The only knots that are tunnel number one and genus one are those that are already known: 2-bridge knots obtained by plumbing together two unknotted annuli and the satellite examples classified by Eudave-Munoz and by Morimoto-Sakuma. This confirms a conjecture first made by Goda and Teragaito.
We determine the genus one fibered knots in lens spaces that have tunnel number one. We also show that every tunnel number one, once-punctured torus bundle is the result of Dehn filling a component of the Whitehead link in the 3-sphere.
Connected sum and trivalent vertex sum are natural operations on genus 2 spatial graphs and, as with knots, tunnel number behaves in interesting ways under these operations. We prove sharp Scharlemann-Schultens type bounds for the tunnel number of a composite genus 2 spatial graph. For the tunnel number of a composite Brunnian $θ$-curve, our result implies that the tunnel number is at least the number of summands, as in the knot case. We also prove a version of a theorem of Morimoto for knots: the tunnel number of a composite m-small genus 2 spatial graph is at least the sum of the tunnel numb…
The genus of satellite tunnel number one knots and torti-rational knots is computed using the tools introduced by Floyd and Hatcher. An implementation of an algorithm is given to compute genus and slopes of minimal genus Seifert surfaces for such knots.
A knot K is called a 1-genus 1-bridge knot in a 3-manifold M if (M,K) has a Heegaard splitting (V_1,t_1)\cup (V_2,t_2) where V_i is a solid torus and t_i is a boundary parallel arc properly embedded in V_i. If the exterior of a knot has a genus 2 Heegaard splitting, we say that the knot has an unknotting tunnel. Naturally the exterior of a 1-genus 1-bridge knot K allows a genus 2 Heegaard splitting, i.e., K has an unknotting tunnel. But, in general, there are unknotting tunnels which are not derived form this procedure. Some of them may be levelled with the torus \partial V_1=\partial V_2, who…
Let $K_1, K_2$ be two knots with $t(K_1)+t(K_2)>2$ and $t(K_1 # K_2)=2$. Then, in the present paper, we will show that any genus three Heegaard splittings of $E(K_1 # K_2)$ is strongly irreducible and that $E(K_1 # K_2)$ has at most four genus three Heegaard splittings up to homeomorphism. Moreover, we will give a complete classification of those four genus three Heegaard splittings and show unknotting tunnel systems of knots $K_1 # K_2$ corresponding to those Heegaard splittings.
A knot K in a closed connected orientable 3-manifold M is called a 1-genus 1-bridge knot if (M,K) has a splitting into two pairs of a solid torus V_i (i=1,2) and a boundary parallel arc in it. The splitting induces a genus two Heegaard splitting of the exterior of K naturally, i.e., K has an unknotting tunnel. However the converse is not true in general. Then we study such general case in this paper. One of the conclusions is that the unknotting tunnel may be levelled with the torus \partial V_1=\partial V_2.
We show that for each pair of positive integers g and n, there are infinitely many tunnel number one knots, whose exteriors contain an essential meridional surface of genus g, and with 2n boundary components. We also show that for each positive integer n, there are tunnel number one knots whose exteriors contain n disjoint, non-parallel, closed incompressible surfaces, each of genus n.
Given a knot $K$ in a closed orientable manifold $M$ we define the growth rate of the tunnel number of $K$ to be $gr_t(K) = \limsup_{n \to \infty} \frac{t(nK) - n t(K)}{n-1}$. As our main result we prove that the Heegaard genus of $M$ is strictly less than the Heegaard genus of the knot exterior if and only if the growth rate is less than 1. In particular this shows that a non-trivial knot in $S^3$ is never asymptotically super additive. The main result gives conditions that imply falsehood of Morimoto's Conjecture.
We describe the genus two knots which admit a genus one, one bridge position. These are divided into several families, one consists of vertical bandings of two genus one $(1,1)$-knots, other consists of vertical bandings of two cross cap number two 2-bridge knots, and the last one consists of genus two tunnel number one satellite knots.
