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Papers and Preprints
Dave Futer
- Arithmeticity and
commensurability of links in thickened surfaces.
With Rose
Kaplan-Kelly.
Preprint on the arXiv.
Abstract: The family of right-angled tiling links consists of links
built from regular 4-valent tilings of constant-curvature surfaces that
contain one or two types of tiles. The complements of these links admit
complete hyperbolic structures and contain two totally geodesic checkerboard
surfaces that meet at right angles. In this paper, we give a complete
characterization of which right-angled tiling links are arithmetic, and which
are pairwise commensurable. The arithmeticity classification exploits symmetry
arguments and the combinatorial geometry of Coxeter polyhedra. The
commensurability classification relies on identifying the canonical
decompositions of the link complements, in addition to number-theoretic data
from invariant trace fields.
-
Double-Anonymous Peer Review in Mathematics: Implementation for American
Mathematical Society Journals.
With Dan
Abramovich, Henry Cohn,
and Robert
Harington.
Notices
of the AMS 71 (2024), Issue 7,
1079-1081. HTML.
Abstract: This is a status update on the implementation of
double-anonymous refereeing in AMS journals. The article describes the
motivation behind the shift to double-anonymous peer review, the philosophy
behind the transition, and some preliminary information about how the rollout
is going.
- Excluding
cosmetic surgeries on hyperbolic 3-manifolds.
With
Jessica Purcell
and Saul
Schleimer. Preprint on the
arXiv.
Abstract: This paper employs knot invariants and results from hyperbolic geometry to develop a practical procedure for checking the cosmetic surgery conjecture on any given one-cusped manifold. This procedure has been used to establish the following computational results. First, we verify that all knots up to 19 crossings, and all one-cusped 3-manifolds in the SnapPy census, do not admit any purely cosmetic surgeries. Second, we check that a hyperbolic knot with at most 15 crossings only admits chirally cosmetic surgeries when the knot itself is amphicheiral. Third, we enumerate all knots up to 13 crossings that share a common Dehn fillings with the figure-8 knot. The code that verifies these results is publicly available on GitHub.
- Homotopy
equivalent boundaries of cube complexes.
With Talia
Fernos and Mark Hagen.
Geometriae Dedicata 218 (2024), article #33.
arXiv.
Abstract: A finite-dimensional CAT(0) cube complex X is equipped
with several well-studied boundaries. These include the Tits boundary
(which depends on the CAT(0) metric), the Roller boundary (which
depends only on the combinatorial structure), and the simplicial
boundary (which also depends only on the combinatorial structure). We use
a partial order on a certain quotient of the Roller boundary to define the
simplicial Roller boundary. Then, we show that the Tits boundary, the
simplicial Roller boundary, and teh simplicial boundary are all homotopy
equivalent in a way that is Aut(X)-equivariant up to homotopy. As an
application, we deduce that the perturbations of the CAT(0) metric introduced
by Qing do not affect the equivariant homotopy type of the Tits
boundary. Along the way, we develop a self-contained exposition that provides
a dictionary among several distinct perspectives on cube complexes.
- Large volume
fibred knots of fixed genus.
With Ken Baker,
Jessica Purcell
and Saul
Schleimer. Mathematical Research Letters, to appear.
arXiv.
Abstract: We show that, for hyperbolic fibered knots in the
three-sphere, the volume and the genus are unrelated. That is, we construct
hyperbolic fibred knots with fixed genus and arbitrarily large volume.
- Cubulating random
quotients of hyperbolic cubulated groups.
With
Daniel Wise.
Transactions of the AMS, Series B 11 (2024), 622-666.
arXiv.
Abstract: We show that low-density random quotients of cubulated
hyperbolic groups are again cubulated and hyperbolic. Ingredients of the proof
include cubical small-cancellation theory, the exponential growth of conjugacy
classes, and the statement that hyperplane stabilizers grow exponentially more
slowly than the ambient cubical group.
- Infinitely many virtual geometric
triangulations.
