Related papers: Obstructions to trivializing a knot

Classical knot theory deals with {\em diagrams} and {\em invariants}. By means of horizontal {\em trisecants}, we construct a new theory of classical braids with invariants valued in {\em pictures}. These pictures are closely related to…

The Lawrence-Krammer representation of the braid groups recently came to prominence when it was shown to be faithful by myself and Krammer. It is an action of the braid group on a certain homology module $H_2(\tilde{C})$ over the ring of…

In the study of ribbon knots, Lamm introduced symmetric unions inspired by earlier work of Kinoshita and Terasaka. We show an identity between the twisted Alexander polynomials of a symmetric union and its partial knot. As a corollary, we…

It has been conjectured that the algebraic crossing number of a link is uniquely determined in minimal braid representation. This conjecture is true for many classes of knots and links. The Morton-Franks-Williams inequality gives a lower…

S. Bigelow proved that the braid groups are linear. That is, there is a faithful representation of the braid group into the general linear group of some field. Using this, we deduce from previously known results that the mapping class group…

This is an expository article on diagrammatic representations of knots and links in various settings via braids.

The Lawrence-Krammer representation was used in $2000$ to show the linearity of the braid group. The problem had remained open for many years. The fact that the Lawrence-Krammer representation of the braid group is reducible for some…

The primary objects of study in the ``knot theory of complex plane curves'' are C-links: links (or knots) cut out of a 3-sphere in the complex plane by complex plane transverse and totally tangential. Transverse C-links are naturally…

A connection is made between the Krammer representation and the Birman-Murakami-Wenzl algebra. Inspired by a dimension argument, a basis is found for a certain irrep of the algebra, and relations which generate the matrices are found.…

It is shown that two braids represent transversally isotopic links if and only if one can pass from one braid to another by conjugations in braid groups, positive Markov moves, and their inverses.

This note has an experimental nature and contains no new theorems. We introduce certain moves for classical knot diagrams that for all the very many examples we have tested them on give a monotonic complete simplification. A complete…

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 positive braid with at least one full twist is known to be a minimal braid, i.e, it achieves the braid index for its closure. In this paper we find knots that are the closure of positive minimal braids that cannot be represented by…

Alexander's and Markov's theorems state that any link type in $R^3$ is represented by a closed braid and that such representations are related by some elementary operations called Markov moves. We generalize the notion of a braid to that in…

This is a review article on the Bennequin-Birman-Menasco machinery for studying embedded incompressible surfaces in 3-space via their `braid foliations'. Two cases are investigated: case (1) The surface has non-empty boundary; the boundary…

Braiding operators corresponding to the third Reidemeister move in the theory of knots and links are realized in terms of parametrized unitary matrices for all dimensions. Two distinct classes are considered. Their (non-local) unitary…

We discuss how to apply work of L. Rudolph to braid conjugacy class invariants to obtain potentially effective obstructions to a slice knot being ribbon. We then apply these ideas to a family of braid conjugacy class invariants coming from…

We consider countable linear orders and study the quasi-order of convex embeddability and its induced equivalence relation. We obtain both combinatorial and descriptive set-theoretic results, and further extend our research to the case of…

In the paper we give a survey on braid groups and subjects connected with them. We start with the initial definition, then we give several interpretations as well as several presentations of these groups. Burau presentation for the pure…

Any knot diagram can be transformed into the unknot by a series of unknotting operations. This paper introduces the diagonal move, a novel unknotting operation that generalizes and unifies several existing moves. We prove that the diagonal…