Let $M=W\cup_T V$ be an amalgamation of two compact 3-manifolds along a torus, where $W$ is the exterior of a knot in a homology sphere. Let $N$ be the manifold obtained by replacing $W$ with a solid torus such that the boundary of a Seifert surface in $W$ is a meridian of the solid torus. This means that there is a degree-one map $f\colon M\to N$, pinching $W$ into a solid torus while fixing $V$. We prove that $g(M)\ge g(N)$, where $g(M)$ denotes the Heegaard genus. An immediate corollary is that the tunnel number of a satellite knot is at least as large as the tunnel number of its pattern kn…
Given integers g_i > 1 (i=1,...,n) we prove that there exist infinitely may knots K_i in S^3 so that g(E(K_i)) = g_i and the Heegaard genus of the exterior of the connected sum of K_1,...,K_n is the sum the Heegaard genera of K_1,...,K_n, that is: g(E(K_1#...#K_n)) = g(E(K_1)) +...+ g(E(K_n)). (Here, E() denotes the exterior and g() the Heegaard genus.) Together with Theorem 1.5 of [1], this proves the existence of counterexamples to Morimoto's Conjecture (Conjecture 1.5 of [2]). [1] Tsuyoshi Kobayashi and Yo'av Rieck. On the growth rate of the tunnel number of knots. J. Reine Angew. Math., 59…
It is proven here that if the connected sum of two tunnel number one knots in the 3-sphere is a tunnel number two knot, then at least one of the summand knots has a genus two Heegaard splitting with a meridian as a primitive element. Hence this is a necessary and sufficient condition for tunnel number one knots to have additive tunnel number.
Let $K$ be a knot with an unknotting tunnel $γ$ and suppose that $K$ is not a 2-bridge knot. There is an invariant $ρ= p/q \in \mathbb{Q}/2 \mathbb{Z}$, $p$ odd, defined for the pair $(K, γ)$. The invariant $ρ$ has interesting geometric properties: It is often straightforward to calculate; e. g. for $K$ a torus knot and $γ$ an annulus-spanning arc, $ρ(K, γ) = 1$. Although $ρ$ is defined abstractly, it is naturally revealed when $K \cup γ$ is put in thin position. If $ρ\neq 1$ then there is a minimal genus Seifert surface $F$ for $K$ such that the tunnel $γ$ can be slid and isotoped to lie on $…
For a genus-1 1-bridge knot in the 3-sphere, that is, a (1,1)-knot, a middle tunnel is a tunnel that is not an upper or lower tunnel for some (1,1)-position. Most torus knots have a middle tunnel, and non-torus-knot examples were obtained by Goda, Hayashi, and Ishihara. We generalize their construction and calculate the slope invariants for the resulting middle tunnels. In particular, we obtain the slope sequence of the original example of Goda, Hayashi, and Ishihara.
We prove a theorem which bounds Heegaard genus from below under special kinds of toroidal amalgamations of $3$-manifolds. As a consequence, we conclude $t(K_1\# K_2)\geq \max\{t(K_1),t(K_2)\}$ for any pair of knots $K_1,K_2\subset S^3$, where $t(K)$ denotes the tunnel number of $K$.
We show that the bridge number of a $t$ bridge knot in $S^3$ with respect to an unknotted genus $t$ surface is bounded below by a function of the distance of the Heegaard splitting induced by the $t$ bridges. It follows that for any natural number $n$, there is a tunnel number one knot in $S^3$ that is not $(1,n)$.
Let K' be a hyperbolic knot in S^3 and suppose that some Dehn surgery on K' with distance at least 3 from the meridian yields a 3-manifold M of Heegaard genus 2. We show that if M does not contain an embedded Dyck's surface (the closed non-orientable surface of Euler characteristic -1), then the knot dual to the surgery is either 0-bridge or 1-bridge with respect to a genus 2 Heegaard splitting of M. In the case M does contain an embedded Dyck's surface, we obtain similar results. As a corollary, if M does not contain an incompressible genus 2 surface, then the tunnel number of K' is at most 2…
We show there exists a linear function w: N->N with the following property. Let K be a hyperbolic knot in a hyperbolic 3-manifold M admitting a non-longitudinal S^3 surgery. If K is put into thin position with respect to a strongly irreducible, genus g Heegaard splitting of M then K intersects a thick level at most 2w(g) times. Typically, this shows that the bridge number of K with respect to this Heegaard splitting is at most w(g), and the tunnel number of K is at most w(g) + g-1.