With Emily
Hamilton and Neil
Hoffman.
Journal of
Topology 15 (2022), Issue 4, 2352-2388. arXiv.
Abstract: We prove that every cusped hyperbolic 3-manifold has a finite
cover admitting
infinitely many geometric ideal triangulations. Furthermore, every long Dehn
filling of one cusp in this cover admits infinitely many geometric ideal
triangulations. This cover is constructed in several stages, using results
about separability of peripheral subgroups and their double cosets, in
addition
to a new conjugacy separability theorem that may be of independent interest.
The infinite sequence of geometric triangulations is supported in a geometric
submanifold associated to one cusp, and can be organized into an infinite
trivalent tree of Pachner moves.
- Effective drilling
and filling of tame hyperbolic 3-manifolds.
With
Jessica Purcell
and Saul
Schleimer.
Commentarii
Mathematici Helvetici
97 (2022), Issue 3, 457-512. arXiv.
Abstract:
We give effective bilipschitz bounds on the change in metric between thick
parts of a cusped hyperbolic 3-manifold and its long Dehn fillings. In the
thin parts of the manifold, we give effective bounds on the change in complex
length of a short closed geodesic. These results quantify the filling theorem
of Brock and Bromberg, and extend previous results of the authors from finite
volume hyperbolic 3-manifolds to any tame hyperbolic 3-manifold. To prove the
main results, we assemble tools from Kleinian group theory into a template for
transferring theorems about finite-volume manifolds into theorems about
infinite-volume manifolds. We also prove and apply an infinite-volume version
of the 6-Theorem.
- Effective bilipschitz
bounds on drilling and filling.
With
Jessica Purcell
and Saul
Schleimer.
Geometry &
Topology 26 (2022), Issue 3, 1077-1188. arXiv.
Abstract: This paper proves explicit bilipschitz bounds on the change
in metric between the thick part of a cusped hyperbolic 3-manifold N and
the thick part of any of its long Dehn fillings. Given a bilipschitz
constant J and a thickness constant ε > 0, we quantify how long
a Dehn filling suffices to guarantee a J-bilipschitz map on
ε-thick parts. A similar theorem without quantitative control was
previously proved by Brock and Bromberg, applying Hodgson and Kerckhoff's
theory of cone deformations. We achieve quantitative control by bounding the
analytic quantities that control the infinitesimal change in metric during the
cone deformation.
Our quantitative results have two immediate applications. First, we relate the
Margulis number of N to the Margulis numbers of its Dehn fillings. In
particular, we give a lower bound on the systole of any closed 3-manifold
M whose Margulis number is less than 0.29. Combined with Shalen's upper
bound on the volume of such a manifold, this gives a procedure to compute the
finite list of 3-manifolds whose Margulis numbers are below 0.29.
Our second application is to the cosmetic surgery conjecture. Given the
systole of a one-cusped hyperbolic manifold N, we produce an explicit upper
bound on the length of a slope involved in a cosmetic surgery on N. This
reduces the cosmetic surgery conjecture on N to an explicit finite search.
- Random veering
triangulations are not geometric.
With
Sam Taylor
and Will Worden.
Groups, Geometry, and
Dynamics 14 (2020), Issue 3, 1077-1126.
arXiv.
Abstract: Every pseudo-Anosov mapping class φ defines an
associated veering triangulation τφ of a punctured mapping
torus. We show that generically, τφ is not geometric. Here, the
word "generic" can be taken either with respect to random walks in mapping
class groups or with respect to counting geodesics in moduli space. Tools in
the proof include Teichmuller theory, the Ending Lamination Theorem, study
of the Thurston norm, and rigorous computation.
- Effective distance between
nested Margulis tubes.
With
Jessica Purcell
and Saul
Schleimer.
Transactions
of the American Mathematical Society 372 (2019), Issue 6, 4211-4237. arXiv.
Abstract: We give sharp, effective bounds on the distance between tori
of fixed injectivity radius inside a Margulis tube in a hyperbolic 3-manifold.
