Related papers: Knots with unknotting number 1 and essential Conwa…

This paper contains the strongest and at the same time most calculable knot invariant ever. Let $\Theta$ be the topological moduli space of all ordered oriented tangles in 3-space. We construct a non-trivial combinatorial 1-cocycle…

This paper, to be regularly updated, lists those prime knots with the fewest possible number of crossings for which values of basic knot invariants, such as the unknotting number or the smooth 4-genus, are unknown. This list is being…

Let $K$ be a knot with an unknotting tunnel $\gamma$ and suppose that $K$ is not a 2-bridge knot. There is an invariant $\rho = p/q \in \mathbb{Q}/2 \mathbb{Z}$, $p$ odd, defined for the pair $(K, \gamma)$. The invariant $\rho$ has…

We find further evidence for the conjecture relating large N Chern-Simons theory on S^3 with topological string on the resolved conifold geometry by showing that the Wilson loop observable of a simple knot on S^3 (for any representation)…

This paper contains the first knot polynomials which can distinguish the orientations of classical knots and which make no excplicit use of the knot group. But they make extensive use of the meridian and of the longitude in a geometric way.…

The (ordinary) unknotting-number of 1-dimensional knots, which is defined by using the crossing-change, is a very basic and important invariant. It is very natural to consider the `unknotting-number' associated with other local-moves on…

We consider the space of all smooth knots in the 3-sphere isotopic to a given knot, with the aim of finding a small subspace onto which this large space deformation retracts. For torus knots and many hyperbolic knots we show the subspace…

We show that there exist infinitely many pairs of distinct knots in the 3-sphere such that each pair can yield homeomorphic lens spaces by the same Dehn surgery. Moreover, each knot of the pair can be chosen to be a torus knot, a satellite…

We show that, for any prime p, a knot K in the 3-sphere is determined by its p-fold cyclic unbranched covering. We also investigate when the m-fold cyclic unbranched covering of a knot coincides with the n-fold cyclic unbranched covering of…

We show that a topological quantum computer based on the evaluation of a Witten-Reshetikhin-Turaev TQFT invariant of knots can always be arranged so that the knot diagrams with which one computes are diagrams of hyperbolic knots. The…

We consider a relation between two kinds of unknotting numbers defined by using a band surgery on unoriented knots; the band-unknotting number and H(2)-unknotting number, which we may characterize in terms of the first Betti number of…

An inscribed knot is formed by polygonally connecting points lying on a knot $\gamma$ in parametric order, then closing the path by connecting the first and final points. The stick-knot number of a knot type K is the minimum number of line…

The cosmetic crossing conjecture (also known as the "nugatory crossing conjecture") asserts that the only crossing changes that preserve the oriented isotopy class of a knot in the 3-sphere are nugatory. We use the Dehn surgery…

We proved by computer enumeration that the Jones polynomial distinguishes the unknot for knots up to 22 crossings. Following an approach of Yamada, we generated knot diagrams by inserting algebraic tangles into Conway polyhedra, computed…

This paper employs knot invariants and results from hyperbolic geometry to develop a practical procedure for checking the cosmetic surgery conjecture on any given one-cusped manifold. This procedure has been used to establish the following…

A 1-bridge torus knot in a 3-manifold of genus $\le 1$ is a knot drawn on a Heegaard torus with one bridge. We give two types of normal forms to parameterize the family of 1-bridge torus knots that are similar to the Schubert's normal form…

A theorem of Kronheimer and Mrowka states that Khovanov homology is able to detect the unknot. That is, if a knot has the Khovanov homology of the unknot, then it is equivalent to it. Similar results hold for the trefoils and the…

A Dehn surgery on a knot $K$ in $S^3$ is exceptional if it produces a reducible, toroidal or Seifert fibred manifold. It is known that a large arborescent knot admits no such surgery unless it is a type II arborescent knot. The main theorem…

Let $K\subset S^3$ be a hyperbolic fibered knot such that $S^3_{p/q}(K)$, the $\frac pq$--surgery on $K$, is non-hyperbolic. We prove that if the monodromy of $K$ is right-veering, then $0\le\frac pq\le 4g(K)$. The upper bound $4g(K)$…

Any one-cusped hyperbolic manifold M with an unknotting tunnel tau is obtained by Dehn filling a cusp of a two-cusped hyperbolic manifold. In the case where M is obtained by "generic" Dehn filling, we prove that tau is isotopic to a…