If R is a nonseparating simple closed curve on the boundary of a genus two handlebody H and H[R] has incompressible boundary, then there exists a unique arc omega in bdry(H), meeting R only in its endpoints, such that, omega is isotopic in bdry(H), keeping its endpoints on R, to a nontrivial wave based at R in each Heegaard diagram of R on bdry(H) which has no cut-vertex. Then surgery on R along its "distinguished-wave" omega yields a pair of simple closed curves, say m_1 and m_2, in bdry(H), each representing an "omega-determined-slope" m on bdry(H[R]), that depends only on R and H. A few con…
We consider closed acylindrical surfaces in 3-manifolds and in knot and link complements, and show that the genus of these surfaces is bounded linearly by the number of tetrahedra in the triangulation of the manifold and by the number of rational (or alternating) tangles in a projection of a link (or knot). For each g we find knots with tunnel number 2 and manifolds of Heegaard genus 3 containing acylindrical surfaces of genus g. Finally, we construct 3-bridge knots containing quasi-Fuchsinan surfaces of unbounded genus, and use them to find manifolds of Heegaard genus 2 and homology spheres o…
A torti-rational knot, denoted by K(2a,b|r), is a knot obtained from the 2-bridge link B(2a,b) by applying Dehn twists an arbitrary number of times, r, along one component of B(2a,b). We determine the genus of K(2a,b|r) and solve a question of when K(2a,b|r) is fibred. In most cases, the Alexander polynomials determine the genus and fibredness of these knots. We develop both algebraic and geometric techniques to describe the genus and fibredness by means of continued fraction expansions of b/2a. Then, we explicitly construct minimal genus Seifert surfaces. As an application, we solve the same …
We compute the genus zero bridge numbers and give lower bounds on the genus one bridge numbers for a large class of sufficiently generic hyperbolic twisted torus knots. As a result, the bridge spectra of these knots have two gaps which can be chosen to be arbitrarily large, providing the first known examples of hyperbolic knots exhibiting this property. In addition, we show that there are Berge and Dean knots with arbitrarily large genus one bridge numbers, and as a result, we give solutions to problems of Eudave-Muñoz concerning tunnel number one knots.
As one of the background papers of the classification project of hyperbolic primitive/Seifert knots in $S^3$ whose complete list is given in [BK20], this paper classifies all possible R-R diagrams of two disjoint simple closed curves $R$ and $β$ lying in the boundary of a genus two handlebody $H$ up to equivalence such that $β$ is a proper power curve and a 2-handle addition $H[R]$ along $R$ embeds in $S^3$ so that $H[R]$ is the exterior of a tunnel-number-one knot. As a consequence, if $R$ is a nonseparating simple closed curve on the boundary of a genus two handlebody such that $H[R]$ embeds…
In this article, we prove that a tunnel number two knot induces a critical Heegaard splitting in its exterior if there are two weak reducing pairs such that each weak reducing pair contains the cocore disk of each tunnel. Moreover, we prove that a connected sum of two 2-bridge knots or more generally that of two $(1,1)$-knots can induce a critical Heegaard splitting in its exterior as the examples of the main theorem. Finally, we give an equivalent condition for a weak reducing pair to be determined by a compressing disk uniquely when the manifold is closed, irreducible and the Heegaard splitt…
We show that there are hyperbolic tunnel-number one knots with arbitrarily high bridge number and that "most" tunnel-number one knots are not one-bridge with respect to an unknotted torus. The proof relies on a connection between bridge number and a certain distance in the curve complex of a genus-two surface.
A knot in the 3-sphere in genus-1 1-bridge position (called a (1,1)-position) can be described by an element of the braid group of two points in the torus. Our main results tell how to translate between a braid group element and the sequence of slope invariants of the upper and lower tunnels of the (1,1)-position. After using them to verify previous calculations of the slope invariants for all tunnels of 2-bridge knots and (1,1)-tunnels of torus knots, we obtain characterizations of the slope sequences of tunnels of 2-bridge knots, and of a class of tunnels we call toroidal. The main results l…
For a genus-1 1-bridge knot in the 3-sphere, that is, a (1,1)-knot, a middle tunnel is a tunnel that is not an upper or lower tunnel for some (1,1)-position. Most torus knots have a middle tunnel, and non-torus-knot examples were obtained by Goda, Hayashi, and Ishihara. In a previous paper, we generalized their construction and calculated the slope invariants for the resulting examples. We give an iterated version of the construction that produces many more examples, and calculate their slope invariants. If one starts with the trivial knot, the iterated constructions produce all the 2-bridge k…
We present a new theory which describes the collection of all tunnels of tunnel number 1 knots in the 3-sphere (up to orientation-preserving equivalence in the sense of Heegaard splittings) using the disk complex of the genus-2 handlebody and associated structures. It shows that each knot tunnel is obtained from the tunnel of the trivial knot by a uniquely determined sequence of simple cabling constructions. A cabling construction is determined by a single rational parameter, so there is a corresponding numerical parameterization of all tunnels by sequences of such parameters and some addition…
We give a description of all (1,2)-knots in S^3 which admit a closed meridionally incompressible surface of genus 2 in their complement. That is, we give several constructions of (1,2)-knots having a meridionally incompressible surface of genus 2, and then show that any such surface for a (1,2)-knot must come from one of the constructions. As an application, we show explicit examples of tunnel number one knots which are not (1,2)-knots.