- A survey of hyperbolic knot
theory.
With
Effie Kalfagianni and
Jessica Purcell.
Knots,
Low-Dimensional Topology and Applications, Springer Proceedings
in Mathematics & Statistics, vol. 284 (2019), 1-30.
arXiv.
Abstract: We survey some tools and techniques for determining
geometric properties of a link complement from a link diagram.
In particular, we survey the tools used to estimate geometric invariants in
terms of basic diagrammatic link invariants.
We focus on determining when a link is hyperbolic, estimating its volume, and
bounding its cusp shape and cusp area. We give sample applications and state
some open questions and conjectures.
- Ubiquitous quasi-Fuchsian surfaces
in cusped hyperbolic 3-manifolds.
With Daryl Cooper.
Geometry & Topology 23 (2019), Issue 1, 241-298. arXiv.
Abstract: This paper proves that every finite volume hyperbolic
3-manifold M contains a ubiquitous collection of closed, immersed,
quasi-Fuchsian surfaces. These surfaces are ubiquitous in the
sense that their preimages in the universal cover separate any pair of
disjoint, non-asymptotic geodesic planes. The proof relies in a crucial
way on the corresponding theorem of Kahn and Markovic for closed
3-manifolds. As a corollary of this result and a companion statement
about surfaces with cusps, we recover Wise's theorem that the fundamental
group of M acts freely and cocompactly on a CAT(0) cube complex.
- Growth of
quasiconvex subgroups.
With François Dahmani
and Daniel Wise.
Mathematical Proceedings
of the Cambridge Philosophical Society 167 (2019), Issue 3, 505-530.
arXiv.
Abstract: This paper proves that non-elementary hyperbolic groups grow
exponentially more quickly than their infinite index quasiconvex
subgroups. The main tools are automatic structures and Perron-Frobenius
theory.
We also extend the main result to relatively hyperbolic groups and cubulated
groups. These extensions use the notion of growth tightness and the work of
Dahmani, Guirardel, and Osin on rotating families.
- Spectrally similar
incommensurable 3-manifolds.
With Christian Millichap.
Proceedings of the London Mathematical Society 115 (2017), Issue 2, 411-447. arXiv.
Abstract: Reid has asked whether hyperbolic manifolds with the same
geodesic length spectrum must be commensurable. Building toward a negative
answer to this question, we construct examples of hyperbolic 3-manifolds that
share an arbitrarily large portion of the length spectrum but are not
commensurable. More precisely, for all sufficiently large n, we construct a
pair of incommensurable hyperbolic 3-manifolds Nn and Nnμ whose volume is
approximately n and whose length spectra agree up to length n.
Both Nn and Nnμ are built by gluing two standard submanifolds along a
complicated pseudo-Anosov map, ensuring that these manifolds have a very thick
collar about an essential surface. The two gluing maps differ by a
hyper-elliptic involution along this surface. Our proof also involves a new
commensurability criterion based on pairs of pants.
- The lowest
volume 3-orbifolds with high torsion.
With Chris
Atkinson.
Transactions
of the American Mathematical Society 369 (2017), Issue 8, 5809-5827.
ArXiv.
Abstract: For each natural number n ≥ 4, we determine the unique
lowest volume hyperbolic 3-orbifold whose torsion orders are bounded below by
n. This lowest volume orbifold has base space the 3-sphere and singular locus
the figure-8 knot, marked n. We apply this result to give sharp lower bounds
on the volume of a hyperbolic manifold in terms of the order of elements in
its symmetry group.
- Hyperbolic
semi-adequate links.
With
Effie Kalfagianni and
Jessica Purcell.
Communications in Analysis & Geometry 23 (2015), Issue 5, 993-1030.
ArXiv.
Abstract: We provide a diagrammatic criterion for semi-adequate links to
be hyperbolic. We also give a conjectural description of the satellite
structures of semi-adequate links. One application of our result is that the
closures of sufficiently complicated positive braids are hyperbolic links.
