Related papers: The knot complement problem for null-homotopic kno…

Let $K$ denote a knot inside the homology sphere $Y$ and $K'$ denote a knot inside a homology sphere $L$-space. Let $X=Y(K,K')$ denote the 3-manifold obtained by splicing the complements of $K$ and $K'$. We show that…

We construct new knot polynomials. Let $V$ be the standard solid torus in 3-space and let $pr$ be its standard projection onto an annulus. Let $M$ be the space of all smooth oriented knots in $V$ such that the restriction of $pr$ is an…

We provide new information about the structure of the abelian group of topological concordance classes of knots in $S^3$. One consequence is that there is a subgroup of infinite rank consisting entirely of knots with vanishing Casson-Gordon…

Fix a knot $K_0$ in $\mathbb{R}^3$ and consider a Lagrangian submanifold $L$ of $T^*\mathbb{R}^3$ that is isotopic to the conormal bundle of $K_0$ by a compactly supported Hamiltonian isotopy and intersects the zero section $\mathbb{R}^3$…

We prove that if an alternating 3-braid knot has unknotting number one, then there must exist an unknotting crossing in any alternating diagram of it, and we enumerate such knots. The argument combines the obstruction to unknotting number…

Dunfield-Garoufalidis and Boyer-Zhang proved that the A-polynomial of a nontrivial knot in $S^{3}$ is nontrivial. In this paper, we use holonomy perturbations to prove the non-triviality of the A-polynomial for a nontrivial, null-homotopic…

We establish surgery formulas for filtration of the Heegaard Floer homology associated with p/q surgery on a null-homologous knot K in a three-manifold Y, induced by K_{p/q}. Here K_{p/q} is the core of the attached solid torus (which…

Let $\mathcal {M}$ be the space of all, including singular, long knots in 3-space and for which a fixed projection into the plane is an immersion. Let $cl(\Sigma^{(1)}_{iness})$ be the closure of the union of all singular knots in $\mathcal…

Let $M$ be a connected, closed, oriented three-manifold and $K$, $L$ two rationally null-homologous oriented simple closed curves in $M$. We give an explicit algorithm for computing the linking number between $K$ and $L$ in terms of a…

We show that if each of $K_1$ and $K_2$ is a trefoil knot or figure eight knot, the homology 3-sphere defined by the Kirby diagram which is a simple link of $K_1$ and $K_2$ with framing (0, n) is represented by an n-twisted Whitehead double…

Using instanton Floer theory, extending methods due to Froyshov, we determine the definite lattices that arise from smooth 4-manifolds bounded by certain homology 3-spheres. For example, we show that for +1 surgery on the (2,5) torus knot,…

We define an invariant ${\varphi}$ for knots in the 3-sphere by means of Donaldson invariants and Floer's instanton homology. Some basic properties of this invariant are established and it is shown that ${\varphi}$ coincides with a special…

We show that the integer homology sphere obtained by splicing two nontrivial knot complements in integer homology sphere L-spaces has Heegaard Floer homology rank strictly greater than one. In particular, splicing the complements of…

Let $X$ be a closed indefinite $4$-manifold with $b_+(X) = 3 \; ({\rm mod} \; 4)$ and with non-vanishing mod $2$ Seiberg--Witten invariants. We prove a new lower bound on the genus of a properly embedded surface in $X \setminus B^4$…

We show that if $Y$ is a compact topological manifold and $X$ is a locally flat submanifold, then the complement $Y - X$ is homotopy equivalent to a finite CW complex. This is a direct proof, and does not rely on much of the theory of…

We show that there exist non-trivial piecewise-linear (PL) knots with isolated singularities $S^{n-2}\subset S^n$, $n\geq 5$, whose complements have the homotopy type of a circle. This is in contrast to the case of smooth, PL locally-flat,…

For a knot $K,$ a slope $r$ is said to be characterizing if for no other knot $J$ does $r$-framed surgery along $J$ yield the same manifold as $r$-framed surgery on $K.$ Applying a condition of Baker and Motegi, we show that the knots…

We define an invariant of three-manifolds with an involution with non-empty fixed point set of codimension $2$; in particular, this applies to double branched covers over knots. Our construction gives the Heegaard Floer analogue of Li's…

In 1974, D. Rolfsen asked: Is every knot in $S^3$ isotopic (=homotopic through embeddings) to a PL knot or, equivalently, to the unknot? In particular, is the Bing sling isotopic to a PL knot? We show that the Bing sling is not isotopic to…

Conjecturally, a knot in the 3-sphere has only finitely many non-integer non-characterizing slopes. We verify this conjecture for all knots with knot Floer homology satisfying certain simplicity conditions. The class of knots satisfying our…