Related papers: On the negative band number
It has been conjectured that the algebraic crossing number of a link is uniquely determined in minimal braid representation. This conjecture is true for many classes of knots and links. The Morton-Franks-Williams inequality gives a lower…
The braid indices of most links remain unknown as there is no known universal method that can be used to determine the braid index of an arbitrary knot. This is also the case for alternating knots. In this paper, we show that if $K$ is an…
We use grid diagrams to present a unified picture of braids, Legendrian knots, and transverse knots.
In this paper, we give the trivializing number of all minimal diagrams of positive 2-bridge knots, and study the relation between the trivializing number and the unknotting number for a part of these knots.
We compute the next-to-top term of knot Floer homology for positive braid links. The rank is 1 for any prime positive braid knot. We give some examples of fibered positive links that are not positive braids.
We study a certain type of braid closure which resembles the plat closure but has certain advantages; for example, it maps pure braids to knots. The main results of this note are a Markov-type theorem and a description of how Vassiliev…
We report on the geometry and mechanics of knotted stiff strings. We discuss both closed and open knots. Our two main results are: (i) Their equilibrium energy as well as the equilibrium tension for open knots depend on the type of knot as…
We provide a combinatorial characterisation of positive diagrams satisfying the equality in the Morton-Franks-Williams bound for the degrees of the HOMFLY-PT polynomial. This characterisation allows generating with relative ease examples of…
In this paper we examine the relationship between various types of positivity for knots and the concodance invariant tau discovered by Ozsvath and Szabo and independently by Rasmussen. The main result shows that, for fibered knots, tau…
Relative self-linking and linking "numbers" for pairs of knots in oriented 3-manifolds are defined in terms of intersection invariants of immersed surfaces in 4-manifolds. The resulting concordance invariants generalize the usual…
A positive braid with at least one full twist is known to be a minimal braid, i.e, it achieves the braid index for its closure. In this paper we find knots that are the closure of positive minimal braids that cannot be represented by…
In this paper, we study a geometric/topological measure of knots and links called the nullification number. The nullification of knots/links is believed to be biologically relevant. For example, in DNA topology, one can intuitively regard…
Is any positive knot the closure of a positive braid? No. But if we consider positivity in terms of the generators of the braid group due to Birman, Ko and Lee, then the answer is yes. In this paper we prove that the same occurs when…
We prove a simple necessary and sufficient condition for a two-bridge knot K(p,q) to be quasipositive, based on the continued fraction expansion of p/q. As an application, coupled with some classification results in contact and symplectic…
We define the symmetric braid index $b_s(K)$ of a ribbon knot $K$ to be the smallest index of a braid whose closure yields a symmetric union diagram of $K$, and derive a Khovanov-homological characterisation of knots with $b_s(K)$ at most…
We exhibit braid positive presentations for all L-space knots in the SnapPy census except one, which is not braid positive. The normalized HOMFLY polynomial of o9_30634, when suitably normalized is not positive, failing a condition of Ito…
We computationally explore non-coherent band attachments between low crossing number knots, using grid diagrams. We significantly improve the current H(2)-distance table. In particular, we find two new distance one pairs with fewer than…
We classify 3-braid knots whose topological 4-genus coincides with their Seifert genus, using McCoy's twisting method and the Xu normal form. In addition, we give upper bounds for the topological 4-genus of positive and strongly…
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…
We provide a diagrammatic criterion for semi-adequate links to be hyperbolic. We also give a conjectural description of the satellite structures of semi-adequate links. One application of our result is that the closures of sufficiently…