- Essential surfaces
in highly twisted link complements.
With Ryan Blair
and .
Algebraic & Geometric
Topology 15 (2015), Issue 3, 1501-1523.
ArXiv.
Abstract: We prove that in the complement of a highly twisted link, all
closed, essential, meridionally incompressible surfaces must have high
genus. The genus bound is proportional to the number of crossings per twist
region. A similar result holds for surfaces with meridional boundary: such a
surface either has large negative Euler characteristic, or is an n-punctured
sphere visible in the diagram.
- Quasifuchsian state
surfaces.
With
Effie Kalfagianni and
Jessica Purcell.
Transactions
of the American Mathematical Society 366 (2014), Issue 8,
4323-4343.
ArXiv.
Abstract: This paper continues our study, initiated in
the monograph [19], of essential state surfaces in link complements that
satisfy a mild diagrammatic hypothesis (homogeneously adequate). For
hyperbolic links, we show that the geometric type of these surfaces in the
Thurston trichotomy is completely determined by a simple graph--theoretic
criterion in terms of a certain spine of the surfaces. For links with
A- or B-adequate diagrams, the geometric type of the surface is
also completely determined by a coefficient of the colored Jones
polynomial of the link.
- Cusp geometry of fibered
3-manifolds.
With Saul
Schleimer.
American
Journal of Mathematics 136 (2014), Issue 2, 309-356.
ArXiv.
Abstract:
Let F be a surface and suppose that φ : F → F is a
pseudo-Anosov homeomorphism fixing a puncture p of F. The
mapping torus M = Mφ is hyperbolic and contains a maximal cusp
C about the puncture p.
We show that the area and height of the cusp torus ∂C are equal,
up to explicit multiplicative error, to the stable translation
distance of φ acting on the arc complex A(F,p). Our proofs
rely on elementary facts about the hyperbolic geometry of pleated
surfaces. In particular, we do not use any deep results in
Teichmüller theory, Kleinian group theory, or the coarse geometry of
A(F,p).
A similar result holds for quasi-Fuchsian manifolds N ≈ F
× R. In that setting, we prove a combinatorial estimate on the
area and height of the cusp annulus in the convex core of N and give
explicit multiplicative and additive errors.
- Small volume link
orbifolds.
With Chris
Atkinson.
Mathematical Research Letters 20 (2013), Issue 6, 995-1016.
ArXiv.
Abstract: This paper proves lower bounds on the volume of a hyperbolic
3-orbifold whose singular locus is a link. We identify the unique smallest
volume orbifold whose singular locus is a knot or link in the 3-sphere, or
more generally in a Z6 homology sphere. We also prove more general lower
bounds under mild homological hypotheses.
- Jones polynomials, volume, and
essential knot surfaces: a survey.
With Effie Kalfagianni and
Jessica Purcell.
Proceedings of
Knots in Poland III, Banach Center Publications 100
(2014), Issue 1, 51-77.
ArXiv.
Abstract:
This paper is a brief overview of recent results by the authors relating
colored Jones polynomials to geometric topology. The proofs of these results
appear in the papers [13] and [19], while this
survey focuses on the main ideas and examples.
- Fiber detection for state
surfaces.
Algebraic &
Geometric Topology 13 (2013), Issue 5,
2799-2807.
ArXiv.
Abstract: Every Kauffman state σ of a link
diagram D(K) naturally defines a state
surface Sσ whose boundary is K. For a
homogeneous state σ, we show that K is a fibered link
with fiber surface Sσ if and only if an associated
graph G'σ is a tree.
As a corollary, it follows that for an adequate knot or link, the second and
next-to-last coefficients of the Jones polynomial are obstructions to certain
state surfaces being fibers for K.
This provides a dramatically simpler proof of a theorem from monograph [20].
- Guts of surfaces and the colored
Jones polynomial.
With Effie Kalfagianni and
Jessica Purcell.
