Knots with unknotting number one and Heegaard Floer homology

We use Heegaard Floer homology to give obstructions to unknotting a knot with a single crossing change. These restrictions are particularly useful in the case where the knot in question is alternating. As an example, we use them to classify all knots with crossing number less than or equal to nine and unknotting number equal to one. We also classify alternating knots with 10 crossings and unknotting number equal to one.     

On the Heegaard Floer homology of branched double-covers

Let be a link. We study the Heegaard Floer homology of the branched double-cover Σ(L) of S³, branched along L. When L is an alternating link, of its branched double-cover has a particularly simple form, determined entirely by the determinant of the link. For the general case, we derive a spectral sequence whose E² term is a suitable variant of Khovanov's homology for the link L, converging to the Heegaard Floer homology of Σ(L).     

Knot Floer Homology of (1, 1)-Knots

We present a combinatorial method for a calculation of the knot Floer homology of (1, l)-knots, and then demonstrate it for nonalternating (1, 1)-knots with 10 crossings and the pretzel knots of type (−2,m, n). Our calculations determine the unknotting numbers and 4-genera of the pretzel knots of this type.Mathematics Subject Classiffications (2000). 57M27, 57M25     

On the Heegaard Floer homology of a surface times a circle

We make a detailed study of the Heegaard Floer homology of the product of a closed surface Σg of genus g with S¹. We determine HF⁺(Σg×S¹,s;C) completely in the case c₁(s)=0, which for g?3 was previously unknown. We show that in this case HF^∞ is closely related to the cohomology of the total space of a certain circle bundle over the Jacobian torus of Σg, and furthermore that HF⁺(Σg×S¹,s;Z) contains nontrivial 2-torsion whenever g?3 and c₁(s)=0. This is the first example known to the authors of torsion in Z-coefficient Heegaard Floer homology. Our methods also give new information on the action of H₁(Σg×S¹) on HF⁺(Σg×S¹,s) when c₁(s) is nonzero.     

The symplectic floer homology of the square knot and granny knots

Using a kind of Mayer-Vietoris principle for the symplectic Floer homology of knots, we compute the symplectic Floer homology of the square knot and granny knots. Partially supported by NSF Grant DMS 9626166     

Heegaard Floer correction terms and rational genus bounds

Given an element in the first homology of a rational homology 3-sphere Y, one can consider the minimal rational genus of all knots in this homology class. This defines a function Θ   on _H1(Y;Z)$H_1(Y;\mathbb{Z})$, which was introduced by Turaev as an analogue of Thurston norm. We will give a lower bound for this function using the correction terms in Heegaard Floer homology. As a corollary, we show that Floer simple knots in L-spaces are genus minimizers in their homology classes, hence answer questions of Turaev and Rasmussen about genus minimizers in lens spaces.     

An Ozsváth–Szabó Floer homology invariant of knots in a contact manifold

Using the knot Floer homology filtration, we define invariants associated to a knot in a three-manifold possessing non-vanishing Floer co(homology) classes. In the case of the Ozsváth–Szabó contact invariant we obtain an invariant of knots in a contact three-manifold. This invariant provides an upper bound for the Thurston–Bennequin plus rotation number of any Legendrian realization of the knot. We use it to demonstrate the first systematic construction of prime knots in contact manifolds other than S³ with negative maximal Thurston–Bennequin invariant. Perhaps more interesting, our invariant provides a criterion for an open book to induce a tight contact structure. A corollary is that if a manifold possesses contact structures with distinct non-vanishing Ozsváth–Szabó invariants, then any fibered knot can realize the classical Eliashberg–Bennequin bound in at most one of these contact structures.     

On knot Floer homology and lens space surgeries

In an earlier paper, we used the absolute grading on Heegaard Floer homology HF⁺ to give restrictions on knots in S³ which admit lens space surgeries. The aim of the present article is to exhibit stronger restrictions on such knots, arising from knot Floer homology. One consequence is that the non-zero coefficients of the Alexander polynomial of such a knot are ±1. This information can in turn be used to prove that certain lens spaces are not obtained as integral surgeries on knots. In fact, combining our results with constructions of Berge, we classify lens spaces L(p,q) which arise as integral surgeries on knots in S³ with |p|?1500. Other applications include bounds on the four-ball genera of knots admitting lens space surgeries (which are sharp for Berge's knots), and a constraint on three-manifolds obtained as integer surgeries on alternating knots, which is closely to related to a theorem of Delman and Roberts.     

Khovanov homology, open books, and tight contact structures

We define the reduced Khovanov homology of an open book (S,?), and identify a distinguished “contact element” in this group which may be used to establish the tightness or non-fillability of contact structures compatible with (S,?). Our construction generalizes the relationship between the reduced Khovanov homology of a link and the Heegaard Floer homology of its branched double cover. As an application, we give combinatorial proofs of tightness for several contact structures which are not Stein-fillable. Lastly, we investigate a comultiplication structure on the reduced Khovanov homology of an open book which parallels the comultiplication on Heegaard Floer homology defined in Baldwin (2008) [4].     

A unified proof of Brooks’ theorem and Catlin’s theorem

Brooks’ theorem is a fundamental result in the theory of graph coloring. Catlin proved the following strengthening of Brooks’ theorem: Let d$d$ be an integer at least 3, and let G$G$ be a graph with maximum degree d$d$. If G$G$ does not contain _Kd+1$K_{d+1}$ as a subgraph, then G$G$ has a d$d$-coloring in which one color class has size α(G)$\alpha \left(G\right)$. Here α(G)$\alpha \left(G\right)$ denotes the independence number of G$G$. We give a unified proof of Brooks’ theorem and Catlin’s theorem.     

