AMS LaTeX, 23 pages, 14 figures, 1 table; submitted to Journal of Knot Theory and its Ramifications, and to Proceedings of the International Knot Theory Meeting (Knots in Hellas 1998), Delphi, Greece, 7 - 15 August 1998. Also available from http://www.williams.edu/Mathematics/jcalvo/abstract.html
The space of n-sided polygons embedded in three-space consists of a smooth manifold in which points correspond to piecewise linear or ``geometric'' knots, while paths correspond to isotopies which preserve the geometric structure of these knots. The topology of these spaces for the case n = 6 and n = 7 is described. In both of these cases, each knot space consists of five components, but contains only three (when n = 6) or four (when n = 7) topological knot types. Therefore ``geometric knot equivalence'' is strictly stronger than topological equivalence. This point is demonstrated by the hexagonal trefoils and heptagonal figure-eight knots, which, unlike their topological counterparts, are not reversible. Extending these results to the cases n \ge 8 is also discussed.
This paper introduces two virtual knot theory ``analogues'' of a well-known family of invariants for knots in thickened surfaces: the Grishanov-Vassiliev finite-type invariants of order two. The first, called the three loop isotopy invariant, is an invariant of virtual knots while the second, called the three loop framed isotopy invariant, is a regular isotopy invariant of framed virtual knots. The properties of these invariants are investigated at length. In addition, we make precise the informal notion of ``analogue''. Using this formal definition, it is proved that a generalized three loop …
For a polygonal knot K, it is shown that a tube of radius R(K), the polygonal thickness radius, is an embedded torus. Given a thick configuration K, perturbations of size r<R(K) define satellite structures, or local knotting. We explore knotting within these tubes both theoretically and numerically. We provide bounds on perturbation radii for which we can see small trefoil and figure-eight summands and use Monte Carlo simulations to approximate the relative probabilities of these structures as a function of the number of edges.
We classify Legendrian torus knots and figure eight knots in the tight contact structure on the 3-sphere up to Legendrian isotopy. As a corollary to this we also obtain the classification of transversal torus knots and figure eight knots up to transversal isotopy.
Generalizing Milnor's result that an FTC (finite total curvature) knot has an isotopic inscribed polygon, we show that any two nearby knotted FTC graphs are isotopic by a small isotopy. We also show how to obtain sharper constants when the starting curve is smooth. We apply our main theorem to prove a limiting result for essential subarcs of a knot.
Let $K$ be a polygonal knot in general position with vertex set $V$. A \emph{generic quadrisecant} of $K$ is a line that is disjoint from the set $V$ and intersects $K$ in exactly four distinct points. We give an upper bound for the number of generic quadrisecants of a polygonal knot $K$ in general position. This upper bound is in terms of the number of edges of $K$.
We establish a fundamental connection between smooth and polygonal knot energies, showing that the Minimum Distance Energy for polygons inscribed in a smooth knot converges to the Moebius Energy of the smooth knot as the polygons converge to the smooth knot. However, the polygons must converge in a ``nice'' way, and the energies must be correctly regularized. We determine an explicit error bound between the energies in terms of the number of the edges of the polygon and the Ropelength of the smooth curve.
In this paper we classify, up to rigid isotopy, non-singular real rational curves of degrees less than or equal to 6 in a quadric homeomorphic to the 3-sphere. We also study their connections with rigid isotopy classes of real rational knots in $\mathbb{RP}^3$.
Pseudodiagrams are knot or link diagrams where some of the crossing information is missing. Pseudoknots are equivalence classes of pseudodiagrams, where equivalence is generated by a natural set of Reidemeister moves. In this paper, we introduce a Gauss-diagrammatic theory for pseudoknots which gives rise to the notion of a virtual pseudoknot. We provide new, easily computable isotopy and homotopy invariants for classical and virtual pseudodiagrams. We also give tables of unknotting numbers for homotopically trivial pseudoknots and homotopy classes of homotopically nontrivial pseudoknots. Sinc…
All knots are fused isotopic to the unknot via a process known as virtualization. We extend and adapt this process to show that, up to fused isotopy, classical links are classified by their linking numbers.