Monograph published
in Lecture
Notes in Mathematics (Springer),
volume 2069 (2013).
ArXiv.
Abstract:
This monograph derives direct and concrete relations between colored Jones
polynomials and the topology of incompressible spanning surfaces in knot and
link complements. Under mild diagrammatic hypotheses that arise naturally in
the study of knot polynomial invariants (A-adequacy), we prove that the growth
of the degree of the colored Jones polynomials is a boundary slope of an
essential surface in the knot complement. We show that certain coefficients of
the polynomial measure how far this surface is from being a fiber in the knot
complement; in particular, the surface is a fiber if and only if a particular
coefficient vanishes. Our results also yield concrete relations between
hyperbolic geometry and colored Jones polynomials: for certain families of
links, coefficients of the polynomials determine the hyperbolic volume to
within a factor of 4.
Our approach is to generalize the checkerboard decompositions of alternating
knots. Under mild diagrammatic hypotheses (A-adequacy), we show that the
checkerboard knot surfaces are incompressible, and obtain an ideal polyhedral
decomposition of their complement. We employ normal surface theory to
establish
a dictionary between the pieces of the JSJ decomposition of the surface
complement and the combinatorial structure of certain spines of the
checkerboard surface (state graphs). Since state graphs have previously
appeared in the study of Jones polynomials, our setting and methods create a
bridge between quantum and geometric knot invariants.
- Dehn filling and the
geometry of unknotting tunnels.
With
Daryl Cooper and
Jessica Purcell.
Geometry &
Topology 17 (2013), Issue 3, 1815-1876.
ArXiv.
Abstract:
Any one-cusped hyperbolic manifold M with an unknotting tunnel τ is obtained
by Dehn filling a cusp of a two-cusped hyperbolic manifold.
In the case where M is obtained by "generic" Dehn filling, we prove that τ is isotopic to a geodesic,
and characterize whether τ is isotopic to an edge in the canonical
decomposition of M. We also give explicit estimates (with additive error only)
on the length of τ relative to a maximal cusp. These results give generic
answers to three long-standing questions posed by Adams, Sakuma, and Weeks.
We also construct an explicit sequence of one-tunnel knots
in S3,
all of whose unknotting tunnels have length approaching infinity.
- Explicit Dehn filling and
Heegaard splittings.
With Jessica Purcell.
Communications
in Analysis and Geometry 21 (2013), Issue 3, 625-650.
ArXiv.
Abstract: We prove an explicit, quantitative criterion that ensures the
Heegaard surfaces in Dehn fillings behave "as expected." Given a cusped
hyperbolic manifold X, and a Dehn filling whose meridian and longitude curves
are longer than 2π(2g-1), we show that every genus g Heegaard splitting of
the filled manifold comes from a splitting of the original manifold X. The
analogous statement holds for fillings of multiple boundary tori. This gives
an effective version of a theorem of Moriah-Rubinstein and Rieck-Sedgwick.
- Explicit angle structures for veering
triangulations.
With
François
Guéritaud.
Algebraic &
Geometric Topology 13 (2013), Issue 1, 205-235.
ArXiv.
Abstract:
Agol recently introduced the notion of a veering triangulation, and showed
that such triangulations naturally arise as layered triangulations of fibered
hyperbolic 3-manifolds. We prove, by a constructive argument, that every
veering triangulation admits positive angle structures, recovering a result of
Hodgson, Rubinstein, Segerman, and Tillmann. Our construction leads to
explicit lower bounds on the smallest angle in this positive angle structure,
and to information about angled holonomy of the boundary tori.
- Surface quotients of
hyperbolic buildings.
With Anne Thomas.
International
Mathematics Research Notices 2012, Issue 2, 437-477.
ArXiv.
