Stabilization in the braid groups II: Transversal simplicity of knots

A note on transversal knots that are closed 3-braids

The contents of this 6-page paper have been subsumed into the 13-page paper, "A note on closed 3-braids", arXiv:0802.1072 [math.GT]. This paper is correct, but contains less information than the new one. The topological classification of knots that are closed braids is shown to lead to a classification theorem for transversal knots that are closed 3-braids. A list is given of all low crossing examples of transversally non-simple knots that are closed 3-braids.

Braids, Transversal links and the Khovanov-Rozansky Theory

We establish some inequalities about the Khovanov-Rozansky cohomologies of braids. These give new upper bounds of the self-linking numbers of transversal links in standard contact $S^3$ which is sharper than the well known bound given by the HOMFLY polynomial. We also introduce a sequence of transversal link invariants, and discuss some of their properties.

横截链环的 Markov 定理

Markov theorem for transversal links

本文建立横截链环的 Markov 定理，刻画了表示横截同痕链环的辫子之间可通过共轭、正 Markov 移动及其逆相互转化的等价关系。

On iterated torus knots and transversal knots

A knot type is exchange reducible if an arbitrary closed n-braid representative can be changed to a closed braid of minimum braid index by a finite sequence of braid isotopies, exchange moves and +/- destabilizations. In the manuscript [J Birman and NC Wrinkle, On transversally simple knots, preprint (1999)] a transversal knot in the standard contact structure for S^3 is defined to be transversally simple if it is characterized up to transversal isotopy by its topological knot type and its self-linking number. Theorem 2 of Birman and Wrinkle [op cit] establishes that exchange reducibility impl…

Stabilization in the Braid Groups (with applications to transverse knots)

Withdrawn and replaced by two related manuscripts: (1) "Stabilization in the braid groups I:MTWS", published in Geometry and Topology Volume 10 (2006), 413-540, arXiv:math.GT/0310279, and (2) "Stabilization in the braid groups II: Transversal simplicity of knots", Geometry and Topology Volume 10 (2006), to appear, arXiv:math,GT/0310280.

Braids, knots and contact structures

These notes were prepared to supplement the talk that I gave on Feb 19, 2004, at the First East Asian School of Knots and Related Topics, Seoul, South Korea. In this article I review aspects of the interconnections between braids, knots and contact structures on Euclidean 3-space. I discuss my recent work with William Menasco (arXiv math.GT/0310279)} and (arXiv math.GT/0310280). In the latter we prove that there are distinct transversal knot types in contact 3-space having the same topological knot type and the same Bennequin invariant.