Crosscap numbers of pretzel knots

The crosscap number of a knot in the 3-sphere is defined as the minimal first Betti number of non-orientable surfaces bounded by the knot. In this paper, we determine the crosscap numbers of a large class of pretzel knots. The key ingredient to obtain the result is the algorithm of enumerating all essential surfaces for Montesinos knots developed by Hatcher and Oertel.     

Thin position for knots and 3-manifolds

We prove that for 2-bridge knots and 3-bridge knots in thin position the double branched cover inherits a manifold decomposition in thin position. We also argue that one should not expect this sort of correspondence to hold in general.     

Annuli in generalized Heegaard splittings and degeneration of tunnel number

Abstract. We analyze how a family of essential annuli in a compact 3-manifold will induce, from a strongly irreducible generalized Heegaard splitting of the ambient manifold, generalized Heegaard splittings of the complementary components. There are specific applications to the subadditivity of tunnel number of knots, improving somewhat bounds of Kowng [Kw]. For example, in the absence of 2-bridge summands, the tunnel number of the sum of n knots is no less than the sum of the tunnel numbers. Received: 10 November 1999 / Published online: 28 June 2000     

Closed incompressible surfaces of genus two in 3-bridge knot complements

In this paper, we characterize closed incompressible surfaces of genus two in the complements of 3-bridge knots and links. This characterization includes that of essential 2-string tangle decompositions for 3-bridge knots and links.     

Boundary slopes of non-orientable Seifert surfaces for knots

We study non-orientable Seifert surfaces for knots in the 3-sphere, and examine their boundary slopes. In particular, it is shown that for a crosscap number two knot, there are at most two slopes which can be the boundary slope of its minimal genus non-orientable Seifert surface, and an infinite family of knots with two such slopes will be described. Also, we discuss the existence of essential non-orientable Seifert surfaces for knots.     

Unknotting tunnels in two-bridge knot and link complements

We give a complete classification of the unknotting tunnels in 2-bridge link complements, proving that only the upper and lower tunnels are unknotting tunnels. Moreover, we show that the only strongly parabolic tunnels in 2-cusped hyperbolic 3-manifolds are exactly the upper and lower tunnels in 2-bridge knot and link complements. From this, it follows that the upper and lower tunnels in 2-bridge knot and link complements must be isotopic to geodesics of length at most ln(4), where length is measured relative to maximal cusps. Moreover, the four dual unknotting tunnels in a 2-bridge knot complement, which together with the upper and lower tunnels form the set of all known unknotting tunnels for these knots, must each be homotopic to a geodesic of length at most 6ln(2). First author supported by NSF Grant DMS-93028943, second author supported by the Royal Society.     

A cut-and-paste method for computing the Seifert volumes

We use methods from gauge theory to compute the Seifert volumes of 3-manifolds. As applications, we are able to find the Seifert volumes of several hyperbolic manifolds obtained by surgery on 2-bridge knots.     

缠绕方程和DNA模型

一般化了DNA重组的缠绕模型的缠绕方程的求解方法, 同时利用有理缠绕和二桥纽结 的关系给出了某些缠绕方程的解.     

There are no unexpected tunnel number one knots of genus one

We show that the only knots that are tunnel number one and genus one are those that are already known: -bridge knots obtained by plumbing together two unknotted annuli and the satellite examples classified by Eudave-Muñoz and by Morimoto and Sakuma. This confirms a conjecture first made by Goda and Teragaito.

     

Thin presentation of knots in lens spaces and RP3-conjecture

This Note concerns knots in a lens space L that produce S³ by Dehn surgery. We introduce the thin presentation of knots in L, with respect to a standard spine. We prove that among such knots, those having a thin presentation with only maxima, are 0-bridge or 1-bridge braids in L. In the case $\text{L=}\text{R}\text{P}{}^3$, we deduce that minimally braided knots in $\text{R}\text{P}{}^3$ cannot yield S³ by Dehn surgery. To cite this article: A. Deruelle, C. R. Acad. Sci. Paris, Ser. I 336 (2003).     

