Related papers: Knot theory in handlebodies

We prove that under fairly general conditions an iterated exchange move gives infinitely many non-conjugate braids. As a consequence, every knot has infinitely many conjugacy classes of n-braid representations if and only if it has one…

We show that two knots have matching Vassiliev invariants of order less than n if and only if they are equivalent modulo the nth group of the lower central series of some pure braid group, thus characterizing Vassiliev's knot invariants in…

Twisted knot theory, introduced by M.O. Bourgoin, is a generalization of virtual knot theory. It naturally yields the notion of a twisted braid, which is closely related to the notion of a virtual braid due to Kauffman. In this paper, we…

Tied links and the tied braid monoid were introduced recently by the authors and used to define new invariants for classical links. Here, we give a version purely algebraic-combinatoric of tied links. With this new version we prove that the…

The recent proof by Bigelow and Krammer that the braid groups are linear opens the possibility of applications to the study of knots and links. It was proved by the first author and Menasco that any closed braid representative of the unknot…

We establish a Kauffman-Murasugi-Thistlethwaite-type theorem for alternating knots in a solid torus. Specifically, we show that any dotted-reduced alternating diagram of a knot in a handlebody realizes the minimal crossing number, and that…

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…

Braid groups are an important and flexible tool used in several areas of science, such as Knot Theory (Alexander's theorem), Mathematical Physics (Yang-Baxter's equation) and Algebraic Geometry (monodromy invariants). In this note we will…

Every link in R^3 can be represented by a one-vertex ribbon graph. We prove a Markov type theorem on this subset of link diagrams.

A handlebody link is a union of handlebodies of positive genus embedded in 3-space, which generalizes the notion of links in classical knot theory. In this paper, we consider handlebody links with one genus 2 handlebody and $n-1$ solid…

Twisted knot theory introduced by M. Bourgoin is a generalization of knot theory. It leads us to the notion of twisted virtual braids. In this paper we show theorems for twisted links corresponding to the Alexander theorem and the Markov…

We show that in a prime, closed, oriented 3-manifold M, equivalent knots are isotopic if and only if the orientation preserving mapping class group is trivial. In the case of irreducible, closed, oriented $3$-manifolds we show the more…

We generalize Ng's two-variable algebraic/combinatorial $0$-th framed knot contact homology for framed oriented knots in $S^3$ to knots in $S^1 \times S^2$, and prove that the resulting knot invariant is the same as the framed cord algebra…

Let $G$ be a nonabelian, simple group with a nontrivial conjugacy class $C \subseteq G$. Let $K$ be a diagram of an oriented knot in $S^3$, thought of as computational input. We show that for each such $G$ and $C$, the problem of counting…

This work identifies a class of moves on knots which translate to $m$-equivalences of the associated $p$-fold branched cyclic covers, for a fixed $m$ and any $p$ (with respect to the Goussarov-Habiro filtration.) These moves are applied to…

We prove Alexander- and Markov-type theorems for virtual spatial trivalent graphs and virtual trivalent braids. We provide two versions for the Markov-type theorem: one uses an algebraic approach similar to the case of classical braids and…

In this paper, we generalize the \textit{Clock Theorem} of Formal Knot Theory to knotoids in $S^2$. The clock theorem implies that clock states of a knotoid diagram form a lattice under transpositions. These states form the basis of many…

A handlebody-knot is a handlebody embedded in the 3-sphere. We establish a uniform method to construct invariants for handlebody-links. We introduce the category $\mathcal{T}$ of handlebody-tangles and present it by generators and…

We construct knot invariants categorifying the quantum knot variants for all representations of quantum groups. We show that these invariants coincide with previous invariants defined by Khovanov for sl(2) and sl(3) and by…

We consider arrow diagrams of links in $S^3$ and define $k$-moves on such diagrams, for any $k\in\mathbb N$. We study the equivalence classes of links in $S^3$ up to $k$-moves. For $k=2$, we show that any two knots are equivalent, whereas…