Related papers: Studying surfaces via closed braids

We define and study a model of winding for non-colliding particles in finite trees. We prove that the asymptotic behavior of this statistic satisfies a central limiting theorem, analogous to similar results on winding of bounded particles…

Menasco showed that a non-split, prime, alternating link that is not a 2-braid is hyperbolic in $S^3$. We prove a similar result for links in closed thickened surfaces $S \times I$. We define a link to be fully alternating if it has an…

A surface embedded in space, in such a way that each point has a neighborhood within which the surface is a terrain, projects to an immersed surface in the plane, the boundary of which is a self-intersecting curve. Under what circumstances…

Branes are embedded surfaces in a given background (bulk) spacetime. Assuming a warped bulk, we investigate, in analogy with the case for geodesics, the notion of {\em focusing} of families of such embedded, extremal 3--branes in a five…

We study the structure of collections of algebraic curves in three dimensions that have many curve-curve incidences. In particular, let $k$ be a field and let $\mathcal{L}$ be a collection of $n$ space curves in $k^3$, with…

In this paper, we use the conjugate surface construction to prove the existence of certain non-periodic symmetric immersed minimal surfaces. These surfaces have finite total curvature and embedded catenoid ends, and they have positive genus…

We study immersed surfaces in $\mathbb{R}^3$ which are critical points of the Willmore functional under boundary constraints. The two cases considered are when the surface meets a plane orthogonally along the boundary, and when the boundary…

We study a canonical spanning surface obtained from a knot or link diagram depending on a given Kauffman state, and give a sufficient condition for the surface to be essential. By using the essential surface, we can see the triviality and…

We introduce the notion of a ribbon-clasp surface-link, which is a generalization of a ribbon surface-link. We generalize the notion of a normal form on embedded surface-links to the case of immersed surface-links and prove that any…

We define an invariant, which we call surface-complexity, of compact 3-manifolds by means of Dehn surfaces. The surface-complexity is a natural number measuring how much the manifold is complicated. We prove that it fulfils interesting…

On a finite-volume hyperbolic $3$-manifold, we establish an upper bound on the area of closed embedded surfaces with constant mean curvature at least one, depending on the mean curvature and the genus bounds. This area bound implies…

I review the definition and types of (closed) trapped surfaces. Surprising global properties are shown, such as their "clairvoyance" and the possibility that they enter into flat portions of the spacetime. Several results on the interplay…

The topics covered in this thesis may be divided into three parts. Firstly, we perform a study on the most general branes which are consistent with the Poisson sigma model, both at the classical and quantum levels. The second part is…

We construct an algorithm that lists all closed essential surfaces in the complement of a knot that lies on the fiber of a trefoil or figure eight knot. Such knots are Berge knots and hence admit lens space surgeries. Furthermore they may…

We show that a knot in $S^3$ with an infinite number of distinct incompressible Seifert surfaces contains a closed incompressible surface in its complement.

This paper will appear in the Santa Cruz proceedings. An overview of the braid group techniques in the theory of algebraic surfaces, from Zariski to the latest results, is presented. An outline of the Van Kampen algorithm for computing…

Attention is focused on quantum spaces of physical importance, i.e. Manin plane, q-deformed Euclidean space in three or four dimensions as well as q-deformed Minkowski space. There are algebra isomorphisms that allow to identify quantum…

For a given branched covering between closed connected surfaces, there are several easy relations one can establish between the Euler characteristics of the surfaces, their orientability, the total degree, and the local degrees at the…

A revised proof of the author's earlier result is given. It is shown that a boundary surface-link in the 4-sphere is a ribbon surface-link if the surface-link obtained from it by surgery along a pairwise nontrivial fusion 1-handle system is…

In this paper, we introduce a method, called a plat form, of describing a surface-link in the 4-space using a braided surface. We prove that every surface-link, which is not necessarily orientable, can be described in a plat form. The plat…