Related papers: On the negative band number
We provide a new bound on the maximum degree of the Jones polynomial of a positive link with second Jones coefficient equal to $\pm 1$ or $\pm 2$. This builds upon the result of our previous work, in which we found such a bound for positive…
We study the double slice genus of a knot, a natural generalization of slice genus. We define a notion called band number, a natural generalization of band unknotting number, and prove it is an upper bound on double slice genus. Our bound…
In this article, we initiate a geometric study of graph braid groups. More precisely, by applying the formalism of special colorings introduced in a previous article, we determine precisely when a graph braid group is Gromov-hyperbolic,…
We analyze properties of links which have diagrams with a small number of negative crossings. We show that if a nontrivial link has a diagram with all crossings positive except possibly one, then the signature of the link is negative. If a…
In this paper, we construct invariants of braids, knots and links by studying dynamics of points in $\R^{2}$ and applying the Ptolemy relation $ac+bd=xy$.
We introduce and study knots and links in 2-dimensional complexes. In particular, we define linking numbers for oriented two-component links in 2-complexes and a Kauffman-type bracket polynomial for links in 2-complexes. We also discuss…
We review a braid theoretic self-linking number formula and study its applications.
We derive a lower bound for all Levine-Tristram signatures of positive braid links, linear in terms of the first Betti number. As a consequence, we obtain upper and lower bounds on the ratio of fixed pairs of Levine-Tristram signature…
Using the recent Gauss diagram formulas for Vassiliev invariants of Polyak-Viro-Fiedler and combining these formulas with the Bennequin inequality, we prove several inequalities for positive knots relating their Vassiliev invariants, genus…
The Kontsevich integral $Z$ associates to each braid $b$ (or more generally knot $k$) invariants $Z_i(b)$ lying in finite dimensional vector spaces, for $i = 0, 1, 2, ...$. These values are not yet known, except in special cases. The…
We introduce topological invariants of knots and braid conjugacy classes, in the form of differential graded algebras, and present an explicit combinatorial formulation for these invariants. The algebras conjecturally give the relative…
A well-known algorithm for unknotting knots involves traversing a knot diagram and changing each crossing that is first encountered from below. The minimal number of crossings changed in this way across all diagrams for a knot is called the…
We classify closed 3-braids which are L-space knots.
Let $u(K)$ and $g(K)$ denote the unknotting number and the genus of a knot $K$, respectively. For a 3-braid knot $K$, we show that $u(K)\le g(K)$ holds, and that if $u(K)=g(K)$ then $K$ is either a 2-braid knot, a connected sum of two…
We discuss when homogeneous quasipositive links are positive. In particular, we show that a homogeneous diagram of a quasipositive link whose number of Seifert circles is equal to the braid index is a positive diagram.
We present a systematic classification of uncolored bonded knots with singularity number at most seven. Bonded knots provide a topological model for closed protein chains with intramolecular bridges, such as disulfide bonds. Following the…
The contents of this 6-page paper have been subsumed into the 13-page paper, "A note on closed 3-braids", arXiv:0802.1072 [math.GT]. This paper is correct, but contains less information than the new one. The topological classification of…
We give some conditions on positive braids with at least two full twists that ensure their closure is a hyperbolic knot, with applications to the geometric classification of T-links, arising from dynamics, and twisted torus knots.
Birman-Menasco proved that there are finitely many knots having a given genus and braid index. We give a quantitative version of Birman-Menasco finiteness theorem, an estimate of the crossing number of knots in terms of genus and braid…
We show that every non-trivial strongly quasipositive link is smoothly concordant to infinitely many pairwise non-isotopic strongly quasipositive links. In contrast to our result, Baker conjectured that smoothly concordant strongly…