Related papers: Homogeneous braids are visually prime

Extending methods first used by Casson, we show how to verify a hyperbolic structure on a finite triangulation of a closed 3-manifold using interval arithmetic methods. A key ingredient is a new theoretical result (akin to a theorem by…

We consider homologically essential simple closed curves on Seifert surfaces of genus one knots in $S^3$, and in particular those that are unknotted or slice in $S^3$. We completely characterize all such curves for most twist knots: they…

We prove that a nicely fibered link (by which we mean the binding of an open book) in a tight contact manifold $(M,\xi)$ with zero Giroux torsion has a transverse representative realizing the Bennequin bound if and only if the contact…

We show that a compact rigid balanced braided monoidal category with enough compact projective objects gives rise to a system of mapping class group representations compatible with the gluing along marked intervals. A motivation to consider…

We show that a transverse link in a contact structure supported by an open book decomposition can be transversely braided. We also generalize Markov's theorem on when the closures of two braids represent (transversely) isotopic links.

In this paper we construct effective invariants for braid monodromy of affine curves. We also prove that, for some curves, braid monodromy determines their topology. We apply this result to find a pair of curves with conjugate equations in…

A result of Malyutin shows that a random walk on the mapping class group gives rise to an element whose fractional Dehn twist coefficient is large or small enough. We show that this leads to several properties of random 3-manifolds and…

We investigate nicely embedded H--holomorphic maps into stable Hamiltonian three--manifolds. In particular we prove that such maps locally foliate and satisfy a no--first--intersection property. Using the compactness results of…

This paper shows that the Seifert volume of each closed non-trivial graph manifold is virtually positive. As a consequence, for each closed orientable prime 3-manifold $N$, the set of mapping degrees $\c{D}(M,N)$ is finite for any…

We show that on any closed contact manifold of dimension greater than 1 a contact structure with vanishing contact homology can be constructed. The basic idea for the construction comes from Giroux. We use a special open book decomposition…

We use contact fiber sums of open book decompositions to define an infinite hierarchy of filling obstructions for contact 3-manifolds, called planar k-torsion for nonnegative integers k, all of which cause the contact invariant in Embedded…

We consider singular foliations of codimension one on 3-manifolds, in the sense defined by A. Haefliger as being Gamma_1-structures. We prove that under the obvious linear embedding condition, they are Gamma_1-homotopic to a regular…

It is well-known that there is a faithful representation of braid groups on automorphism groups of free groups, and it is also well-known that free groups are bi-orderable. We investigate which n-strand braids give rise to automorphisms…

If $X$ is a compact set, a {\it topological contraction} is a self-embedding $f$ such that the intersection of the successive images $f^k(X)$, $k>0$, consists of one point. In dimension 3, we prove that there are smooth topological…

We show that a complete contractible 3-manifold with positive scalar curvature and bounded geometry must be $\mathbb R^3$. We also show that an open handlebody of genus larger than 1 does not admit complete metrics with positive scalar…

We show that 3-braid links with given (non-zero) Alexander or Jones polynomial are finitely many, and can be effectively determined. We classify among closed 3-braids strongly quasipositive and fibered ones, and show that 3-braid links have…

Using PL-methods, we prove the Marden's conjecture that a hyperbolic 3-manifold $M$ with finitely generated fundamental group and with no parabolics are topologically tame. Our approach is to form an exhaustion $M_i$ of $M$ and modify the…

We prove a generalization of the Jones-Kawamuro conjecture that relates the self-linking number and the braid index of closed braids, for planar open books with certain additional conditions and modifications. We show that our result is…

In this note, we discuss embeddings of $3$--manifolds via open books. First we show that every open book of every closed orientable $3$--manifold admits an open book embedding in any open book decompistion of $S^2 \times S^3$ and $S^2…

We build handle decompositions of n-manifolds that encode given open book decompositions and describe handle slides that reveal new open book decompositions on the same underlying manifold, for $n \geq 3$. This recovers known stabilization…