The minimal excludant and Schmidt's partition theorem

In this work, we study Schmidt's partition theorem in a combinatorial manner, and find a strong refinement which connects the minimal excludant of ordinary partitions to the length of Schmidt's partitions. As a byproduct, we obtain a bivariate form of an identity recorded in Ramanujan's lost notebook.     

Arrow's theorem: unusual domains and extended codomains

In this paper we establish Arrow's theorem in a general ordinal case. When some configurations are allowed in the domain and if this domain is included in the codomain, the only social functions satisfying the independence condition and the weak Pareto Principle are the absolute dictatorships or the absolute oligarchies.     

Roth's similarity theorem and rank minimization in the presence of nonderogatory or semisimple eigenvalues

Roth's similarity theorem on the consistency of Sylvester's matrix equation AX???XA?=?C can be extended to a theorem on rank minimization if the common eigenvalues of A and B are nonderogatory or semisimple.     

Infinitely many nodal solutions with a prescribed number of nodes for the Kirchhoff type equations

In this paper, we investigate the existence of multiple radial sign-changing solutions with the nodal characterization for a class of Kirchhoff type problems$\{\begin{array}{cc}\hfill & ?(a+b|\mathrm{?}u{|}_{L^2}^2)\mathrm{\Delta }u+V(|x|)u=K(|x|)f(u)\text{in}{\mathbb{R}}^N,\hfill \\ \hfill & u\in H^1({\mathbb{R}}^N),\hfill \end{array}$ where $N=1,2,3,a,b>0$, $V,K$ are radial and bounded away from below by positive numbers. Under some weak assumptions on $f\in C^0(\mathbb{R};\mathbb{R})$, by taking advantage of the Gersgorin disc's theorem and Miranda theorem, we develop some new analytic techniques and prove that this problem admits infinitely many nodal solutions $\{U_k^b\}$ having a prescribed number of nodes k, whose energy is strictly increasing in k. Moreover, the asymptotic behaviors of $U_k^b$ as $b\to 0_{+}$ are established. These results improve and generalize the previous results in the literature.     

Superconcentration,and randomized Dvoretzky's theorem for spaces with 1-unconditional bases

Let n be a sufficiently large natural number and let B be an origin-symmetric convex body in ${\mathbb{R}}^n$in the ?-position, and such that the space $({\mathbb{R}}^n,{6?6}_B)$ admits a 1-unconditional basis. Then for any $\epsilon \in (0,1/2]$, and for random $c\epsilon \log ?n/\log ?\frac{1}{\epsilon }$-dimensional subspace E distributed according to the rotation-invariant (Haar) measure, the section $B\cap E$ is $(1+\epsilon )$-Euclidean with probability close to one. This shows that the “worst-case” dependence on ε in the randomized Dvoretzky theorem in the ?-position is significantly better than in John's position. It is a previously unexplored feature, which has strong connections with the concept of superconcentration introduced by S. Chatterjee. In fact, our main result follows from the next theorem: Let B be as before and assume additionally that B has a smooth boundary and ${\mathbb{E}}_{{\gamma }_n}{6?6}_B\le n^c{\mathbb{E}}_{{\gamma }_n}{6{\mathrm{grad}}_B(?)6}_2$ for a small universal constant $c>0$, where ${\mathrm{grad}}_B(?)$ is the gradient of ${6?6}_B$ and ${\gamma }_n$ is the standard Gaussian measure in ${\mathbb{R}}^n$. Then for any $p\in [1,c\log ?n]$ the p-th power of the norm ${6?6}_B^p$ is $\frac{C}{\log ?n}$-superconcentrated in the Gauss space.     

Vectorial Ekeland's Variational Principle with a W-Distance and its Equivalent Theorems

By using the properties of w-distances and Gerstewitz's functions, we first give a vectorial Takahashi's nonconvex minimization theorem with a w-distance. From this, we deduce a general vectorial Ekeland's variational principle, where the objective function is from a complete metric space into a pre-ordered topological vector space and the perturbation contains a w-distance and a non-decreasing function of the objective function value. From the general vectorial variational principle, we deduce a vectorial Caristi's fixed point theorem with a w-distance. Finally we show that the above three theorems are equivalent to each other. The related known results are generalized and improved. In particular, some conditions in the theorems of [Y. Araya, Ekeland's variational principle and its equivalent theorems in vector optimization, J. Math. Anal. Appl. 346(2008), 9–16[ are weakened or even completely relieved.     

Girsanov's theorem in Hilbert space and an application to the statistics of Hilbert space- valued stochastic differential equations

We prove Girsanov-type theorems for Hilbert space-valued stochastic differential equations and apply them to a parameter estimation problem for linear infinite dimensional stochastic differential equations. In particular we construct the asymptotic statistical theory of the estimator, proving strong consistency and asymptotic normality.     

A generalized Nash equilibrium problem arising in banking regulation: An existence result with Tarski's theorem

When hit with an adverse shock, banks that do not comply with capital regulation sell risky assets to satisfy their solvency constraint. When financial markets are imperfectly competitive, this naturally gives rise to a GNEP. We consider a new framework with an arbitrary number of banks and assets, and show that Tarski's theorem can be used to prove the existence of a Nash equilibrium when markets are sufficiently competitive. We also prove the existence of ?-Nash equilibria.