Spectral geometry,link complements and surgery diagrams

We provide an upper bound on the Cheeger constant and first eigenvalue of the Laplacian of a finite-volume hyperbolic 3-manifold M, in terms of data from any surgery diagram for M. This has several consequences. We prove that a family of hyperbolic alternating link complements is expanding if and only if they have bounded volume. We also provide examples of hyperbolic 3-manifolds which require ‘complicated’ surgery diagrams, thereby proving that a recent theorem of Constantino and Thurston is sharp. Along the way, we find a new upper bound on the bridge number of a knot that is not tangle composite, in terms of the twist number of any diagram of the knot. The proofs rely on a theorem of Lipton and Tarjan on planar graphs, and also the relationship between many different notions of width for knots and 3-manifolds.     

The Teichmüller TQFT volume conjecture for twist knots

The Teichmüller TQFT, defined by Andersen and Kashaev, gives rise to a quantum invariant of triangulated hyperbolic knot complements; it has an associated volume conjecture, where the hyperbolic volume of the knot appears as a certain asymptotic coefficient.In this note, we announce a proof of this volume conjecture for all twist knots up to 14 crossings; along the way we explicitly compute the partition function of the Teichmüller TQFT for the whole infinite family of twist knots.Among other tools, we use an algorithm of Thurston to construct a convenient ideal triangulation of a twist knot complement, as well as the saddle point method for computing limits of complex integrals with parameters.     

On \pi-hyperbolic knots with the same 2-fold branched coverings

We consider the following problem from the Kirby's list (Problem 3.25): Let K be a knot in and M(K) its 2-fold branched covering space. Describe the equivalence class [K] of K in the set of knots under the equivalence relation if is homeomorphic to . It is known that there exist arbitrarily many different hyperbolic knots with the same 2-fold branched coverings, due to mutation along Conway spheres. Thus the most basic class of knots to investigate are knots which do not admit Conway spheres. In this paper we solve the above problem for knots which do not admit Conway spheres, in the following sense: we give upper bounds for the number of knots in the equivalence class [K] of a knot K and we describe how the different knots in the equivalence class of K are related. Received: 3 August 1998 / in final form: 17 June 1999     

The Canonical Genus of a Classical and Virtual Knot

A diagram D of a knot defines the corresponding Gauss Diagram G _D . However, not all Gauss diagrams correspond to the ordinary knot diagrams. From a Gauss diagram G we construct closed surfaces F _G and S _G in two different ways, and we show that if the Gauss diagram corresponds to an ordinary knot diagram D, then their genus is the genus of the canonical Seifert surface associated to D. Using these constructions we introduce the virtual canonical genus invariant of a virtual knot and find estimates on the number of alternating knots of given genus and given crossing number.     

Iterated grafting and holonomy lifts of Teichmüller space

Let X be a closed hyperbolic surface and λ, η be weighted geodesic multicurves which are short on X. We show that the iterated grafting along λ and η is close in the Teichmüller metric to grafting along a single multicurve which can be given explicitly in terms of λ and η. Using this result, we study the holonomy lifts gr _λ ρ _X,λ of Teichmüller geodesics ρ _X,λ for integral laminations λ and show that all of them have bounded Teichmüller distance to the geodesic ρ _X,λ. We obtain analogous results for grafting rays. Finally we consider the asymptotic behaviour of iterated grafting sequences gr _nλ X and show that they converge geometrically to a punctured surface.     

Geodesic knots in closed hyperbolic 3-manifolds

We consider the existence of simple closed geodesics or “geodesic knots” in finite volume orientable hyperbolic 3-manifolds. Every such manifold contains at least one geodesic knot by results of Adams, Hass and Scott in (Adams et al. Bull. London Math. Soc. 31: 81–86, 1999). In (Kuhlmann Algebr. Geom. Topol. 6: 2151–2162, 2006) we showed that every cusped orientable hyperbolic 3-manifold in fact contains infinitely many geodesic knots. In this paper we consider the closed manifold case, and show that if a closed orientable hyperbolic 3-manifold satisfies certain geometric and arithmetic conditions, then it contains infinitely many geodesic knots. The conditions on the manifold can be checked computationally, and have been verified for many manifolds in the Hodgson-Weeks census of closed hyperbolic 3-manifolds. Our proof is constructive, and the infinite family of geodesic knots spiral around a short simple closed geodesic in the manifold.      