In this article, we study the knots realized by periodic orbits of R-covered Anosov flows in compact 3-manifolds. We show that if two orbits are freely homotopic then in fact they are isotopic. We show that lifts of periodic orbits to the universal cover are unknotted. When the manifold is atoroidal, we deduce some finer properties regarding the existence of embedded cylinders connecting two given homotopic orbits.
Links in lens spaces may be defined to be equivalent by ambient isotopy or by diffeomorphism of pairs. In the first case, for all the combinatorial representations of links, there is a set of Reidemeister-type moves on diagrams connecting isotopy equivalent links. In this paper we provide a set of moves on disk, band and grid diagrams that connects diffeo equivalent links: there are up to four isotopy equivalent links in each diffeo equivalence class. Moreover, we investigate how the diffeo equivalence relates to the lift of the link in the $3$-sphere: in the particular case of oriented primit…
The inclusion of the space of all knots of a prescribed writhe in a particular isotopy class into the space of all knots in that isotopy class is a weak homotopy equivalence.
We resolve a question of Fuchs and Tabachnikov by showing that there is a Legendrian knot in standard contact three-space with zero Maslov number which is not Legendrian isotopic to its mirror. The proof uses the differential graded algebras of Chekanov.
An elementary stabilization of a Legendrian link $L$ in the spherical cotangent bundle $ST^*M$ of a surface $M$ is a surgery that results in attaching a handle to $M$ along two discs away from the image in $M$ of the projection of the link $L$. A virtual Legendrian isotopy is a composition of stabilizations, destabilizations and Legendrian isotopies. In contrast to Legendrian knots, virtual Legendrian knots enjoy the property that there is a bijective correspondence between the virtual Legendrian knots and the equivalence classes of Gauss diagrams. We study virtual Legendrian isotopy classes o…
This paper contains the first knot polynomials which can distinguish the orientations of classical knots and which make no excplicit use of the knot group. But they make extensive use of the meridian and of the longitude in a geometric way. Let $M$ be the topological moduli space of long knots up to regular isotopy, and for any natural number $n > 1$ let $M_n$ be the moduli space of all n-cables $nK$ of framed long knots $K$ which are twisted by a given string link $T$ to close to a knot in the solid torus, with a marked point on the knot at infinity. First we construct integer valued combinat…
In this paper we first give a one-move version of Markov's braid theorem for knot isotopy in $S^3$ that sharpens the classical theorem. Then a relative version of Markov's theorem concerning a fixed braided portion in the knot. We also prove an analogue of Markov's theorem for knot isotopy in knot complements. Finally we extend this last result to prove a Markov theorem for links in an arbitrary orientable 3--manifold.
It is well-known that no knot can be cancelled in a connected sum with another knot, whereas every link can be cancelled up to link homotopy in a (componentwise) connected sum with another link. In this paper we address the question whether the noncancellation property of knots holds for some (piecewise-linear) links up to some stronger analogue of link homotopy, which still does not distinguish between sufficiently close C^0-approximations of a topological link. We introduce a sequence of such increasingly stronger equivalence relations under the name of k-quasi-isotopy, k=1,2,...; all of the…
Any 2-bridge knot in the 3-sphere has a bridge sphere from which any other bridge surface can be obtained by stabilization, meridional stabilization, perturbation and proper isotopy.
Fractional Dehn twists give a measure of the difference between the relative isotopy class of a homeomorphism of a bordered surface and the Thurston representative of its free isotopy class. We show how to estimate and compute these invariants. We discuss the the relationship of our work to stabilization problems in classical knot theory, general open book decompositions, and contact topology. We include an elementary characterization of overtwistedness for contact structures described by open book decompositions.
