k-alternating knots

A projection of a knot is k-alternating if its overcrossings and undercrossings alternate in groups of k as one reads around the projection (an obvious generalization of the notion of an alternating projection). We prove that every knot admits a 2-alternating projection, which partitions nontrivial knots into two classes: alternating and 2-alternating.     

On equivariant slice knots

We suggest a method to detect that two periodic knots are not equivariantly concordant, using surgery on factor links. We construct examples which satisfy all known necessary conditions for equivariant slice knots- Naik's and Choi-Ko-Song's improvements of classical results on Seifert forms and Casson-Gordon invariants of slice knots - but are not equivariantly slice.

     

On $ \pi $-hyperbolic knots and branched coverings

We prove that, for any given , a -hyperbolic knot is determined by its 2-fold and n-fold cyclic branched coverings. We also prove that a -hyperbolic knot which is not determined by its m-fold and n-fold cyclic branched coverings, , must have genus . Received: December 14, 1998.     

New examples of non-slice, algebraically slice knots

For 1$">, if the Seifert form of a knotted -sphere in has a metabolizer, then the knot is slice. Casson and Gordon proved that this is false in dimension three. However, in the three-dimensional case it is true that if the metabolizer has a basis represented by a strongly slice link, then is slice. The question has been asked as to whether it is sufficient that each basis element is represented by a slice knot to assure that is slice. For genus one knots this is of course true; here we present genus two counterexamples.

     

Knots of genus one or on the number of alternating knots of given genus

We prove that any non-hyperbolic genus one knot except the trefoil does not have a minimal canonical Seifert surface and that there are only polynomially many in the crossing number positive knots of given genus or given unknotting number.

     

Periodic prime knots and topologically transitive flows on 3-manifolds

Suppose that φ is a nonsingular (fixed point free) C¹ flow on a smooth closed 3-dimensional manifold M with H₂(M)=0. Suppose that φ has a dense orbit. We show that there exists an open dense set N⊆M such that any knotted periodic orbit which intersects N is a nontrivial prime knot.     

Least squares approximation by splines with free knots

Suppose we are given noisy data which are considered to be perturbed values of a smooth, univariate function. In order to approximate these data in the least squares sense, a linear combination of B-splines is used where the tradeoff between smoothness and closeness of the fit is controlled by a smoothing term which regularizes the least squares problem and guarantees unique solvability independent of the position of knots. Moreover, a subset of the knot sequence which defines the B-splines, the so-calledfree knots, is included in the optimization process.The resulting constrained least squares problem which is linear in the spline coefficients but nonlinear in the free knots is reduced to a problem that has only the free knots as variables. The reduced problem is solved by a generalized Gauss-Newton method. The method developed can be combined with a knot removal strategy in order to obtain an approximating spline with as few parameters as possible.Dedicated to Professor Dr.-Ing. habil. Dr. h.c. Helmut Heinrich on the occasion of his 90th birthdayResearch of the second author was partly supported by Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft under grant Schm 968/2-1.     

Closed incompressible surfaces in the complements of positive knots

We show that any closed incompressible surface in the complement of a positive knot is algebraically non-split from the knot, positive knots cannot bound non-free incompressible Seifert surfaces and that the splittability and the primeness of positive knots and links can be seen from their positive diagrams. Received: June 28, 2000     

Some properties of ordinary sense slice 1-links: some answers to problem (26) of Fox

We prove that, for any ordinary sense slice 1-link , we can define the Arf invariant, and Arf()=0. We prove that, for any -component 1-link , there exists a -component ordinary sense slice 1-link of which is a sublink.

     

All Finitely Axiomatizable Normal Extensions of K4.3 are Decidable

We use the apparatus of the canonical formulas introduced by Zakharyaschev [10] to prove that all finitely axiomatizable normal modal logics containing K4.3 are decidable, though possibly not characterized by classes of finite frames. Our method is purely frame-theoretic. Roughly, given a normal logic L above K4.3, we enumerate effectively a class of (possibly infinite) frames with respect to which L is complete, show how to check effectively whether a frame in the class validates a given formula, and then apply a Harropstyle argument to establish the decidability of L, provided of course that it has finitely many axioms.