Related papers: Knots with unknotting number 1 and essential Conwa…
The trace of $n$-framed surgery on a knot in $S^3$ is a 4-manifold homotopy equivalent to the 2-sphere. We characterise when a generator of the second homotopy group of such a manifold can be realised by a locally flat embedded 2-sphere…
We compose the table of knots in the thickened torus T x I having diagrams with at most 4 crossings. The knots are constructed by the three-step process. First we list regular graphs of degree 4 with at most 4 vertices, then for each graph…
We present new obstructions for a knot K in S^3 to admit purely cosmetic surgeries, which arise from the study of Witten-Reshetikhin-Turaev invariants at fixed level. In particular, we strengthen a recent result of Hanselman, showing that…
We call a knot in the 3-sphere $SU(2)$-simple if all representations of the fundamental group of its complement which map a meridian to a trace-free element in $SU(2)$ are binary dihedral. This is a generalisation of being a 2-bridge knot.…
In this article, we demonstrate that for any positive integer $n$, the knot surgery $4$-manifold $E(n)_K$ has a handle decomposition without $1$- and $3$-handles. Here, $K$ represents either a fibered two-bridge knot $C(2\epsilon_1,…
We consider knot invariants in the context of large $N$ transitions of topological strings. In particular we consider aspects of Lagrangian cycles associated to knots in the conifold geometry. We show how these can be explicity constructed…
It is a major unsolved problem as to whether unknot recognition - that is, testing whether a given closed loop in R^3 can be untangled to form a plain circle - has a polynomial time algorithm. In practice, trivial knots (which can be…
We carry on the study of the Alexander Conway invariant from the quantum field theory point of view started in \cite{RS91}. We first discuss in details $S$ and $T$ matrices for the $U(1,1)$ super WZW model and obtain, for the level $k$ an…
We show that on any hyperbolic knot in $S^3$ there is at most one non-integral Dehn surgery which yields a manifold containing an incompressible torus.
We prove that if the order of the first homology of the 2-fold branched cover of a knot K in the 3-sphere is given by pm where p is a prime congruent to 3 mod 4 and gcd(p,m) =1, then K is of infinite order in the knot concordance group.…
We introduce a framework to analyze knots and links in an unmarked solid torus. We discuss invariants that detect when such links are equivalent under an ambient homeomorphism, and show that the multivariable Alexander polynomial is such in…
We present a complete classification of spherical knotoids with up to six crossings and conjecture that our classification up to seven crossings is complete. Our work extends the tradition of knot tabulation to the setting of knotoids…
Introducing a way to modify knots using $n$-trivial rational tangles, we show that knots with given values of Vassiliev invariants of bounded degree can have arbitrary unknotting number (extending a recent result of Ohyama, Taniyama and…
A slope $p/q$ is a characterizing slope for a knot $K$ in $S^3$ if the oriented homeomorphism type of $p/q$-surgery on $K$ determines $K$ uniquely. We show that for each torus knot its set of characterizing slopes contains all but finitely…
As one of the background papers of the classification project of hyperbolic primitive/Seifert knots in $S^3$ whose complete list is given in [BK20], this paper classifies all possible R-R diagrams of two disjoint simple closed curves $R$…
We study a twisted Alexander polynomial naturally associated to a hyperbolic knot in an integer homology 3-sphere via a lift of the holonomy representation to SL(2, C). It is an unambiguous symmetric Laurent polynomial whose coefficients…
Unknotting numbers for torus knots and links are well known. In this paper, we present a method for determining the position of unknotting number crossing changes in a toric braid B(p, q) such that the closure of the resultant braid is…
We prove that for any integer $n$ there exist infinitely many different knots in $S^3$ such that $n$-surgery on those knots yields the same 3-manifold. In particular, when $|n|=1$ homology spheres arise from these surgeries. This answers…
We present an enhanced prime decomposition theorem for knots that gives the isotopy classes of composite knots that can be constructed from a given list of prime factors (allowing for the mirroring and orientation reversing for each…
The conormal Lagrangian $L_K$ of a knot $K$ in $\mathbb{R}^3$ is the submanifold of the cotangent bundle $T^* \mathbb{R}^3$ consisting of covectors along $K$ that annihilate tangent vectors to $K$. By intersecting with the unit cotangent…