Related papers: Classifying the surface-knot modules
We formalize a ramification theory for finite covers of knot exteriors. Given a knot group $G_K$ and a finite-index subgroup $U\le G_K$, we define meridional inertia subgroups $U\cap g\langle m\rangle g^{-1}$ and the global ramification…
While the problem of computing the genus of a knot is now fairly well understood, no algorithm is known for its four-dimensional variants, both in the smooth and in the topological locally flat category. In this article, we investigate a…
It is shown that every knot or link is the set of complex tangents of a 3-sphere smoothly embedded in the three-dimensional complex space. We show in fact that a one-dimensional submanifold of a closed orientable 3-manifold can be realised…
The stable 4-genus of a knot K in 3-space is the limiting value of g_4(nK)/n, where g_4 denotes the 4-genus and n goes to infinity. This induces a seminorm on CQ, the concordance group tensored with the rational numbers. Basic properties of…
In this work we classify all smooth surfaces with geometric genus equal to three and an action of a group G isomorphic to (Z/2)^k such that the quotient is a plane. We find 11 families. We compute the canonical map of all of them, finding…
We develop obstructions to a knot K in the 3-sphere bounding a smooth punctured Klein bottle in the 4-ball. The simplest of these is based on the linking form of the 2-fold branched cover of the 3-sphere branched over K. Stronger…
Given a finite set of $r$ points in a closed surface of genus $g$, we consider the torsion elements in the mapping class group of the surface leaving the finite set invariant. We show that the torsion elements generate the mapping class…
Let G be a finite group and let T(G) be the abelian group of equivalence classes of endotrivial kG-modules, where k is an algebraically closed field of characteristic p. We determine, in terms of the structure of G, the kernel of the…
We study the sutured Floer homology invariants of the sutured manifold obtained by cutting a knot complement along a Seifert surface, R. We show that these invariants are finer than the "top term" of the knot Floer homology, which they…
In knot concordance three genera arise naturally, g(K), g_4(K), and g_c(K): these are the classical genus, the 4-ball genus, and the concordance genus, defined to be the minimum genus among all knots concordant to K. Clearly 0 <= g_4(K) <=…
Call a smooth knot (or smooth link) in the unit sphere in $\mathbb{C}^2$ analytic (respectively, smoothly analytic) if it bounds a complex curve (respectively, a smooth complex curve) in the complex ball. Let $K$ be a smoothly analytic…
We argue that for a smooth surface S, considered as a ramified cover over the projective plane branched over a nodal-cuspidal curve B one could use the structure of the fundamental group of the complement of the branch curve to understand…
We construct genus one knots whose handle number is only realized by Seifert surfaces of non-minimal genus. These are counterexamples to the conjecture that the Seifert genus of a knot is its Morse-Novikov genus. As the Morse-Novikov genus…
We complete the first step in a two-part program proposed by Baker, Grigsby, and the author to prove that Berge's construction of knots in the three-sphere which admit lens space surgeries is complete. The first step, which we prove here,…
The idea that the elementary particles might have the symmetry of knots has had a long history. In any current formulation of this idea, however, the knot must be quantized. The present review is a summary of a small set of papers that…
This paper is about cohomology of mapping class groups from the perspective of arithmetic groups. For a closed surface $S$ of genus $g$, the mapping class group $Mod(S)$ admits a well-known arithmetic quotient $Mod(S)\rightarrow Sp(2g, Z)$,…
We construct new examples of immersed minimal surfaces with catenoid ends and finite total curvature, of both genus zero and higher genus. In the genus zero case, we classify all such surfaces with at most $2n+1$ ends, and with symmetry…
We classify minimal surfaces $S$ of general type with $p_g=q=2$ and $K_S^2=6$ whose Albanese map is a generically finite double cover. We show that the corresponding moduli space is the disjoint union of three generically smooth,…
Given a closed four-manifold $X$ with an indefinite intersection form, we consider smoothly embedded surfaces in $X \setminus $int$(B^4)$, with boundary a knot $K \subset S^3$. We give several methods to bound the genus of such surfaces in…
Let $\mathcal{C}$ be a decomposable plane curve over an algebraically closed field $k$ of characteristic 0. That is, $\mathcal{C}$ is defined in $k^2$ by an equation of the form $g(x) = f(y)$, where $g$ and $f$ are polynomials of degree at…