Related papers: Property P for Knots admitting Certain Gabai Disks

Given a (genus 2) cube-with-holes M, i.e. the complement in S^3 of a handlebody H, we relate intrinsic properties of M (like its cut number) with extrinsic features depending on the way the handlebody H is knotted in S^3. Starting from a…

Weakly generalised alternating knots are knots with an alternating projection onto a closed surface in a compact irreducible 3-manifold, and they share many hyperbolic geometric properties with usual alternating knots. For example, usual…

If there are any 2-component counterexamples to the Generalized Property R Conjecture, a least genus component of all such counterexamples cannot be a fibered knot. Furthermore, the monodromy of a fibered component of any such…

We describe a procedure for creating infinite families of hyperbolic knots having unique minimal genus Seifert surface. A large subset of these knots have the further property that the surface cannot be the sole compact leaf of a depth one…

We investigate the computational complexity of some problems in three-dimensional topology and geometry. We show that the problem of determining a bound on the genus of a knot in a 3-manifold, is NP-complete. Using similar ideas, we show…

A knot K is called n-adjacent to the unknot, if K admits a projection containing n generalized crossings such that changing any m (no larger than n) of them yields a projection of the unknot. We show that a non-trivial satellite knot K is…

We develop monopole and instanton Floer homology groups for balanced sutured manifolds. Applications include a new proof of Property P for knots.

We consider diagrams of links in $S^2$ obtained by projection from $S^3$ with the Hopf map and the minimal crossing number for such diagrams. Knots admitting diagrams with at most one crossing are classified. Some properties of these knots…

Let $P(K)$ be a satellite knot where the pattern, $P$, is a Berge-Gabai knot (i.e., a knot in the solid torus with a non-trivial solid torus Dehn surgery), and the companion, $K$, is a non-trivial knot in $S^3$. We prove that $P(K)$ is an…

It is known that the minimal degree of the Jones polynomial of a positive knot is equal to its genus, and the minimal coefficient is 1. We extend this result to almost positive links and partly identify the 3 following coefficients for…

We construct a hyperbolic 3-manifold $M$ (with $\partial M$ totally geodesic) which contains no essential closed surfaces, but for any even integer $g> 0$ there are infinitely many separating slopes $r$ on $\partial M$ so that $M[r]$, the…

For every integer $g\ge 2$ we construct 3-dimensional genus-$g$ 1-handlebodies smoothly embedded in $S^4$ with the same boundary, and which are defined by the same cut systems of their boundary, yet which are not isotopic rel. boundary via…

Given a knot or link in the form of plat closure of a braid, we describe an algorithm to obtain a braid representing the same knot or link with the standard closure, and vice-versa. We analyze the three cases of knots and links: in…

Thin position for knots in the 3-sphere was introduced by Gabai and has been used in a variety of contexts. We conjecture an analogue to a theorem of Schubert and Schultens concerning the bridge number of satellite knots. For a satellite…

Let $K$ be a nontrivial knot in $S^3$. We say that an element of the knot group $G(K)$ is \textit{persistent} if it remains nontrivial under all nontrivial Dehn fillings. Such elements exist for every nontrivial knot. Indeed, Property P is…

Let $\Sigma_{g,p}$ be an orientable surface of genus $g$ and of finite type without boundary (i.e. an orientable closed surface with a finite number $p$ of points removed). In this paper we study the R$_{\infty}$-property for the surface…

A non-singular connected algebraic curve $A$ in a simply connected algebraic surface $X$ can be knotted so that its homology class and the fundamental group of its complement in $X$ is preserved, provided $A$ is sufficiently complex (not…

Our main result is a nontrivial lower bound for the distortion of some specific knots. In particular, we show that the distortion of the torus knot $T_{p,q}$ satisfies $\delta(T_{p,q})>\frac 1{160}\min(p,q)$. This answers a 1983 question of…

We introduce a new numerical knot invariant, termed the \textit{segment number}, which is derived from partitioned knot diagrams subject to specific over/under-crossing constraints. We prove that a knot is non-trivial if and only if its…

We show the existence of infinitely many knot exteriors where each of which contains meridional essential surfaces of any genus and (even) number of boundary components. That is, the compact surfaces that have a meridional essential…