Abstract:
Let Ip,v be Bourdon's building, the unique simply-connected 2-complex such
that all 2-cells are regular right-angled hyperbolic p-gons and the link at
each vertex is the complete bipartite graph Kv,v. We investigate and mostly
determine the set of triples (p,v,g) for which there exists a uniform lattice
Γ in Aut(Ip,v) such that the quotient of Ip,v by
Γ is a compact orientable surface of genus
g. Surprisingly, the existence of Γ depends upon the value of v. The
remaining cases lead to open questions in tessellations of surfaces and in
number theory. Our construction of Γ, together with a theorem of Haglund,
implies that for p ≥ 6, every uniform lattice in Aut(Ip,v) contains a surface
subgroup. We use elementary group theory, combinatorics, algebraic topology,
and number theory.
- Volume bounds for generalized
twisted torus links.
With
Abhijit Champanerkar,
Ilya Kofman,
Walter Neumann, and
Jessica Purcell.
Mathematical Research
Letters 18 (2011), Issue 6, 1097-1120.
ArXiv.
Abstract:
Twisted torus knots and links are given by twisting adjacent strands of a
torus link. They are geometrically simple and contain many examples of the
smallest volume hyperbolic knots. Many are also Lorenz links.
We study the geometry of twisted torus links and related generalizations. We
determine upper bounds on their hyperbolic volumes that depend only on the
number of strands being twisted. We exhibit a family of twisted torus knots
for which this upper bound is sharp, and another family with volumes
approaching infinity. Consequently, we show there exist twisted torus knots
with arbitrarily large braid index and yet bounded volume.
- From angled triangulations to
hyperbolic structures.
With François
Guéritaud.
Contemporary
Mathematics 541 (2011), 159-182.
ArXiv.
Abstract:
This survey paper contains an elementary exposition of Casson and Rivin's
technique for finding the hyperbolic metric on a 3-manifold M with toroidal
boundary. We also survey a number of applications of this technique.
The method involves subdividing M into ideal tetrahedra and solving a system
of gluing equations to find hyperbolic shapes for the tetrahedra. The gluing
equations decompose into a linear and non-linear part. The solutions to the
linear equations form a convex polytope A. The solution to the non-linear part
(unique if it exists) is a critical point of a certain volume functional on
this polytope. The main contribution of this paper is an elementary proof of
Rivin's theorem that a critical point of the volume functional on A produces a
complete hyperbolic structure on M.
- Slopes and colored Jones
polynomials of adequate knots.
With Effie Kalfagianni and
Jessica Purcell.
Proceedings
of the American Mathematical Society 139 (2011), Issue 5,
1889-1896.
ArXiv.
Abstract:
Garoufalidis conjectured a relation between the boundary slopes of a
knot and its colored Jones polynomials. According to the conjecture,
certain boundary slopes
are detected by the sequence of degrees of the colored Jones polynomials.
We verify this conjecture for adequate knots, a class
that vastly generalizes that of alternating knots.
- On diagrammatic bounds of knot
volumes and spectral invariants.
With Effie Kalfagianni and
Jessica Purcell.
Geometriae
Dedicata 147 (2010), 115-130.
ArXiv.
Abstract:
In recent years, several families of hyperbolic knots have been shown to have
both volume and λ1 (first eigenvalue of the Laplacian) bounded in
terms of the twist number of a diagram, while other families of knots have
volume bounded by a generalized twist number. We show that for general knots,
neither the twist number nor the generalized twist number of a diagram can
provide two-sided bounds on either the volume or λ1. We do so by
studying the geometry of a family of hyperbolic knots that we call double coil
knots, and finding two-sided bounds in terms of the knot diagrams on both the
volume and on λ1. We also extend a result of Lackenby to show that a
collection of double coil knot complements forms an expanding family iff their volume
is bounded.
- Finite surgeries on
three-tangle pretzel knots.
With Masaharu
Ishikawa,
Yuichi Kabaya,
Thomas Mattman, and
Koya
Shimokawa.
Algebraic & Geometric Topology 9 (2009), Issue 2, 743-771.
ArXiv.
