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

The unknotting number of a knot is bounded from below by its slice genus. It is a well-known fact that the genera and unknotting numbers of torus knots coincide. In this note we characterize quasipositive knots for which the genus bound is…

Let {T_n} be the bipolar filtration of the smooth concordance group of topologically slice knots, which was introduced by Cochran, Harvey, and Horn. It is known that for each n not equal to 1 the quotient group T_n/T_{n+1} has infinite rank…

We study relations between unknotting number and crossing number of a spatial embedding of a handcuff-graph and a theta curve. It is well known that for any non-trivial knot $K$ twice the unknotting number of $K$ is less than or equal to…

We study knots whose $\mathrm{SL}_2(\mathbb{C})$-character varieties have a component of dimension greater than one. We call such knots $\mathcal{X}$-large and introduce two diagrammatic constructions that produce $\mathcal{X}$-large knots.…

We develop obstructions to a knot K in the 3-sphere bounding a smooth punctured Klein bottle in the 4-ball. The simplest of these is based on the linking form of the 2-fold branched cover of the 3-sphere branched over K. Stronger…

The construction of knots via annular twisting has been used to create families of knots yielding the same manifold via Dehn surgery. Prior examples have all involved Dehn surgery where the surgery slope is an integral multiple of 2. In…

Let $K$ be a knot in the 3-sphere, viewed as the ideal boundary of hyperbolic 4-space $\mathbb{H}^4$. We prove that the number of minimal discs in $\mathbb{H}^4$ with ideal boundary $K$ is a knot invariant. I.e.\ the number is finite and…

For every odd integer $N$ we give an explicit construction of a polynomial curve $\cC(t) = (x(t), y (t))$, where $\deg x = 3$, $\deg y = N + 1 + 2\pent N4$ that has exactly $N$ crossing points $\cC(t_i)= \cC(s_i)$ whose parameters satisfy…

By examining the homology groups of a 4-manifold associated to an integral surgery on a knot $K$ in a rational homology 3-sphere $Y$ yielding a rational homology 3-sphere $Y^*$ with surgery dual knot $K^*$, we show that the subgroups…

We extend knot contact homology to a theory over the ring $\mathbb{Z}[\lambda^{\pm 1},\mu^{\pm 1}]$, with the invariant given topologically and combinatorially. The improved invariant, which is defined for framed knots in $S^3$ and can be…

We derive new existence results for tight contact structures on certain 3-manifolds which can be presented as surgery along specific knots in S^3. Indeed, we extend our earlier results on knots with maximal Thurston-Bennequin number being…

A knot in S^3 is said to have crosscap number two if it bounds a once-punctured Klein bottle but not a Moebius band. In this paper we give a method of constructing crosscap number two hyperbolic (1,2)-knots with tunnel number one which are…

Using the techniques on annulus twists, we observe that $6_3$ has infinitely many non-characterizing slopes, which affirmatively answers a question by Baker and Motegi. Furthermore, we prove that the knots $6_2$, $6_3$, $7_6$, $7_7$, $8_1$,…

Finite-order invariants of knots in arbitrary 3-manifolds (including non-orientable ones) are constructed and studied by methods of the topology of discriminant sets. Obstructions to the integrability of admissible weight systems to…

It is conjectured that a hyperbolic knot admits at most three Dehn surgeries which yield closed three manifolds containing incompressible tori. We show that there exist infinitely many hyperbolic knots which attain the conjectural maximum…

An ideal triangulation $\mathcal{T}$ of a hyperbolic 3-manifold $M$ with one cusp is non-peripheral if no edge of $\mathcal{T}$ is homotopic to a curve in the boundary torus of $M$. For such a triangulation, the gluing and completeness…

The non-orientable 4-genus of a knot $K$ in $S^{3}$, denoted $\gamma_4(K)$, measures the minimum genus of a non-orientable surface in $B^{4}$ bounded by $K$. We compute bounds for the non-orientable 4-genus of knots $T_{5, q}$ and $T_{6,…

A knot in the 3-sphere is called an L-space knot if it admits a nontrivial Dehn surgery yielding an L-space, i.e. a rational homology 3-sphere with the smallest possible Heegaard Floer homology. Given a knot K, take an unknotted circle c…

We establish a new fundamental relationship between total curvature of knots and crossing number. If K is a smooth knot in 3-space, R the cross-section radius of a uniform tube neighborhood of K, L the arclength of K, and k the total…

Knots have a twisted history in quantum physics. They were abandoned as failed models of atoms. Only much later was the connection between knot invariants and Wilson loops in topological quantum field theory discovered. Here we show that…