Previous work used polygonal realizations of knots to reduce the problem of computing the superbridge number of a realization to a linear programming problem, leading to new sharp upper bounds on the superbridge index of a number of knots. The present work extends this technique to polygonal realizations with an odd number of edges and determines the exact superbridge index of many new knots, including the majority of the 9-crossing knots for which it was previously unknown and, for the first time, several 12-crossing knots. Interestingly, at least half of these superbridge-minimizing polygona…
Physical knots and links are one-dimensional submanifolds of R^3 with fixed length and thickness. We show that isotopy classes in this category can differ from those of classical knot and link theory. In particular we exhibit a Gordian Split Link, a two component link that is split in the classical theory but cannot be split with a physical isotopy.
Construction of a semigroup with 15 generators and 84 relations is given. The center of this semigroup is in one-to-one correspondence with the set of all isotopy classes of non-oriented singular knots (links with finitely many double intersections in general position) in three-dimensional space.
We study petal diagrams of knots, which provide a method of describing knots in terms of permutations in a symmetric group $S_{2n+1}$. We define two classes of moves on such permutations, called trivial petal additions and crossing exchanges, which do not change the isotopy class of the underlying knot. We prove that any two permutations which represent isotopic knots can be related by a sequence of these moves and their inverses.
We study the variation of the Tait number of a closed space curve according to its different projections. The results are used to compute the writhe of a knot, leading to a closed formula in case of polygonal curves.
We prove that if a fibered knot $K$ with genus greater than one in a three-manifold $M$ has a sufficiently complicated monodromy, then $K$ induces a minimal genus Heegaard splitting $P$ that is unique up to isotopy, and small genus Heegaard splittings of $M$ are stabilizations of $P$. We provide a complexity bound in terms of the Heegaard genus of $M$. We also provide global complexity bounds for fibered knots in the three-sphere and lens spaces.
We explain new developments in classical knot theory in 3 and 4~dimensions, i.e. we study knots in 3-space, up to isotopy as well as up to concordance. In dimension~3 we give a geometric interpretation of the Kontsevich integral (joint with Jim Conant), and in dimension 4 we introduce new concordance invariants using von Neumann signatures (joint with Tim Cochran and Kent Orr). The common geometric feature of our results is the notion of a grope cobordism.
We construct the first combinatorial 1-cocycle with values in the $ \mathbb{Z} [x,x^{-1}]$-module of isotopy classes of singular long knots in 3-space with a signed planar double point, and which represents a non trivial cohomology class in the topological moduli space of long knots. It can be interpreted as an invariant with values in a $ \mathbb{Z} [x,x^{-1}]$-module generated by 3-manifolds for each element of infinite order of the mapping class group of the complement of a satellite knot in $S^3$. The 1-cocycle seems to be trivial on all loops for long knots which are not satellites but it…
Let F a closed connected orientable surface bounding a genus g handlebody H. In this paper we find a finite set of generators for the subgroup E(2,g) of the pure mapping class group of the twice punctured torus PMCG(2,g), consisting of the isotopy classes of homeomorphisms of F which admit an extension to H keeping a properly embedded trivial arc fixed. This subgroup turns out to be important for the study of knots in closed 3-manifolds via (g,1)-decomposition. In fact, the knots represented by the isotopy classes belonging to the same left cosets of E(2,g) in PMCG(2,g) are equivalent.
A symmetric union of two knots is a classical construction in knot theory which generalizes connected sum, introduced by Kinoshita and Terasaka in the 1950s. We study this construction for the purpose of finding an infinite family of hyperbolic non-fibered three-bridge knots of constant determinant which satisfy the well-known cosmetic crossing conjecture. This conjecture asserts that the only crossing changes which preserve the isotopy type of a knot are nugatory.
