Related papers: All frame-spun knots are slice
We address primary decomposition conjectures for knot concordance groups, which predict direct sum decompositions into primary parts. We show that the smooth concordance group of topologically slice knots has a large subgroup for which the…
A pretzel knot $K$ is called $odd$ if all its twist parameters are odd, and $mutant$ $ribbon$ if it is mutant to a simple ribbon knot. We prove that the family of odd, 5-stranded pretzel knots satisfies a weaker version of the Slice-Ribbon…
In this paper we show how to realize all knot (and link) types as C^{2} smooth curves of constant curvature. Our proof is constructive: we build the knots with copies of a fixed finite number of "building blocks" that are particular…
The slicing number of a knot, $u_s(K)$, is the minimum number of crossing changes required to convert $K$ to a slice knot. This invariant is bounded above by the unknotting number and below by the slice genus $g_s(K)$. We show that for many…
Any bounding compact smooth manifold bounds a compact manifold with a spine consisting of transversely intersecting codimension one submanifolds. This paper provides details for a picture proof given in previous papers with S. Akbulut.
If a knot K bounds a genus one Seifert surface F in the 3-sphere and F contains an essential simple closed curve alpha that has induced framing 0 and is smoothly slice, then K is smoothly slice. Conjecturally, the converse holds. It is…
In view of the self-linking invariant, the number $|K|$ of framed knots in $S^3$ with given underlying knot $K$ is infinite. In fact, the second author previously defined affine self-linking invariants and used them to show that $|K|$ is…
We construct an infinite family of topologically slice knots that are not smoothly concordant to their reverses. More precisely, if T denotes the concordance group of topologically slice knots and R is the involution of T induced by string…
We take a close look at a classical magic trick performed with a string, where a trivial knot is seemingly isotoped into a trefoil, and generalize it to a family of magic tricks for transforming the unknot into other knots. We encode such a…
In this paper, we study a special family of $(1,1)$ knots called constrained knots, which includes 2-bridge knots in the 3-sphere $S^3$ and simple knots in lens spaces. Constrained knots are parameterized by five integers and characterized…
We study surface knots in 4-space by using generic planar projections. These projections have fold points and cusps as their singularities and the image of the singular point set divides the plane into several regions. The width (or the…
An oriented compact 4-manifold $V$ with boundary $S^3$ is called a positon (resp. negaton) if its intersection form is positive definite (resp. negative definite) and it is simply connected. In this paper, we prove that there exist…
Given a knot in $S^3$, one can associate to it a surface diffeomorphism in two different ways. First, an arbitrary knot in $S^{3}$ can be represented by braids, which can be thought of as diffeomorphisms of punctured disks. Second, if the…
This paper examines the relationship between the knotting of an embedded surface in $\R^3$ and the knotting of its fold curves, formed by the singular set of projection to a plane. The first result shows that every surface, no matter how…
New lower bounds on the unknotting number of a knot are constructed from the classical knot signature function. These bounds can be twice as strong as previously known signature bounds. They can also be stronger than known bounds arising…
We can construct a 4-manifold by attaching 2-handles to a 4-ball with framing r along the components of a link in the boundary of the 4-ball. We define a link as r-shake slice if there exists embedded spheres that represent the generators…
We use recently introduced Rasmussen invariant to find knots that are topologically locally-flatly slice but not smoothly slice. We note that this invariant can be used to give a combinatorial proof of the slice-Bennequin inequality.…
We extend knot contact homology to a theory over the ring $\mathbb{Z}[\lambda^{\pm 1},\mu^{\pm 1}]$, with the invariant given topologically and combinatorially. The improved invariant, which is defined for framed knots in $S^3$ and can be…
In this work we present a complete (no misses, no duplicates) census for closed, connected, orientable and prime 3-manifolds induced by plane graphs with a bipartition of its edge set (blinks) up to $k=9$ edges. Blinks form a universal…
We study the properties of glued knots, a sub-class of real rational knots, that can be constructed by gluing ellipses. We define an invariant called the gluing degree and relate it to various classical properties of knots and classify all…