Toeplitz Operators on Generalized Bergman Spaces

We consider the weighted Bergman spaces HL²(\mathbb B^d, m_l){\mathcal {H}L^{2}(\mathbb {B}^{d}, \mu_{\lambda})}, where we set dm_l(z) = c_l(1-|z|²)^l dt(z){d\mu_{\lambda}(z) = c_{\lambda}(1-|z|^2)^{\lambda} d\tau(z)}, with τ being the hyperbolic volume measure. These spaces are nonzero if and only if λ > d. For 0 < λ ≤ d, spaces with the same formula for the reproducing kernel can be defined using a Sobolev-type norm. We define Toeplitz operators on these generalized Bergman spaces and investigate their properties. Specifically, we describe classes of symbols for which the corresponding Toeplitz operators can be defined as bounded operators or as a Hilbert–Schmidt operators on the generalized Bergman spaces.     

The Miyazawa polynomial for long virtual knots

We introduce a two-variable polynomial invariant of a long virtual knot, which dominates the Kauffman f-polynomial and the Miyazawa polynomial of the closure. Our invariant satisfies a product formula for the concatenation product of long virtual knots. It describes a formula of the Miyazawa polynomial of a ‘connected sum’ of two virtual knots. It also gives lower bounds for the real crossing number and the virtual crossing number of a long virtual knot.     

Arithmetical properties of the number of t-core partitions

Let Λ={λ ₁≥⋅⋅⋅≥λ _s ≥1} be a partition of an integer n. Then the Ferrers-Young diagram of Λ is an array of nodes with λ _i nodes in the ith row. Let λ _j ′ denote the number of nodes in column j in the Ferrers-Young diagram of Λ. The hook number of the (i,j) node in the Ferrers-Young diagram of Λ is denoted by H(i,j):=λ _i +λ _j ′−i−j+1. A partition of n is called a t-core partition of n if none of the hook numbers is a multiple of t. The number of t-core partitions of n is denoted by a(t;n). In the present paper, some congruences and distribution properties of the number of 2 ^t -core partitions of n are obtained. A simple convolution identity for t-cores is also given.      

Cobordism of disk knots

We study cobordisms and cobordisms rel boundary of PL locally-flat disk knots D ⁿ⁻² ↪ D ⁿ . Any two disk knots are cobordant if the cobordisms are not required to fix the boundary sphere knots, and any two even-dimensional disk knots with isotopic boundary knots are cobordant rel boundary. However, the cobordism rel boundary theory of odd-dimensional disk knots is more subtle. Generalizing results of J. Levine on the cobordism of sphere knots, we define disk knot Seifert matrices and show that two higher-dimensional disk knots with isotopic boundaries are cobordant rel boundary if and only if their disk knot Seifert matrices are algebraically cobordant. We also ask which algebraic cobordism classes can be realized given a fixed boundary knot and provide a complete classification when the boundary knot has no 2-torsion in its middle-dimensional Alexander module. In the course of this classification, we establish a close connection between the Blanchfield pairing of a disk knot and the Farber-Levine torsion pairing of its boundary knot (in fact, for disk knots satisfying certain connectivity assumptions, the disk knot Blanchfield pairing will determine the boundary Farber-Levine pairing). In addition, we study the dependence of disk knot Seifert matrices on choices of Seifert surface, demonstrating that all such Seifert matrices are rationally S-equivalent, but not necessarily integrally S-equivalent.     

On the non-existence of pair covering designs with at least as many points as blocks

We establish new lower bounds on the pair covering number C _λ (υ,k) for infinitely many values of υ, k and λ, including infinitely many values of υ and k for λ=1. Here, C _λ (υ,k) denotes the minimum number of k-subsets of a υ-set of points such that each pair of points occurs in at least λ of the k-subsets. We use these results to prove simple numerical conditions which are both necessary and sufficient for the existence of (K _k − e)-designs with more points than blocks.     

Spectral stability of the Robin Laplacian

We consider the Robin Laplacian in two bounded regions Ω₁ and Ω₂ of ℝ ^N with Lipschitz boundaries and such that Ω₂ ⊂ Ω₁, and we obtain two-sided estimates for the eigenvalues λ _n,2 of the Robin Laplacian in Ω₂ via the eigenvalues λ _{n, 1} of the Robin Laplacian in Ω₁. Our estimates depend on the measure of the set difference Ω\Ω₂ and on suitably defined characteristics of vicinity of the boundaries ∂Ω₁ and ∂Ω₂, and of the functions defined on ∂Ω₁ and on ∂Ω₂ that enter the Robin boundary conditions.     

