Related papers: Bridge Number and the Curve Complex

It is unknown whether an unknotting tunnel is always isotopic to a geodesic in a finite volume hyperbolic 3-manifold. In this paper, we address the generalization of this problem to hyperbolic 3-manifolds admitting tunnel systems. We show…

The virtual unknotting number of a virtual knot is the minimal number of crossing changes that makes the virtual knot to be the unknot, which is defined only for virtual knots virtually homotopic to the unknot. We focus on the virtual knot…

In this paper we use continued fractions to study a partial order on the set of 2-bridge knots derived from the work of Ohtsuki, Riley, and Sakuma. We establish necessary and sufficient conditions for any set of 2-bridge knots to have an…

Let $K$ be a nontrivial knot in $S^{3}$ and $t(K)$ its tunnel number. For any $(p\geq 2,q)$-slope in the torus boundary of a closed regular neighborhood of $ K$ in $S^{3}$, denoted by $K^{\star}$, it is a nontrivial cable knot in $S^{3}$.…

M. Scharlemann has recently proved that any genus one tunnel number one knot is either a satellite or 2-bridge knot, as conjectured by H. Goda and M. Teragaito; all such knots admit a (1,1) decomposition. In this paper we give a…

We determine a simple condition on a particular state graph of an alternating knot or link diagram that characterizes when the unoriented genus and crosscap number coincide, extending work of Adams and Kindred. Building on this same work…

A nontrivial $\theta$-curve in $S^3$ is Brunnian if each of its cycles is the unknot. We show that if the exterior of a Brunnian $\theta$-curve is atoroidal, then it does not contain an essential annulus. Previously, Ozawa-Tsutsumi showed…

We give an alternative proof of a result of Kobayashi and Saeki that every genus one $1$-bridge position of a non-trivial $2$-bridge knot is a stabilization.

Experimental work suggests that the Seifert genus of a knot grows linearly with respect to the crossing number of the knot. In this article, we use a billiard table model for $2$-bridge or rational knots to show that the average genus of a…

A knot K is called n-adjacent to the unknot, if K admits a projection containing n generalized crossings such that changing any m (no larger than n) of them yields a projection of the unknot. We show that a non-trivial satellite knot K is…

Using computational techniques we tabulate prime knots up to five crossings in the solid torus and the infinite family of lens spaces $L(p,q)$. For these knots we calculate the second and third skein module and establish which prime knots…

The transient number of a knot K, denoted tr(K), is the minimal number of simple arcs that have to be attached to K, in order that K can be homotoped to a trivial knot in a regular neighborhood of the union of K and the arcs. We give a…

We have the generating function which determines the number of $2$-bridge knot groups admitting epimorphisms onto the knot group of a given $2$-bridge knot, in terms of crossing number. In this paper, we will refine this formula by taking…

Using exhaustive techniques and results from Lackenby and many others, we compute the tunnel number of all 1655 alternating 11 and 12 crossing knots and of 881 non-alternating 11 and 12 crossing knots. We also find all 5525 Montesinos knots…

We show that essential punctured spheres in the complement of links with distance three bridge spheres have bounded complexity. We define the operation of tangle product, a generalization of both connected sum and Conway product. Finally,…

We define two new families of invariants for (3-manifold, graph) pairs which detect the unknot and are additive under connected sum of pairs and (-1/2)-additive under trivalent vertex sum of pairs. The first of these families is closely…

In this paper, we demonstrate that the complete hyperbolic structure of various two-bridge knots and links cannot be deformed to an inequivalent strictly convex projective structure. We also prove a complementary result showing that under…

We give some conditions on positive braids with at least two full twists that ensure their closure is a hyperbolic knot, with applications to the geometric classification of T-links, arising from dynamics, and twisted torus knots.

We prove that fibred knots cannot be untied with $\bar{t}_{2k}$-moves, for all $k \geq 2$. More generally, we give an upper bound on the number of two strand twist operations that allow to untie a knot with non-trivial HOMFLY polynomial, in…

Any knot $K$ in genus-$1$ $1$-bridge position can be moved by isotopy to lie in a union of $n$ parallel tori tubed by $n-1$ tubes so that $K$ intersects each tube in two spanning arcs, which we call a leveling of the position. The minimal…