Related papers: Lens spaces, rational balls and the ribbon conject…

It is conjectured that for each knot $K$ in $S^3$, the fundamental group of its complement surjects onto only finitely many distinct knot groups. Applying character variety theory we obtain an affirmative solution of the conjecture for a…

This note contains two remarks about the application of the d-invariant in Heegaard Floer homology and Donaldson's diagonalization theorem to knot theory. The first is the equivalence of two obstructions they give to a 2-bridge knot being…

We prove that if positive integer p-surgery along a knot K \subset S^3 produces an L-space and it bounds a sharp 4-manifold, then the knot genus obeys the bound 2g(K) -1 \leq p - \sqrt{3p+1}. Moreover, there exists an infinite family of…

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…

We study lens space surgeries along two different families of 2-component links, denoted by $A_{m,n}$ and $B_{p,q}$, related with the rational homology 4-ball used in J.\ Park's (generalized) rational blow down. We determine which…

This is a survey article about the connections between knot theory and four-dimensional topology. Every four-manifold can be represented in terms of a link, by a Kirby diagram. This point of view has led to progress in computing invariants…

We discuss an obstruction to a knot being smoothly slice that comes from minimum-genus bounds on smoothly embedded surfaces in definite 4-manifolds. As an example, we provide an alternate proof of the fact that the (2,1)-cable of the figure…

Kawauchi proved that every strongly negative amphichiral knot $K \subset S^3$ bounds a smoothly embedded disk in some rational homology ball $V_K$, whose construction a priori depends on $K$. We show that $V_K$ is independent of $K$ up to…

In this paper, we establish a version of the adjunction inequality for closed symplectic 4-manifolds. As in a previous paper on the Thom conjecture, we use contact geometry and trisections of 4-manifolds to reduce this inequality to the…

Call a smooth knot (or smooth link) in the unit sphere in $\mathbb{C}^2$ analytic (respectively, smoothly analytic) if it bounds a complex curve (respectively, a smooth complex curve) in the complex ball. Let $K$ be a smoothly analytic…

Given a knot in 3-space, one can associate a sequence of Laurrent polynomials, whose $n$th term is the $n$th colored Jones polynomial. The Generalized Volume Conjecture states that the value of the $n$-th colored Jones polynomial at $\exp(2…

The Thurston norm is a seminorm on the second real homology group of a compact orientable 3-manifold. The unit ball of this norm is a convex polyhedron, whose shape's data (e.g. number of vertices, regularity) measures the complexity of the…

We give some remarks on two closely related issues as stated in the title. In particular we show that a Montesinos knot is SU(2)-simple if and only if it is a 2-bridge knot, extending a result of Zentner for 3-tangle summand pretzel knots.…

Consider a compact Riemannian manifold with boundary. Assume all maximally extended geodesics intersect the boundary at both ends. Then to each maximal geodesic segment one can form a triple consisting of the initial and final vectors of…

We determine which integral surgeries on a large class of circular chain links bound rational homology balls. Our key tool is the lattice-theoretic cubiquity obstruction recently developed by Greene and Owens. We discuss a practical method…

Given a one-dimensional homology class in a lens space, a question related to the Berge conjecture on lens space surgeries is to determine all knots realizing the minimal rational genus of all knots in this homology class. It is known that…

We study systems of $2$-tangle equations which play an important role in the analysis of enzyme actions on DNA strands. We show that every system of framed tangle equations has at most one framed rational solution. Furthermore, we show that…

This article presents a survey on the topic of embedding 3-manifolds in definite 4-manifolds, emphasizing the latest progress in the field. We will focus on the significant role played by Donaldson's diagonalization theorem and the…

M. A. Kervaire showed that every group of deficiency $d$ and weight $d$ is the fundamental group of a smooth sphere-link of $d$ components in a smooth homotopy 4-sphere. In the use of the smooth unknotting conjecture and the smooth 4D…

A knot in $S^3$ is topologically slice if it bounds a locally flat disk in $B^4$. A knot in $S^3$ is rationally slice if it bounds a smooth disk in a rational homology ball. We prove that the smooth concordance group of topologically and…