New bounds for expected delay in FIFO M/G/c queues

Most bounds for expected delay, E[D], in GI/GI/c queues are modifications of bounds for the GI/GI/1 case. In this paper we exploit a new delay recursion for the GI/GI/c queue to produce bounds of a different sort when the traffic intensity p = λ/μ = E[S]/E[T] is less than the integer portion of the number of servers divided by two. (S AND T denote generic service and interarrival times, respectively.) We derive two different families of new bounds for expected delay, both in terms of moments of S AND T. Our first bound is applicable when E[S₂] < ∞. Our second bound for the first time does not require finite variance of S; it only involves terms of the form E[S^β], where 1 < β < 2. We conclude by comparing our bounds to the best known bound of this type, as well as values obtained from simulation. This revised version was published online in June 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Cusp size bounds from singular surfaces in hyperbolic 3-manifolds

Singular maps of surfaces into a hyperbolic 3-manifold are utilized to find upper bounds on meridian length, -curve length and maximal cusp volume for the manifold. This allows a proof of the fact that there exist hyperbolic knots with arbitrarily small cusp density and that every closed orientable 3-manifold contains a knot whose complement is hyperbolic with maximal cusp volume less than or equal to 9. We also find particular upper bounds on meridian length, -curve length and maximal cusp volume for hyperbolic knots in depending on crossing number. Particular improved bounds are obtained for alternating knots.

     

On minimal elements for a partial order of prime knots

In this paper, applying Chebyshev polynomials we give a basic proof of the irreducibility over the complex number field of the defining polynomial of SL₂(C)-character variety of twist knots in infinitely many cases. The irreducibility, combined with a result in the paper of M. Boileau, S. Boyer, A.W. Reid and S. Wang in 2010, shows the minimality of infinitely many twist knots for a partial order on the set of prime knots defined by using surjective group homomorphisms between knot groups. In Appendix B, we also give a straightforward proof of the result of Boileau et al.     

Singular values, quasiconformal maps and the Schottky upper bound

Some properties and asymptotically sharp bounds are obtained for singdar values of Ramanujan’s generalized modular equation. from which infinite-product representations of the Hersch-Pfluger ϕdimtortion function ϕ _K (r) and the Agard η-distortion function η _K (t) follow. By these results, the explicit quasiconformal Schwan lemma is improved, several properties are obtained for the Schottky upper bound, and a conjecture on the linear distortion function λ (K) is proved to be true.     

A two-space dimensional semilinear heat equation perturbed by (Gaussian) white noise

A two-space dimensional heat equation perturbed by a white noise in a bounded volume is considered. The equation is perturbed by a non-linearity of the type λ : f(AU) :, where :: means Wick (re)ordering with respect to the free solution;λ, A are small parameters, U denotes a solution, f is the Fourier transform of a complex measure with compact support. Existence and uniqueness of the solution in a class of Colombeau-Oberguggenberger generalized functions is proven. An explicit construction of the solution is given and it is shown that each term of the expansion in a power series in λ is associated with an L ²-valued measure when A is a small enough. Received: 20 July 1997 / Revised version: 1 February 2001 / Published online: 9 October 2001     

On ohtsuki’s invariants of integral homology 3-spheres

We provide some more explicit formulae to facilitate the computation of Ohtsuki’s rational invariants λ _n of integral homology 3-spheres extracted from Reshetikhin-TuraevSU(2) quantum invariants. Several interesting consequences will follow from our computation of λ₂. One of them says that λ₂ is always an integer divisible by 3. It seems interesting to compare this result with the fact shown by Murakami that λ₁ is 6 times the Casson invariant. Other consequences include some general criteria for distinguishing homology 3-spheres obtained from surgery on knots by using the Jones polynomial. The first author is supported in part by NSF and the second author is supported by an NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship.     

Necessary conditions for absolute double matrix summability factors

We obtain necessary conditions for a doubly triangular matrix A to have the property that a double series ΣΣ λ _mn b _mn is summable |A| _k whenever the series ΣΣb _mn is bounded |A| _k .