We construct an enhanced version of knot contact homology, and show that we can deduce from it the group ring of the knot group together with the peripheral subgroup. In particular, it completely determines a knot up to smooth isotopy. The enhancement consists of the (fully noncommutative) Legendrian contact homology associated to the union of the conormal torus of the knot and a disjoint cotangent fiber sphere, along with a product on a filtered part of this homology. As a corollary, we obtain a new, holomorphic-curve proof of a result of the third author that the Legendrian isotopy class of …
The problem of classification of Legendrian knots (links) up to isotopy in the class of Legendrian embeddings (Legendrian isotopy) naturally leads to the following two subproblems. The first of them is: which combinations of the three classical invariants can be realized by a Legendrian knot? (It is well-known that each invariant by itself can be realized by a Legendrian knot). The first step in this direction was done by Bennequin who proved that the Bennequin number of a Legendrian knot is less than twice its genus. The second subproblem is whether there exist a pair of Legendrian knots whic…
We study the classification of slice disks of knots up to isotopy and diffeomorphism using an invariant in knot Floer homology. We compute the invariant of a slice disk obtained by deform-spinning, and show that it can be effectively used to distinguish non-isotopic slice disks with diffeomorphic complements. Given a slice disk of a composite knot, we define a numerical stable diffeomorphism invariant called the rank. This can be used to show that a slice disk is not a boundary connected sum, and to give lower bounds on the complexity of certain hyperplane sections of the slice disk.
We establish a novel connection between algebraic number theory and knot theory. We show that the number of equivalence classes of integral binary quadratic forms of discriminant $t^2 - 4$ (for $t\neq \pm 2$) is equal to the number of isotopy classes of links in $\mathbb{S}^3$ with prescribed values (depending on $t$) of three classical link invariants. The equality arises from a natural algebraic correspondence between integral binary quadratic forms (of discriminant $t^2 - 4$ for $t\neq \pm 2$) and isotopy classes of links of braid index at most three. In particular, the class numbers of cer…
We consider the problem of deciding whether a polygonal knot in 3-dimensional Euclidean space is unknotted, capable of being continuously deformed without self-intersection so that it lies in a plane. We show that this problem, {\sc unknotting problem} is in {\bf NP}. We also consider the problem, {\sc unknotting problem} of determining whether two or more such polygons can be split, or continuously deformed without self-intersection so that they occupy both sides of a plane without intersecting it. We show that it also is in NP. Finally, we show that the problem of determining the genus of a …
Budney recently constructed an operad that encodes splicing of knots. He further showed that the space of (long) knots is generated over this operad by the space of torus knots and hyperbolic knots, thus generalizing the satellite decomposition of knots from isotopy classes to the level of the space of knots. Infection by string links is a generalization of splicing from knots to links. We construct a colored operad that encodes string link infection. We prove that a certain subspace of the space of 2-component string links is generated over a suboperad of our operad by its subspace of prime l…
Satellite constructions on a knot can be thought of as taking some strands of a knot and then tying in another knot. Using satellite constructions one can construct many distinct isotopy classes of knots. Pushing this further one can construct distinct concordance classes of knots which preserve some algebraic invariants. Infection is a generalization of satellite operations, which has been previously studies. An infection by a string link can be thought of as grabbing a knot at multiple locations and then tying in a link. Cochran, Friedl and Techner showed that any algebraically slice knot is…
The cosmetic crossing conjecture (also known as the "nugatory crossing conjecture") asserts that the only crossing changes that preserve the oriented isotopy class of a knot in the 3-sphere are nugatory. We use the Dehn surgery characterization of the unknot to prove this conjecture for knots in integer homology spheres whose branched double covers are L-spaces satisfying a homological condition. This includes as a special case all alternating and quasi-alternating knots with square-free determinant. As an application, we prove the cosmetic crossing conjecture holds for all knots with at most …
In 1992, Osamu Kakimizu defined a complex that has become known as the Kakimizu complex of a knot. Vertices correspond to isotopy classes of minimal genus Seifert surfaces of the knot. Higher dimensional simplices correspond to collections of such classes of Seifert surfaces that admit disjoint representatives. We show that this complex is simply connected.
