Related papers: Unknotting information from Heegaard Floer homolog…
We use Heegaard Floer homology to give obstructions to unknotting a knot with a single crossing change. These restrictions are particularly useful in the case where the knot in question is alternating. As an example, we use them to classify…
The unknotting number of a knot is the minimum number of crossings one must change to turn that knot into the unknot. We work with a generalization of unknotting number due to Mathieu-Domergue, which we call the untwisting number. The…
We give an obstruction to unknotting a knot by adding a twisted band, derived from Heegaard Floer homology.
We prove that if an alternating 3-braid knot has unknotting number one, then there must exist an unknotting crossing in any alternating diagram of it, and we enumerate such knots. The argument combines the obstruction to unknotting number…
Given a knot in the three-sphere, is it possible to unknot it by performing a single twist, and if so, what are the possible linking numbers of such a twist? We develop obstructions to unknotting using a twist of a specified linking number.…
We develop purely algebraic methods for proving that a knot is prime. Our approach uses the Heegaard Floer polynomial in conjunction with classical knot-theoretic methods: cyclic, dihedral, and metacyclic covering spaces. The theory of…
The unknotting number of knots is a difficult quantity to compute, and even its behavior under basic satelliting operations is not understood. We establish a lower bound on the unknotting number of cable knots and iterated cable knots…
We use the knot filtration on the Heegaard Floer complex to define an integer invariant tau(K) for knots. Like the classical signature, this invariant gives a homomorphism from the knot concordance group to Z. As such, it gives lower bounds…
We derive new obstructions to periodicity of classical knots by employing the Heegaard Floer correction terms of the finite cyclic branched covers of the knots. Applying our results to two fold covers, we demonstrate through numerous…
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),…
We study three knot invariants related to smoothly immersed disks in the four-ball. These are the four-ball crossing number, which is the minimal number of normal double points of such a disk bounded by a given knot; the slicing number,…
Using a combinatorial approach described in a recent paper of Manolescu, Ozsv\'ath, and Sarkar we compute the Heegaard-Floer knot homology of all knots with at most 12 crossings as well as the $\tau$ invariant for knots through 11…
We review the construction of Heegaard Floer homology for closed three-manifolds and also for knots and links in the three-sphere. We also discuss three applications of this invariant to knot theory: studying the Thurston norm of a link…
We show that the torsion order $\mathrm{Ord}(K)$ of a knot $K$ in knot Floer homology gives a lower bound on the minimum number $n$ such that an oriented $(n+1)$-tangle replacement unknots $K$. This generalizes earlier results by Alishahi…
Generalizing unknotting number, $n$-adjacent knots have $n$ crossings such that changing any non-empty subset of them results in the unknot. In this paper, we determine the 2-adjacent knots through 12 crossings. Using Heegaard Floer…
By studying the Heegaard Floer homology of the preimage of a knot K in S^3 inside its double branched cover, we develop simple obstructions to K having finite order in the classical smooth concordance group. As an application, we prove that…
Knot Floer homology is an invariant for knots discovered by the authors and, independently, Jacob Rasmussen. The discovery of this invariant grew naturally out of studying how a certain three-manifold invariant, Heegaard Floer homology,…
We use an algorithm by Ozsvath and Szabo to find closed formulae for the ranks of the hat version of the Heegaard Floer homology groups for non-zero Dehn surgeries on knots in the 3-sphere. As applications we provide new bounds on the…
We present knot primality tests that are built from knot Floer homology. The most basic of these is a simply stated and elementary consequence of Heegaard Floer theory: if the two-variable knot Floer polynomial of a knot K is irreducible,…
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…