The Dehn surgery characterization of the trefoil and the figure eight knot

DOI10.4310/JSG.2019.V17.N1.A6MaRDI QIDQ2336010zbMATH OpenOpenAlexWikidataFDO

Authors Zoltán Szabó, Peter Ozsváth

Publication date 18 November 2019

Published in The Journal of Symplectic Geometry (Search for Journal in Brave)

Full work available at URL https://arxiv.org/abs/math/0604079

zbMATH Keywords

characterizing slopeDehn surgeryfigure eight knotHeegaard Floer homologytrefoil knot

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Knot theory (57K10) Homology theories in knot theory (Khovanov, Heegaard-Floer, etc.) (57K18)

Abstract: We give a Dehn surgery characterization of the trefoil and the figure eight knots. These results are gotten by combining surgery formulas in Heegaard Floer homology from an earlier paper with the characterization of these knots in terms of their knot Floer homology given in a recent paper of Ghiggini.

Review text

For a given knot \(K\) in the \(3\)-sphere \(S^3\), we call \(p/q\) a characterizing slope for \(K\) if whenever the result of \(p/q\)-surgery on a knot \(K'\) in \(S^3\) is orientation preservingly homeomorphic to the result of \(p/q\)-surgery on \(K\), then \(K'\) is isotopic to \(K\). For the trivial knot \(K\), \textit{C. McA. Gordon} [Lect. Notes Math. 685, 1--60 (1978; Zbl 0386.57002)] conjectured that every nontrivial slope \(p/q\) \((\ne 1/0)\) is a characterizing slope. \textit{P. B. Kronheimer} et al. [Ann. Math. (2) 165, No. 2, 457--546 (2007; Zbl 1204.57038)] proved this conjecture in the positive using Seiberg-Witten monopoles. See [\textit{P. Ozsváth} and \textit{Z. Szabó}, Geom. Topol. 8, 311--334 (2004; Zbl 1056.57020) and Algebr. Geom. Topol. 11, No. 1, 1--68 (2011; Zbl 1226.57044)] for alternative proofs using Heegaard Floer homology. In the paper under review, the authors establish that for the trefoil knot and the figure-eight knot, every nontrivial slope is a characterizing slope. The proof requires surgery formulas in Heegaard Floer homology and the characterization of genus one fibered knot in terms of their knot Floer homology due to [\textit{P. Ghiggini}, Am. J. Math. 130, No. 5, 1151--1169 (2008; Zbl 1149.57019)]. The main results in the paper under review were announced in the authors' preprint (by the same title) [\url{arXiv:math.GT/0604079}] and have been pioneering results in the study of characterizing slopes for knots. On this occasion let me collect some related recent results. Any torus knot \(T_{r, s}\) is known to have only finitely many non-characterizing slopes which are not integers [\textit{D. McCoy}, Commun. Anal. Geom. 28, No. 7, 1647--1682 (2020; Zbl 1468.57006)]. See also [\textit{Y. Ni} and \textit{X. Zhang}, Algebr. Geom. Topol. 14, No. 3, 1249--1274 (2014; Zbl 1297.57019)]. On the other hand, \textit{K. L. Baker} and \textit{K. Motegi} [Algebr. Geom. Topol. 18, No. 3, 1461--1480 (2018; Zbl 1422.57010)] demonstrated that there are infinitely many knots, including hyperbolic knots, with infinitely many non-characterising slopes. See also [\textit{T. Abe} and \textit{K. Tagami}, ``Knots with infinitely many non-characterizing slopes, Preprint, \url{arXiv:2003.07163}]. However, one may expect that every knot has infinitely many characterizing slopes. This expectation turned out to be true due to \textit{M. Lackenby} [Math. Ann. 374, No. 1--2, 429--446 (2019; Zbl 1421.57009)]. In particular, Lackenby showed that for a hyperbolic knot \(K\), any slope \(p/q\) is characterising for \(K\) provided that \(|q|\) is sufficiently large. Later \textit{D. McCoy} [Math. Res. Lett. 26, No. 5, 1517--1526 (2019; Zbl 1439.57023)] strengthened this result by showing that any hyperbolic knot can have only finitely many non-characterising slopes with \(|q|\ge 3\).

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Cited in

(21)

• On the geography and botany of knot Floer homology
• Knots with infinitely many non-characterizing slopes
• Non-integer characterizing slopes for torus knots
• On the characterising slopes of hyperbolic knots
• Every knot has characterising slopes
• Characterizing slopes for torus knots
• Floer theory and its topological applications
• Surgeries, sharp 4-manifolds and the Alexander polynomial
• Dehn surgery on ribbon knots
• Characterizing slopes for torus knots, II
• Characterizing slopes for the -pretzel knot
• Morphisms in low dimensions. Abstracts from the workshop held January 22--28, 2023
• Dehn surgery on knots—tracing the evolution of research
• Dehn surgeries on the figure eight knot: an upper bound for complexity
• Characterizing slopes for \(5_2\)
• Characterizing slopes for satellite knots
• Characterising slopes for hyperbolic knots and Whitehead doubles
• Non-integer characterizing slopes and knot Floer homology
• MATRIX-MFO tandem workshop: Invariants in low-dimensional topology: combinatorics, geometry, and computation. Abstracts from the MATRIX-MFO tandem workshop held September 22--27, 2024
• Floer homology and non-fibered knot detection
• Certain connect sums of torus knots with infinitely many noncharacterizing slopes

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