Related papers: Four-page index and linear upper bounds for ribbon…

This paper is expository and is accessible to students. We define simple invariants of knots or links (linking number, Arf-Casson invariants and Alexander-Conway polynomials) motivated by interesting results whose statements are accessible…

A strengthened version of Harborth's well-known conjecture -- known as Kleber's conjecture -- states that every planar graph admits a planar straight-line drawing where every edge has integer length and each vertex is restricted to the…

We show that for a large class of hyperbolic knots and links, we can determine bounds on the volume of the link complement from combinatorial information given by a link diagram. Specifically, there is a universal constant C such that if a…

This paper is the second part of our work on 4-dimensional 2-handlebodies. In the first part (arXiv:math.GT/0407032) it is shown that up to certain set of local moves, connected simple coverings of B^4 branched over ribbon surfaces,…

We study the problem of finding the minimal (maximal) genus for a surface where a given four-valent graph with fixed opposite edge structure can be embedded into. We find several partial relations and give new reformulations in…

Using the existence of a special quadrisecant line, we show the ropelength of any nontrivial knot is at least 15.66. This improves the previously known lower bound of 12. Numerical experiments have found a trefoil with ropelength less than…

A $k$-stack layout (also called a $k$-page book embedding) of a graph consists of a total order of the vertices, and a partition of the edges into $k$ sets of non-crossing edges with respect to the vertex order. The stack number (book…

We establish a connection between knot theory and cluster algebras via representation theory. To every knot diagram (or link diagram), we associate a cluster algebra by constructing a quiver with potential. The rank of the cluster algebra…

This short note proves that every incomplete $k$-list-critical graph has average degree at least $k-1 + \frac{k-3}{k^2-2k+2}$. This improves the best known bound for $k = 4,5,6$. The same bound holds for online $k$-list-critical graphs.

M. A. Kervaire showed that every group of deficiency $d$ and weight $d$ is the fundamental group of a smooth sphere-link of $d$ components in a smooth homotopy 4-sphere. In the use of the smooth unknotting conjecture and the smooth 4D…

The reconstruction of phylogenetic trees from discrete character data typically relies on models that assume the characters evolve under a continuous-time Markov process operating at some overall rate $\lambda$. When $\lambda$ is too high…

The maximum length of the shortest path from a leaf to the root of a skein tree for knots and links gives a measure of the complexity of computing link polynomials by the skein relation (the Jones polynomial, the Alexander-Conway…

We define half grid diagrams and prove every link is half grid presentable by constructing a canonical half grid pair (which gives rise to a grid diagram of some special type) associated with an element in the oriented Thompson group. We…

The Wiener index of a connected graph is the summation of all distances between unordered pairs of vertices of the graph. In this paper, we give an upper bound on the Wiener index of a $k$-connected graph $G$ of order $n$ for integers…

In 1982 Louis Kauffman conjectured that if a knot in the 3-sphere is a slice knot then on any Seifert surface for that knot there exists a homologically essential simple closed curve of self-linking zero which is itself a slice knot, or at…

Given a link L in the 3-sphere, we ask whether the components of L bound disjoint, nullhomologous disks properly embedded in a simply-connected positive-definite smooth 4-manifold; the knot case has been studied extensively in work of…

We characterize, in an algebraic and in a diagrammatic way, Milnor string link invariants indexed by sequences where any index appears at most $k$ times, for any fixed $k\ge 1$. The algebraic characterization is given in terms of an…

The network formed by ridges in a straightened sheet of crumpled paper is studied using a laser profilometer. Square sheets of paper were crumpled into balls, unfolded and their height profile measured. From these profiles the imposed…

Using deep analytic methods, Cheeger and Gromov showed that for any smooth (4k-1)-manifold there is a universal bound for the von Neumann $L^2$ $\rho$-invariants associated to arbitrary regular covers. We present a proof of the existence of…

We define an obstruction for a knot to be Z[Z]-homology ribbon, and use this to provide restrictions on the integers that can occur as the triple linking numbers of derivative links of knots that are either homotopy ribbon or doubly slice.…