The paper gives topological as well as rigid isotopy classification of smooth irreducible algebraic curves in the real projective 3-space for the case when the degree of the curve is at most six and its genus is at most one.
In this paper we study some aspects of knots and links in lens spaces. Namely, if we consider lens spaces as quotient of the unit ball $B^{3}$ with suitable identification of boundary points, then we can project the links on the equatorial disk of $B^{3}$, obtaining a regular diagram for them. In this contest, we obtain a complete finite set of Reidemeister type moves establishing equivalence, up to ambient isotopy, a Wirtinger type presentation for the fundamental group of the complement of the link and a diagrammatic method giving the first homology group. We also compute Alexander polynomia…
We give a combinatorial description of the Legendrian differential graded algebra associated to a Legendrian knot in PxR, where P is a punctured Riemann surface. As an application we show that for any integer k and any homology class h in H_1(PxR) there are k Legendrian knots all representing h which are pairwise smoothly isotopic through a formal Legendrian isotopy but which lie in mutually distinct Legendrian isotopy classes.
Any knot $K$ in genus-$1$ $1$-bridge position can be moved by isotopy to lie in a union of $n$ parallel tori tubed by $n-1$ tubes so that $K$ intersects each tube in two spanning arcs, which we call a leveling of the position. The minimal $n$ for which this is possible is an invariant of the position, called the level number. In this work, we describe the leveling by the braid group on two points in the torus, which yields a numerical invariant of the position, called the $(1, 1)$-length. We show that the $(1, 1)$-length equals the level number. We then find braid descriptions for $(1,1)$-posi…
In this paper we investigate the relationship between isotopy classes of knots and links in S^3 and the diffeomorphism types of homeomorphic smooth 4-manifolds. As a corollary of this initial investigation, we begin to uncover the surprisingly rich structure of diffeomorphism types of manifolds homeomorphic to the K3 surface.
An equilateral stick number $s_{=}(K)$ of a knot $K$ is defined to be the minimal number of sticks required to construct a polygonal knot of $K$ which consists of equal length sticks. Rawdon and Scharein [12] found upper bounds for the equilateral stick numbers of all prime knots through 10 crossings by using algorithms in the software KnotPlot. In this paper, we find an upper bound on the equilateral stick number of a nontrivial knot K in terms of the minimal crossing number $c(K)$ which is $s_{=}(K) \le 2c(K) + 2$. Moreover if $K$ is a non-alternating prime knot, then $s_{=}(K) \le 2c(K) - 2…
The $\mathbb{Z}_{2}$-equivariant Heegaard Floer cohomlogy $\widehat{HF}_{\mathbb{Z}_{2}}(Σ(K))$ of a knot $K$ in $S^{3}$, constructed by Hendricks, Lipshitz, and Sarkar, is an isotopy invariant which is defined using bridge diagrams of $K$ drawn on a sphere. We prove that $\widehat{HF}_{\mathbb{Z}_{2}}(Σ(K))$ can be computed from knot Heegaard diagrams of $K$ and show that it is a strong Heegaard invariant. As a topolocial application, we construct a transverse knot invariant $\hat{\mathcal{T}}_{\mathbb{Z}_{2}}(K)$ as an element of $\widehat{HFK}_{\mathbb{Z}_{2}}(Σ(K),K)$, which is a refinemen…
Let $M^{reg}$ be the topological moduli space of long knots up to regular isotopy, and for any natural number $n > 1$ let $M^{reg}_n$ be the moduli space of all n-cables of framed long knots which are twisted by a string link to a knot in the solid torus $V^3$ . We upgrade the Vassiliev invariant $v_2$ of a knot to an integer valued combinatorial 1-cocycle for $M^{reg}_n$ by a very simple formula. This 1-cocycle depends on a natural number $a \in \mathbb{Z}\cong H_1(V^3;\mathbb{Z})$ with $0<a<n$ as a parameter and we obtain a polynomial-valued 1-cocycle by taking the Lagrange interpolation pol…