Abstract: We classify Dehn surgeries on (p,q,r) pretzel knots that
result in a manifold of finite fundamental group. The only hyperbolic pretzel
knots that admit non-trivial finite surgeries are (-2,3,7) and
(-2,3,9). Earlier work by Mattman, combined with Agol
and Lackenby's 6-theorem, reduces the argument to knots with small indices
p,q,r. We treat these using the Culler-Shalen norm of the SL(2,C)-character
variety. In particular, we introduce new techniques for demonstrating that
boundary slopes are detected by the character variety.
- Cusp areas of Farey
manifolds and applications to knot theory.
With Effie Kalfagianni and
Jessica Purcell.
International
Mathematics Research Notices
2010, Issue 23, 4434-4497.
ArXiv.
Abstract: We find explicit, combinatorial estimates for the cusp areas of
once-punctured torus bundles, 4-punctured sphere bundles, and 2-bridge link complements.
Applications include volume estimates for the hyperbolic 3-manifolds obtained by Dehn
filling these bundles, for example estimates on the volume of closed 3-braid complements
in terms of the complexity of the braid word. We also relate the volume of a closed 3-braid
to certain coefficients of its Jones polynomial.
- Symmetric links and Conway sums:
volume and Jones polynomial.
With Effie Kalfagianni and
Jessica Purcell.
Mathematical Research
Letters 16 (2009), Issue 2, 233-253.
ArXiv.
Abstract: We obtain bounds on hyperbolic volume for periodic links and Conway sums of
alternating tangles. For links that are Conway sums we also bound the hyperbolic volume
in terms of the coefficients of the Jones polynomial.
- Alternating sum formulae for the
determinant and other link invariants.
With
Oliver Dasbach,
Effie Kalfagianni,
Xiao-Song Lin, and
Neal Stoltzfus.
Journal
of Knot Theory and its Ramifications
19 (2010), Issue 6, 765-782.
ArXiv.
Abstract: A classical result states that the determinant of an alternating link is equal
to the number of spanning trees in a checkerboard graph of an alternating connected projection of the link.
We generalize this result to show that the determinant is the alternating sum of the number of
quasi-trees of genus j of the dessin of a non-alternating link.
Furthermore, we obtain formulas for other link invariants by counting quantities on dessins.
- The Jones polynomial and
graphs on surfaces.
With
Oliver Dasbach,
Effie Kalfagianni,
Xiao-Song Lin, and
Neal Stoltzfus.
Journal of
Combinatorial Theory, Series B 98 (2008), Issue 2, 384-399.
ArXiv.
Abstract: The Jones polynomial of an alternating link is a certain specialization of the Tutte
polynomial of the (planar) checkerboard graph associated to an alternating projection of the link. The
Bollobas-Riordan-Tutte polynomial generalizes the Tutte plolynomial of planar graphs to graphs that are
embedded in closed surfaces of higher genus (i.e. dessins d'enfant).
In this paper we show that the Jones polynomial of any link can be obtained from the Bollobas-Riordan-Tutte
polynomial of a certain dessin associated to a link projection. We give some applications of this approach.
- Angled decompositions of arborescent
link complements.
With François
Guéritaud.
Proceedings
of the London Mathematical Society 98 (2009), Issue 2, 325-364.
ArXiv.
Abstract: This paper describes a way to subdivide a 3-manifold into angled blocks, namely
polyhedral pieces that need not be simply connected. When the individual blocks carry dihedral
angles that fit together in a consistent fashion, we prove that a manifold constructed from
these blocks must be hyperbolic. The main application is a new proof of a classical, unpublished
theorem of Bonahon and Siebenmann: that all arborescent links, except for three simple families
of exceptions, have hyperbolic complements.
- Dehn filling, volume, and the
Jones polynomial.
With
Effie Kalfagianni and
Jessica Purcell.
Journal of
Differential Geometry 78 (2008), Issue 3, 429-464.
ArXiv.
Abstract: 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.
- Geometric
triangulations of two-bridge link complements.
Appendix to a paper by
François
Guéritaud.