Concordance crosscap number of a knot

We define the concordance crosscap number _c(K) of a knot K asthe minimum crosscap number among all the knots concordant toK. The four-dimensional crosscap number *(K) is the minimumfirst Betti number of non-orientable surfaces smoothly embeddedin the four-dimensional ball, bounding the knot K. Clearly,*(K) _c(K). We construct two infinite sequences of knots forwhich *(K) < _c(K). In particular, the knot 7₄ is one of theexamples.     

Nonisomorphic Lefschetz fibrations on knot surgery 4-manifolds

In this article we construct an infinite family of simply connected minimal symplectic 4-manifolds, each of which admits at least two nonisomorphic Lefschetz fibration structures with the same generic fiber. We obtain such examples by performing knot surgery on an elliptic surface E(n) using a special type of 2-bridge knots. This work was supported by grant No. R01-2005-000-10625-0 from the KOSEF and by the Korea Research Foundation Grant funded by the Korean Government (KRF-2007-314-C00024).     

Concordance crosscap numbers of knots and the Alexander polynomial

For a knot the concordance crosscap number, , is the minimum crosscap number among all knots concordant to . Building on work of G. Zhang, which studied the determinants of knots with , we apply the Alexander polynomial to construct new algebraic obstructions to . With the exception of low crossing number knots previously known to have , the obstruction applies to all but four prime knots of 11 or fewer crossings.

     

Heegaard splittings of twisted torus knots

Little is known on the classification of Heegaard splittings for hyperbolic 3-manifolds. Although Kobayashi gave a complete classification of Heegaard splittings for the exteriors of 2-bridge knots, our knowledge of other classes is extremely limited. In particular, there are very few hyperbolic manifolds that are known to have a unique minimal genus splitting. Here we demonstrate that an infinite class of hyperbolic knot exteriors, namely exteriors of certain “twisted torus knots” originally studied by Morimoto, Sakuma and Yokota, have a unique minimal genus Heegaard splitting of genus two. We also conjecture that these manifolds possess irreducible yet weakly reducible splittings of genus three. There are no known examples of such Heegaard splittings.     

Determining Knotsw and Links by Cyclic Branched Coverings

It is well known that different knots or links in the 3-sphere can have homeomorphic n-fold cyclic branched coverings. We consider the following problem: for which values of nis a knot of link determined by itsn-fold cyclic branched covering? We consider the class of hyperbolic resp.2π/n-hyperbolic links. The isometry or symmetry groups of such links are finite, and their n-fold branched coverings are hyperbolic 3-manifolds. Our main result states that if ndoes not divide the order of the finite symmetry group of such a link, then the link is determined by its n-fold branched covering. In a sense, the result is best possible; the key argument of its proof is algebraic using some basic result about finite p-groups. The main result applies, for example, to the cyclic branched coverings of the 2-bridge links; in particular, it gives a classification of the maximally symmetricD₆-manifolds which are exactly the 3-fold branched coverings of the 2-bridge links.     

On the average crosscap number Ⅱ: Bounds for a graph

The bounds are obtained for the average crosscap number. Let G be a graph which is not a tree. It is shown that the average crosscap number of G is not less than 2β(G)-1/2β(G)-1β(G)β(G) and not larger than/β(G). Furthermore, we also describe the structure of the graphs which attain the bounds of the average crosscap number.     

Generating functions, Fibonacci numbers and rational knots

We describe rational knots with any of the possible combinations of the properties (a)chirality, (non-)positivity, (non-)fiberedness, and unknotting number one (or higher), and determine exactly their number for a given number of crossings in terms of their generating functions. We show in particular how Fibonacci numbers occur in the enumeration of fibered achiral and unknotting number one rational knots. Then we show how to enumerate rational knots of given crossing number depending on genus and/or signature. This allows to determine the asymptotical average value of these invariants among rational knots. We give also an application to the enumeration of lens spaces.     

On the average crosscap number II: Bounds for a graph

The bounds are obtained for the average crosscap number. Let G be a graph which is not a tree. It is shown that the average crosscap number of G is not less thanβ(G)-1/2β(G)-1β(G) and not larger thanβ(G). Furthermore, we also describe the structure of the graphs which attain the bounds of the average crosscap number.     

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