Related papers: Knot adjacency and satellites

We show that one can interweave an unknot into any non-alternating connected projection of a link so that the resulting augmented projection is alternating.

This paper contains linear systems of equations which can distinguish knots without knot invariants. Let $M_n$ be the topological moduli space of all n-component string links and such that a fixed projection into the plane is an immersion.…

The cobordism distance on the knot concordance group is used to define a measure of how close two knots are to being linearly dependent. Roughly stated, d(K,J) is defined by minimizing the cobordism distance between pairs of knots in cyclic…

Given any unoriented link diagram, a group of new knot invariants are constructed. Each of them satisfies a generalized 4 term skein relation. The coefficients of each invariant is from a commutative ring. Homomorphisms and representations…

We examine geometric properties of a knot J that are unchanged by taking a (p,q)-cable K of J. Specifically, we relate w(K) to w(J), where w(K) is the width of K in the sense of Gabai. We use this information to demonstrate that thin…

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…

The concordance genus of a knot K is the minimum three-genus among all knots concordant to K. For prime knots of 10 or fewer crossings there have been three knots for which the concordance genus was unknown. Those three cases are now…

Let $K_0$ and $K$ be knots in $\mathbb{R}^3$. Suppose that by a compactly supported Hamiltonian isotopy on $T^*\mathbb{R}^3$, the conormal bundle of $K_0$ is isotopic to a Lagrangian submanifold which intersects the zero section cleanly…

We study symmetric crossing change operations for strongly invertible knots. Our main theorem is that the most natural notion of equivariant unknotting number is not additive under connected sum, in contrast with the longstanding conjecture…

We show that twisted torus knots $T(p,q,3,s)$ are tunnel number one. A short spanning arc connecting two adjacent twisted strands is an unknotting tunnel.

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…

Positive permutation braids on n strings, which are defined to be positive n-braids where each pair of strings crosses at most once, form the elementary but non-trivial building blocks in many studies of conjugacy in the braid groups. We…

Given a knot K in S^3, let u^-(K) (respectively, u^+(K)) denote the minimum number of negative (respectively, positive) crossing changes among all unknotting sequences for K. We use knot Floer homology to construct the invariants l^-(K),…

In this master thesis, I present a new family of knots in the solid torus called lassos, and their properties. Given a knot $K$ with Alexander polynomial $\Delta_K(t)$, I then use these lassos as patterns to construct families of satellite…

A major problem in knot theory is to decide whether the Jones polynomial detects the unknot. In this paper we study a weaker related problem, namely whether the Jones polynomial reduced modulo an integer $n$ detects the unknot. The answer…

We use four dimensional techniques to derive general bounds on the $\tau$ invariant of a satellite knot in $S^{3}$.

Let P be a knot in an unknotted solid torus (i.e. a satellite operator or pattern), K a knot in S^3 and P(K) the satellite of K with pattern P. For any satellite operator P, this correspondence gives a function P : C -> C on the set of…

In this paper we are interested in symmetries of alternating knots, more precisely in those related to achirality. We call the following statement Tait's Conjecture on alternating -achiral knots: Let K be an alternating -achiral knot. Then…

A partial order on prime knots can be defined by declaring $J\ge K$ if there exists an epimorphism from the knot group of $J$ onto the knot group of $K$. Suppose that $J$ is a 2-bridge knot that is strictly greater than $m$ distinct,…

Let $\phi : S^1\times D^2\to S^1$ be the natural projection. An oriented knot $K\hookrightarrow V = S^1\times D^2$ is called an almost closed braid if the restriction of $\phi$ to K has exactly two (non-degenerate) critical points (and K is…