This paper studies the question of whether minimal genus Heegaard splittings of exterior spaces of knots which are connected sums are weakly reducible or not. Furthermore it is shown that the Heegaard splittings of the knots used by Morimoto to show that tunnel number can be sub-additive are all strongly irreducible. These are the first examples of strongly irreducible minimal genus Heegaard splittings of composite knots. We also give a characterization of when is a set of primitive annuli on a handlebody simultaneously primitive. This characterization is different from that given in [Go].
University of Miami(迈阿密大学);University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign(伊利诺伊大学厄巴纳-香槟分校);Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin(柏林洪堡大学);Temple University(天普大学);University of California, Berkeley(加州大学伯克利分校);Hacettepe University(哈塞特佩大学);University of Maryland(马里兰大学);Dartmouth College(达特茅斯学院);University of Melbourne(墨尔本大学);University of Nebraska-Lincoln(内布拉斯加大学林肯分校)
We introduce a new technique for finding lower bounds on the Heegaard genus of a 3-manifold obtained by gluing a pair of 3-manifolds together along an incompressible torus or annulus. We deduce a number of inequalities, including one which implies that $t(K_1# K_2)\geq \max {t(K_1),t(K_2)}$, where $t(-)$ denotes tunnel number, $K_1$ and $K_2$ are knots in $S^3$, and $K_1$ is $m$-small. This inequality is best possible. We also provide an interesting collection of examples, similar to a set of examples found by Schultens and Wiedmann, which show that Heegaard genus can stay persistently low und…
We define two new families of invariants for (3-manifold, graph) pairs which detect the unknot and are additive under connected sum of pairs and (-1/2)-additive under trivalent vertex sum of pairs. The first of these families is closely related to both bridge number and tunnel number. The second of these families is a variation and generalization of Gabai's width for knots in the 3-sphere. We give applications to the tunnel number and higher genus bridge number of connected sums of knots.
We address the question: how common is it for a 3-manifold to fiber over the circle? One motivation for considering this is to give insight into the fairly inscrutable Virtual Fibration Conjecture. For the special class of 3-manifolds with tunnel number one, we provide compelling theoretical and experimental evidence that fibering is a very rare property. Indeed, in various precise senses it happens with probability 0. Our main theorem is that this is true for a measured lamination model of random tunnel number one 3-manifolds. The first ingredient is an algorithm of K Brown which can decide i…
Suppose $α$ and $R$ are disjoint simple closed curves in the boundary of a genus two handlebody $H$ such that $H[R]$ embeds in $S^3$ as the exterior of a hyperbolic knot $k$(thus, $k$ is a tunnel-number-one knot), and $α$ is Seifert in $H$(i.e., a 2-handle addition $H[α]$ is a Seifert-fibered space) and not the meridian of $H[R]$. Then for a slope $γ$ of $k$ represented by $α$, $γ$-Dehn surgery $k(γ)$ is a Seifert-fibered space. Such a construction of Seifert-fibered Dehn surgeries generalizes that of Seifert-fibered Dehn surgeries arising from primtive/Seifert positions of a knot, which was i…
M. Scharlemann has recently proved that any genus one tunnel number one knot is either a satellite or 2-bridge knot, as conjectured by H. Goda and M. Teragaito; all such knots admit a (1,1) decomposition. In this paper we give a classification of the family of (1,1) knots in $S^3$ with crosscap number two (i.e., bounding an essential once-punctured Klein bottle).