Related papers: Knots with large character varieties

For $\ell >1$, we develop $L^{(2)}$-signature obstructions for $(4\ell-3)$-dimensional knots with metabelian knot groups to be doubly slice. For each $\ell>1$, we construct an infinite family of knots on which our obstructions are non-zero,…

We define the notion of a knot type having Legendrian large cables and show that having this property implies that the knot type is not uniformly thick. Moreover, there are solid tori in this knot type that do not thicken to a solid torus…

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…

Determining when two knots are equivalent (more precisely isotopic) is a fundamental problem in topology. Here we formulate this problem in terms of Predicate Calculus, using the formulation of knots in terms of braids and some basic…

We generalize the classical study of Alexander polynomials of smooth or PL locally-flat knots to PL knots that are not necessarily locally-flat. We introduce three families of generalized Alexander polynomials and study their properties.…

The concordance orders of many algebraic order two knots of ten or fewer crossings have been heretofore unknown. We use Casson-Gordon invariants and twisted Alexander polynomials to find that, in all but one case, these knots do not have…

Arborescent knots are the ones which can be represented in terms of double fat graphs or equivalently as tree Feynman diagrams. This is the class of knots for which the present knowledge is enough for lifting topological description to the…

A rational knot or link can be put into a standard alternating format which has horizontal and vertical twist sites (double helices). The number and type of these twist sites are determined by terms of next-to-highest $z$-degree in…

As an example of the transitions between some of the eight geometries of Thurston, investigated before, we study the geometries supported by the cone-manifolds obtained by surgery on the trefoil knot with singular set the core of the…

In this paper we present some families of polynomials and use them to find, using the techniques in \cite{gma}, a defining polynomial for the $SL(2,\mathbb{C})$ character variety (as defined in \cite{cus}) of the torus knots of type $(m,2)$…

Using the techniques on annulus twists, we observe that $6_3$ has infinitely many non-characterizing slopes, which affirmatively answers a question by Baker and Motegi. Furthermore, we prove that the knots $6_2$, $6_3$, $7_6$, $7_7$, $8_1$,…

A Fox p-colored knot $K$ in $S^3$ gives rise to a $p$-fold branched cover $M$ of $S^3$ along $K$. The pre-image of the knot $K$ under the covering map is a $\dfrac{p+1}{2}$-component link $L$ in $M$, and the set of pairwise linking numbers…

This is a survey of the impact of Thurston's work on knot theory, laying emphasis on the two characteristic features, rigidity and flexibility, of 3-dimensional hyperbolic structures. We also lay emphasis on the role of the classical…

It is known that the fundamental group homomorphism $\pi_1(T^2) \to \pi_1(S^3\setminus K)$ induced by the inclusion of the boundary torus into the complement of a knot $K$ in $S^3$ is a complete knot invariant. Many classical invariants of…

Torus knots are an important family of knots about which much is understood; invariants of torus knots often exhibit nice formulas, making them convenient and fundamental building blocks for examples in knot theory. Spiral knots, defined…

A {\it stuck knot} is a knot diagram containing designated crossings, called {\it stuck crossings}, whose incident strands are required to remain locally non-separable. These rigidity constraints restrict the allowable ambient isotopies and…

For a prime knot $K$, we give sufficient conditions for the existence of a component $\mathcal{C}$ of the irreducible ${\rm SL}(2,\mathbb{C})$-character variety of $K$ with $\dim\mathcal{C}>1$, and give a lower bound for $\dim\mathcal{C}$.…

We describe the explicit form and the hidden structure of the answer for the HOMFLY polynomial for the figure eight and some other 3-strand knots in representation [21]. This is the first result for non-torus knots beyond (anti)symmetric…

Kronheimer and Mrowka asked whether the difference between the four-dimensional clasp number and the slice genus can be arbitrarily large. This question is answered affirmatively by studying a knot invariant derived from equivariant…

Non-classical virtual knots may have non-isomorphic upper and lower quandles. We exploit this property to define the quandle difference invariant, which can detect non-classicality by comparing the numbers of homomorphisms into a finite…