts on rational blow-downs in Heegaard-Floer homology, we study such operations along 3-manifolds that arise as branched double covers of $S^{3}$ along several non-alternating, slice knots.

I prove that any two smooth collections of spanning 3-discs for the trivial 2-link in $S^4$ become smoothly isotopic rel. boundary after pushing them into $D^5$.

Prime power fold cyclic branched covers along smoothly slice knots all bound rational homology balls. This phenomenon, however, does not characterize slice knots. In this paper, we give a new construction of non-slice knots that have the…

In 1982 Louis Kauffman conjectured that if a knot in the 3-sphere is a slice knot then on any Seifert surface for that knot there exists a homologically essential simple closed curve of self-linking zero which is itself a slice knot, or at…

For an oriented link $L \subset S^3 = \Bd\!D^4$, let $\chi_s(L)$ be the greatest Euler characteristic $\chi(F)$ of an oriented 2-manifold $F$ (without closed components) smoothly embedded in $D^4$ with boundary $L$. A knot $K$ is {\it…

Given a link L in the 3-sphere, we ask whether the components of L bound disjoint, nullhomologous disks properly embedded in a simply-connected positive-definite smooth 4-manifold; the knot case has been studied extensively in work of…

Any two polygons of equal area can be partitioned into congruent sets of polygonal pieces, and in many cases one can connect the pieces by flexible hinges while still allowing the connected set to form both polygons. However it is open…

We prove that the double branched cover of a twist-roll spun knot in $S^4$ is smoothly preserved when four twists are added, and that the double branched cover of a twist-roll spun knot connected sum with a trivial projective plane is…

The main goal of this article is to obtain a condition under which an infinite collection $\mathscr{F}$ of satellite knots (with companion a positive torus knot and pattern similar to the Whitehead link) freely generates a subgroup of…

Let K be a knot in the 3-sphere. A slope p/q is said to be characterising for K if whenever p/q surgery on K is homeomorphic, via an orientation-preserving homeomorphism, to p/q surgery on another knot K' in the 3-sphere, then K and K' are…

A slope $p/q$ is characterising for a knot $K \subset \mathbb{S}^3$ if the orientation-preserving homeomorphism type of the manifold $\mathbb{S}^3_K(p/q)$ obtained by performing Dehn surgery of slope $p/q$ along $K$ uniquely determines the…

These notes were prepared to accompany a sequence of three lectures at the conference Winterbraids XI in Dijon, held in December 2021. In them, we provide an introduction to slice knots and the equivalence relation of concordance. We…

We study the structure of the exteriors of gropes and Whitney towers in dimension 4, focusing on their fundamental groups. In particular we introduce a notion of unknottedness of gropes and Whitney towers in the 4-sphere. We prove that…

The aim of this paper is to prove that a large class of quaternionic slice regular functions result to be (ramified) covering maps. By means of the topological implications of this fact and by providing further topological structures, we…