We investigate the negative definite spin fillings of branched double covers of alternating knots. We derive some obstructions for the existence of such fillings and find a characterization of special alternating knots based on them.
We investigate the problem of characterising the family of strongly quasipositive links which have definite symmetrised Seifert forms and apply our results to the problem of determining when such a link can have an L-space cyclic branched cover. In particular, we show that if $δ_n = σ_1 σ_2 \ldots σ_{n-1}$ is the dual Garside element and $b = δ_n^k P \in B_n$ is a strongly quasipositive braid whose braid closure $\widehat b$ is definite, then $k \geq 2$ implies that $\widehat b$ is one of the torus links $T(2, q), T(3,4), T(3,5)$ or pretzel links $P(-2, 2, m), P(-2,3,4)$. Applying Theorem 1.1 …
A filling Dehn surface in a $3$-manifold $M$ is a generically immersed surface in $M$ that induces a cellular decomposition of $M$. Given a tame link $L$ in $M$ there is a filling Dehn sphere of $M$ that "trivializes" (\emph{diametrically splits}) it. This allows to construct filling Dehn surfaces in the coverings of $M$ branched over $L$. It is shown that one of the simplest filling Dehn spheres of $S^3$ (Banchoff's sphere) diametrically splits the trefoil knot. Filling Dehn spheres, and their Johansson diagrams, are constructed for the coverings of $S^3$ branched over the trefoil. The constr…
In this paper, we determine the Euler characteristics and signatures of the exact symplectic fillings of the contact double, 3-fold or 4-fold cyclic covers of the standard contact 3-sphere branched over certain transverse quasi-positive links. These links include all quasi-positive knots with crossing numbers smaller than 11 and all quasi-positive links with crossing numbers smaller than 12 and nonzero nullity.
We prove that any knot or link in any 3-manifold can be nicely decomposed (splitted) by a filling Dehn sphere. This has interesting consequences in the study of branched coverings over knots and links. We give an algorithm for computing Johansson diagrams of filling Dehn surfaces out from coverings of 3-manifolds branched over knots or links.
We construct an infinite family of hyperbolic, homologically thin knots that are not quasi-alternating. To establish the latter, we argue that the branched double-cover of each knot in the family does not bound a negative definite 4-manifold with trivial first homology and bounded second betti number. This fact depends in turn on information from the correction terms in Heegaard Floer homology, which we establish by way of a relationship to, and calculation of, the Turaev torsion.
In this paper we construct families of homology spheres which bound 4-manifolds with intersection forms isomorphic to $-E_8$. We show that these families have arbitrary large correction terms. This result says that among homology spheres, the difference of the maximal rank of minimal sub-lattice of definite filling and the maximal rank of even definite filling is arbitrarily large.
In this note, we complete the classification of quasi-alternating Montesinos links. We show that the quasi-alternating Montesinos links are precisely those identified independently by Qazaqzeh-Chbili-Qublan and Champanerkar-Ording. A consequence of our proof is that a Montesinos link $L$ is quasi-alternating if and only if its double branched cover is an L-space, and bounds both a positive definite and a negative definite 4-manifold with vanishing first homology.
Given a hyperbolic 3-manifold with torus boundary, we bound the change in volume under a Dehn filling where all slopes have length at least 2π. This result is applied to give explicit diagrammatic bounds on the volumes of many knots and links, as well as their Dehn fillings and branched covers. Finally, we use this result to bound the volumes of knots in terms of the coefficients of their Jones polynomials.
For each connected alternating tangle, we provide an infinite family of non-left-orderable L-spaces. This gives further support for Conjecture [3] of Boyer, Gordon, and Watson that is a rational homology 3-sphere is an L-space if and only if it is non-left-orderable. These 3-manifolds are obtained as Dehn fillings of the double branched covering of any alternating encircled tangle. We give a presentation of these non-left-orderable L-spaces as double branched coverings of S^3, branched over some specified links that turn out to be hyperbolic. We show that the obtained families include many non…
We view closed orientable 3-manifolds as covers of S^3 branched over hyperbolic links. For a p-fold cover M \to S^3, branched over a hyperbolic link L, we assign the complexity p Vol(S^3 minus L) (where Vol is the hyperbolic volume). We define an invariant of 3-manifolds, called the link volume and denoted LV, that assigns to a 3-manifold M the infimum of the complexities of all possible covers M \to S^3, where the only constraint is that the branch set is a hyperbolic link. Thus the link volume measures how efficiently M can be represented as a cover of S^3. We study the basic properties of t…
The d-invariant of an integral, positive definite lattice L records the minimal norm of a characteristic covector in each equivalence class mod 2L. We prove that the 2-isomorphism type of a connected graph is determined by the d-invariant of its lattice of integral cuts (or flows). As an application, we prove that a reduced, alternating link diagram is determined up to mutation by the Heegaard Floer homology of the link's branched double-cover. Thus, alternating links with homeomorphic branched double-covers are mutants.
Given a spin$^c$ rational homology sphere $(Y,\mathfrak{s})$ with $\mathfrak{s}$ self-conjugate and for which the reduced monopole Floer homology $\mathit{HM}_{\bullet}(Y,\mathfrak{s})$ has rank one, we provide obstructions to the intersection forms of its Stein fillings which are not negative definite. The proof of this result (and of its natural generalizations we discuss) uses $\mathrm{Pin}(2)$-monopole Floer homology.
