Khovanov homology is an unknot-detector (Q642117)

In this paper the authors prove that if the reduced Khovanov cohomology of a knot in the three-sphere is \(\mathbb{Z}\), then it is the unknot. For a knot \(K\) let \(\text{Khr}(K)\) be the reduced Khovanov cohomology [\textit{M. Khovanov}, ``A categorification of the Jones polynomial'', Duke Math. J. 101, No. 3, 359-426 (2000; Zbl 0960.57005)], and \(\text{KHI}(K)\) be the instanton Floer homology associated with the balanced sutured manifold obtained from the knot complement by regarding two copies of meridian as the suture [\textit{P. Kronheimer} and \textit{T. Mrowka}, ``Knots, sutures, and excision'', J. Differ. Geom. 84, No. 2, 301--364 (2010; Zbl 1208.57008)]. The authors introduce a link invariant \(\text{I}^{\natural}(K)\) by using connections with singularities. They show that with \(\mathbb{Q}\) coefficients, \(\text{I}^{\natural}(K)\) is isomorphic to \(\text{KHI}(K)\) by using Floer's excision theorem [\textit{P. J. Braam} and \textit{S. K. Donaldson}, ``Floer's work on instanton homology, knots and surgery'', Hofer, Helmut (ed.) et al., The Floer memorial volume. Basel: Birkhäuser. Prog. Math. 133, 195--256 (1995; Zbl 0996.57516), \textit{A. Floer}, ``Instanton homology, surgery, and knots'', Geometry of low-dimensional manifolds. 1: Gauge theory and algebraic surfaces, Proc. Symp., Durham/UK 1989, Lond. Math. Soc. Lect. Note Ser. 150, 97--114 (1990; Zbl 0788.57008)]. Then they show that there exists a spectral sequence from \(\text{Khr}(\tilde{K})\) to \(\text{I}^{\natural}(K)\), where \(\tilde{K}\) is the mirror image of \(K\). Finally they use the fact that \(\text{KHI}\) is an unknot detector, see [Kronheimer and Mrowka, loc. cit.].