Geometry &
Topology 10 (2006), 1267-1282.
ArXiv.
Abstract: The complements of two-bridge links in S3 have a natural decomposition into
topological ideal tetrahedra, described by Sakuma and Weeks. Following the lead of Guéritaud, we use
volume maximization techniques to give this ideal triangulation a complete hyperbolic structure. Applications
of this method include sharp volume estimates and a result (conjectured by Thistlethwaite) about arcs in the
projection plane being hyperbolic geodesics.
- Links with no
exceptional surgeries.
With
Jessica Purcell.
Commentarii
Mathematici Helvetici 82 (2007), Issue 3, 629-664.
ArXiv.
Abstract: If Thurston's Geometrization Conjecture is
true, then a closed 3-manifold is hyperbolic whenever it satisfies a
topological criterion, called "hyperbolike". This paper proves a
mild diagrammatic condition on a knot or link in S3
under which any
non-trivial Dehn filling gives a hyperbolike closed manifold. For a
knot K, a non-trivial Dehn filling of K will be hyperbolike
whenever a prime, twist-reduced diagram of K has at least 4 twist
regions and at least 6 crossings per twist region; the statement for
links is similar.
We prove this result using two arguments, one geometric and one
combinatorial. The combinatorial argument also proves that every
link with at least 2 twist regions and at least 6 crossings per
twist region is hyperbolic and gives a lower bound for the genus of a link.
- Involutions of knots that fix
unknotting tunnels.
Journal
of Knot Theory and its Ramifications 16 (2007), Issue 6, 741-748.
ArXiv.
Abstract: Let K be a knot that has an unknotting tunnel
τ. This paper proves that K admits a strong involution that
fixes tau pointwise if and only if K is a two-bridge knot and
τ its upper or lower tunnel. One result obtained along the way is
a version of the Smith conjecture for handlebodies: the fixed-point
set of an orientation-preserving, periodic diffeomorphism of a
handlebody is either empty or boundary-parallel.
- Cost-minimizing networks among
immiscible fluids in R2.
With
Andrei Gnepp, David McMath,
Brian
Munson,
Ting Fai Ng, Sang-Hyoun Pahk, and Cara Yoder.
Pacific Journal of
Mathematics 196 (2000), Issue 2, 395-414.
Abstract: We model interfaces between immiscible fluids
as cost-minimizing networks, where "cost" is a weighted length. We
consider conjectured necessary and sufficient conditions for when a planar
cone is minimizing. In some cases we give a proof; in other cases we
provide a counterexample.
Other Writing
- Angled Triangulations of Link Complements. Ph.D. Thesis (2005).
Improved versions of the results in this thesis appear in papers [3] and [6].
- Progress on the curvature problem. Notes from 2002.
Abstract: Frank Morgan has conjectured that the spherical caps in a standard double bubble satisfy
a certain curvature inequality. These notes represent a partial proof of this conjecture.
In 2006, Marilyn Daily
proved
the general
case of the conjecture, relying on these notes for the 2-dimensional case.
- Explicit special covers of
alternating links.
With Edgar Bering.
Preprint on the arXiv (withdrawn).
This paper draft contains an error in Theorem 6.18. The statement of that
theorem refers to a large commutative diagram of covering maps between
graphs. While the commutative diagram is correct, the assertion that the graph
of spaces in the top row covers the graph of spaces in the bottom row is
mistaken due to a basepoint issue. Unfortunately, this mistake invalidates the
proof of the main theorem.
Abstract: Given a prime, alternating link diagram, we build a special
cover of the link complement whose degree is bounded by a factorial function
of the crossing number. It follows that a subgroup of the link group of that
index embeds into right-angled Artin and Coxeter groups. Corollaries of this
result include a quantification of residual finiteness, control of the growth
of Betti numbers in covers, and an explicit bound on the rank of a Z-module on
which the link group acts faithfully.
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Last modified: Mon Jul 9 11:15:42 PDT 2007
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