Related papers: The Computational Complexity of Knot Genus and Spa…

While the problem of computing the genus of a knot is now fairly well understood, no algorithm is known for its four-dimensional variants, both in the smooth and in the topological locally flat category. In this article, we investigate a…

A new lower bound on the complexity of a 3-manifold is given using the Z2-Thurston norm. This bound is shown to be sharp, and the minimal triangulations realising it are characterised using normal surfaces consisting entirely of…

We define homotopy-theoretic invariants of knots in prime 3-manifolds. Fix a knot J in a prime 3-manifold M. Call a knot K in M concordant to J if it cobounds a properly embedded annulus with J in MxI, and call K J-characteristic if there…

We consider the problem of deciding, given a sequence of regions, if there is a choice of points, one for each region, such that the induced polyline is simple or weakly simple, meaning that it can touch but not cross itself. Specifically,…

Graph packing and partitioning problems have been studied in many contexts, including from the algorithmic complexity perspective. Consider the packing problem of determining whether a graph contains a spanning tree and a cycle that do not…

We show that the genus problem for alternating knots with $n$ crossings has linear time complexity and is in Logspace$(n)$. Almost all alternating knots of given genus possess additional combinatorial structure, we call them standard. We…

For each $1\leq n\leq6$ we present formulas for the number of $n-$nodal curves in an $n-$dimensional linear system on a smooth, projective surface. This yields in particular the numbers of rational curves in the system of hyperplane…

We describe an algorithm to decide whether two genus-two surfaces embedded in the 3-sphere are isotopic or not. The algorithm employs well-known techniques in 3-manifolds topology, as well as a new algorithmic solution to a problem on free…

We establish enhanced bounds on Cheeger-Gromov rho-invariants for general 3-manifolds and yet stronger bounds for special classes of 3-manifold. As key ingredients, we construct chain null-homotopies whose complexity is linearly bounded by…

A model of simplicial quantum gravity in three dimensions(3D) was investigated numerically based on the technique of dynamical triangulation (DT). We are concerned with the genus of surfaces appearing on boundaries (i.e., sections) of a 3D…

We provide three 3-dimensional characterizations of the Z-slice genus of a knot, the minimal genus of a locally-flat surface in 4-space cobounding the knot whose complement has cyclic fundamental group: in terms of balanced algebraic…

We give a criterion for a continuous family of curves on a nodal $K$-trivial threefold $X_0$ to contribute geometrically rigid curves to a general smoothing of $X_0$. As an application, we prove the existence of geometrically rigid curves…

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 define a trisection of a closed, orientable three dimensional manifold into three handlebodies, and a notion of stabilization for these trisections. Several examples of trisections are described in detail. We define the trisection genus…

Computing the crossing number of a graph is one of the most classical problems in computational geometry. Both it and numerous variations of the problem have been studied, and overcoming their frequent computational difficulty is an active…

We show that the difference between the topological 4-genus of a knot and the minimal genus of a surface bounded by that knot that can be decomposed into a smooth concordance followed by an algebraically simple locally flat surface can be…

Fix a finite group $G$. We study the computational complexity of counting problems of the following flavor: given a group $\Gamma$, count the number of homomorphisms $\Gamma \to G$. Our first result establishes that this problem is…

We define a knot to be half ribbon if it is the cross-section of a ribbon 2-knot, and observe that ribbon implies half ribbon implies slice. We introduce the half ribbon genus of a knot K, the minimum genus of a ribbon knotted surface of…

The probability of a random polygon (or a ring polymer) having a knot type $K$ should depend on the complexity of the knot $K$. Through computer simulation using knot invariants, we show that the knotting probability decreases exponentially…

In the spanning-tree congestion problem ($\mathsf{STC}$), we are given a graph $G$, and the objective is to compute a spanning tree of $G$ that minimizes the maximum edge congestion. While $\mathsf{STC}$ is known to be $\mathbb{NP}$-hard,…