Related papers: Ribbon concordance and fibered predecessors

We use Hamiltonian Floer theory to recover and generalize a classic rigidity theorem of Ekelend and Lasry. That theorem can be rephrased as an assertion about the existence of multiple closed Reeb orbits for certain tight contact forms on…

We study a twisted Alexander polynomial naturally associated to a hyperbolic knot in an integer homology 3-sphere via a lift of the holonomy representation to SL(2, C). It is an unambiguous symmetric Laurent polynomial whose coefficients…

We prove that if two knots are concordant, their involutive knot Floer complexes satisfy a certain type of stable equivalence.

We investigate the disparity between smooth and topological almost concordance of knots in general 3-manifolds Y. Almost concordance is defined by considering knots in Y modulo concordance in Yx[0,1] and the action of the concordance group…

When does the double cover of the three-sphere branched along an alternating link bound a rational homology ball? Heegaard Floer homology generates a necessary condition for it to bound: the link's chessboard lattice must be cubiquitous,…

We exhibit an algorithm to determine the bridge number of a hyperbolic knot in the 3-sphere. The proof uses adaptations of almost normal surface theory for compact surfaces with boundary in ideally triangulated knot exteriors.

Given a grid presentation of a knot (or link) K in the three-sphere, we describe a Heegaard diagram for the knot complement in which the Heegaard surface is a torus and all elementary domains are squares. Using this diagram, we obtain a…

We construct topological triangulations for complements of $(-2,3,n)$-pretzel knots and links with $n\ge7$. Following a procedure outlined by Futer and Gu\'eritaud, we use a theorem of Casson and Rivin to prove the constructed…

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…

We consider the space of all smooth knots in the 3-sphere isotopic to a given knot, with the aim of finding a small subspace onto which this large space deformation retracts. For torus knots and many hyperbolic knots we show the subspace…

Let $\Sigma_0,\Sigma_1$ be closed oriented surfaces. Two oriented knots $K_0 \subset \Sigma_0 \times [0,1]$ and $K_1 \subset \Sigma_1 \times [0,1]$ are said to be (virtually) concordant if there is a compact oriented $3$-manifold $W$ and a…

Using Taubes' periodic ends theorem, Auckly gave examples of toroidal and hyperbolic irreducible integer homology spheres which are not surgery on a knot in the three-sphere. We give an obstruction to a homology sphere being surgery on a…

A companion paper to "On knot Floer homology in branched double covers" applied to braided branched loci. We reprove the main result of that paper concerning alternating branched loci when projected to an annulus, without using Khovanov…

Using the covering involution on the double branched cover of the three-sphere branched along a knot, and adapting ideas of Hendricks-Manolescu and Hendricks-Hom-Lidman, we define new knot invariants and apply them to deduce novel linear…

Given a knot in $S^3$, one can associate to it a surface diffeomorphism in two different ways. First, an arbitrary knot in $S^{3}$ can be represented by braids, which can be thought of as diffeomorphisms of punctured disks. Second, if the…

In this thesis, we prove several results concerning field-theoretic invariants of knots and 3-manifolds. In Chapter 2, for any knot $K$ in a closed, oriented 3-manifold $M$, we use $SU(2)$ representation spaces and the Lagrangian field…

We show that free-by-free groups satisfying a homological criterion, which we call excessive homology, are incoherent. This class is large in nature, including many examples of hyperbolic and non-hyperbolic free-by-free groups. We apply…

Let K be a fibered knot in the 3-sphere. We show that if the monodromy of K is sufficiently complicated, then Dehn surgery on K cannot yield a lens space. Work of Yi Ni shows that if K has a lens space surgery then it is fibered. Combining…

We consider the existence of simple closed geodesics or "geodesic knots" in finite volume orientable hyperbolic 3-manifolds. Previous results show that at least one geodesic knot always exists [Bull. London Math. Soc. 31(1) (1999) 81-86],…

We show that a null-homologous transverse knot K in the complement of an overtwisted disk in a contact 3-manifold is the boundary of a Legendrian ribbon if and only if it possesses a Seifert surface S such that the self-linking number of K…