Related papers: Minimal diagrams of classical knots
The main open problem in geometric knot theory is to provide a tabulation of knots based on an energy criterion, with the goal of presenting this tabulation in terms of global energy minimisers within isotopy classes, often referred to as…
Inspired by the paper on quantum knots and knot mosaics [23] and grid diagrams (or arc presentations), used extensively in the computations of Heegaard-Floer knot homology [2,3,7,24], we construct the more concise representation of knot…
We explore the application of automated reasoning techniques to unknot detection, a classical problem of computational topology. We adopt a two-pronged experimental approach, using a theorem prover to try to establish a positive result…
We describe a family of new algorithms for finding the canonical image of a set of points under the action of a permutation group. This family of algorithms makes use of the orbit structure of the group, and a chain of subgroups of the…
This paper employs various computational techniques to determine the bridge numbers of both classical and virtual knots. For classical knots, there is no ambiguity of what the bridge number means. For virtual knots, there are multiple…
We show that except for $n = 2$ if a bridge surface for a knot is an index $n$ topologically minimal surface, then after a perturbation it is still topologically minimal with index at most $n+1$.
The contents of this 6-page paper have been subsumed into the 13-page paper, "A note on closed 3-braids", arXiv:0802.1072 [math.GT]. This paper is correct, but contains less information than the new one. The topological classification of…
Ribbon concordances between knots generalize the notion of ribbon knots. Agol, building on work of Gordon, proved ribbon concordance gives a partial order on knots in $S^3$. In previous work, the author and Greene conjectured that positive…
For an oriented knot diagram D, the warping degree d(D) is the smallest number of crossing changes which are needed to obtain the monotone diagram from D in the usual way. We show that d(D) + d(-D) + 1 is less than or equal to the crossing…
A multi-crossing (or n-crossing) is a singular point in a projection at which n strands cross so that each strand bisects the crossing. We generalize the classic result of Kauffman, Murasugi, and Thistlethwaite, which gives the upper bound…
We describe a method for generating minimal hard prime surface-link diagrams. We extend the known examples of minimal hard prime classical unknot and unlink diagrams up to three components and generate figures of all minimal hard prime…
Functorial maps and weak parities are equivalent descriptions of rules of substitution virtual crossings for classical in diagrams of a knot in a way compatible with Reidemeister moves. We introduce the notion of maximal weak parity and…
A knot is an an embedding of a circle into three-dimensional space. We say that a knot is unknotted if there is an ambient isotopy of the embedding to a standard circle. By representing knots via planar diagrams, we discuss the problem of…
We study virtual isotopy sequences with classical initial and final diagrams, asking when such a sequence can be changed into a classical isotopy sequence by replacing virtual crossings with classical crossings. An example of a sequence for…
If a rectangular diagram represents the trivial knot, then it can be deformed into the rectangular diagram with only two vertical edges by a finite sequence of merge operations and exchange operations, without increasing the number of…
Given a diagram of small categories $F : J \rightarrow \textbf{Cat}$, we provide a combinatorial description of its colimit in terms of the indexing category $J$ and the categories and functors in the diagram $F$. We introduce certain…
We study a canonical spanning surface obtained from a knot or link diagram depending on a given Kauffman state, and give a sufficient condition for the surface to be essential. By using the essential surface, we can see the triviality and…
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…
This paper formulates a generalization of our work on quantum knots to explain how to make quantum versions of algebraic, combinatorial and topological structures. We include a description of previous work on the construction of Hilbert…
We show that all twist knots, certain double twist knots and some other 2-bridge knots are minimal elements for the partial ordering on the set of prime knots. The key to these results are presentations of their character varieties using…