Related papers: Classification of alternating knots with tunnel nu…

We present a new theory which describes the collection of all tunnels of tunnel number 1 knots in the 3-sphere (up to orientation-preserving equivalence in the sense of Heegaard splittings) using the disk complex of the genus-2 handlebody…

It is a consequence of theorems of Gordon-Reid [Tangle decompositions of tunnel number one knots and links, J. Knot Theory and its Ramifications, 4 (1995) 389-409] and Thompson [Thin position and bridge number for knots in the 3-sphere,…

For a genus-1 1-bridge knot in the 3-sphere, that is, a (1,1)-knot, a middle tunnel is a tunnel that is not an upper or lower tunnel for some (1,1)-position. Most torus knots have a middle tunnel, and non-torus-knot examples were obtained…

Let K be a knot that has an unknotting tunnel tau. We prove that K admits a strong involution that fixes tau pointwise if and only if K is a two-bridge knot and tau its upper or lower tunnel.

We give a description of all (1,2)-knots in S^3 which admit a closed meridionally incompressible surface of genus 2 in their complement. That is, we give several constructions of (1,2)-knots having a meridionally incompressible surface of…

Bankwitz characterized an alternating diagram representing the trivial knot. A non-alternating diagram is called almost alternating if one crossing change makes the diagram alternating. We characterize an almost alternaing diagram…

For the alternating knots or links, mutations do not change the arc index. In the case of nonalternating knots, some semi-alternating knots or links have this property. We mainly focus on the problem of mutation invariance of the arc index…

The alternating knots, links and twists projected on the $S_2$ sphere were identified with the phase space of a Hamiltonian dynamic system of one degree of freedom. The saddles of the system correspond to the crossings, the edges correspond…

The Jones unknot conjecture states that the Jones polynomial distinguishes the unknot from nontrivial knots. We prove it for knots up to 23 crossings.

This is the third of three papers that refine and extend portions of our earlier preprint, "The depth of a knot tunnel." Together, they rework the entire preprint. In this paper, we use the theory of tunnel number 1 knots that we introduced…

Recently Iltgen, Lewark and Marino introduced the concept of a proper rational tangle replacement and the corresponding notion of the proper rational unknotting number. In this note we derive a version of the Montesinos trick for proper…

We prove that a special alternating knot does not decompose as a non-trivial band sum. This restricts concordances from special alternating knots, and we conjecture that special alternating knots are ribbon concordance minimal. We verify…

We give a complete classification of exceptional surgeries on hyperbolic alternating knots in the 3-sphere. As an appendix, we also show that the Montesinos knots M (-1/2, 2/5, 1/(2q + 1)) with q at least 5 have no non-trivial exceptional…

We define the virtual bridge number $vb(K)$ and the virtual unknotting number $vu(K)$ invariants for virtual knots. For ordinary knots $K$ they are closely related to the bridge number $b(K)$ and the unknotting number $u(K)$ and we have…

We prove that the degree of the Brandt-Lickorish-Millet polynomial of any quasi-alternating link is less than its determinant. Therefore, we obtain a new and a simple obstruction criterion for quasi-alternateness. As an application, we…

We characterize composite tunnel number one genus two handlebody-knots.

In this paper, we determine the average genus of all the $2$-bridge knots with a given crossing number. As a consequence, we obtain the oblique asymptote of this value as the crossing number grows.

The group of any nontrivial torus knot, hyperbolic 2-bridge knot, or hyperbolic knot with unknotting number one contains infinitely many elements, none the automorphic image of another, such that each normally generates the group.

A knot is a closed loop in space without self-intersection. Two knots are equivalent if there is a self homeomorphism of space bringing one onto the other. An arc presentation is an embedding of a knot in the union of finitely many half…

We study 2-string free tangle decompositions of knots with tunnel number two. As an application, we construct infinitely many counter-examples to a conjecture in the literature stating that the tunnel number of the connected sum of prime…