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Using Dowlin's spectral sequence from Khovanov homology to knot Floer homology, we prove that reduced Khovanov homology (over $\mathbb{Q}$) detects the figure-eight knot.

We prove that the LOSS and GRID invariants of Legendrian links in knot Floer homology behave in certain functorial ways with respect to decomposable Lagrangian cobordisms in the symplectization of the standard contact structure on $\mathbb{R}^3$. Our results give new, computable, and effective obstructions to the existence of such cobordisms., Comment: 28 pages, 16 figures, 1 table

We establish some new relationships between Milnor invariants and Heegaard Floer homology. This includes a formula for the Milnor triple linking number from the link Floer complex, detection results for the Whitehead link and Borromean rings, and a structural property of the $d$-invariants of surgeries on certain algebraically split links., 41 pages. Comments welcome!

We prove that L-space knots do not have essential Conway spheres with the technology of peculiar modules, a Floer theoretic invariant for tangles., Comment: 25 pages, 11 color figures created with PSTricks and TikZ. v1: Comments welcome! v2: This version fixes a mistake that previously occurred in Figure 10 and the proof of Proposition 5.1. The correction simplifies the overall argument. This is the version accepted for publication at Geometry & Topology

An important class of three-manifolds are L-spaces, which are rational homology spheres with the smallest possible Floer homology. For knots with an instanton L-space surgery, we compute the framed instanton Floer homology of all integral surgeries. As a consequence, if a knot has a Heegaard Floer and instanton Floer L-space surgery, then the theories agree for all integral surgeries. In order to prove the main result, we prove that the Baldwin-Sivek contact invariant in framed instanton Floer homology is homogeneous with respect to the absolute $\mathbb{Z}/2$-grading, but not the $\mathbb{Z}/4$-grading., 26 pages, 4 figures

We prove that a positive definite smooth four-manifold with $b_2^+ \geq 2$ and having either no 1-handles or no 3-handles cannot admit a symplectic structure.

We study 4-dimensional homology cobordisms without 3-handles, showing that they interact nicely with Thurston geometries, character varieties, and instanton and Heegaard Floer homologies. Using these, we derive obstructions to such cobordisms. As one example of these obstructions, we generalize other recent results on the behavior of knot Floer homology under ribbon concordances. Finally, we provide topological applications, including to Dehn surgery problems., 53 pages, 6 figures. Accepted for publication in Adv. Math. Improvements thanks to referee. Statement of Lemma 3.2 corrected to require Y_- to be a Q-homology sphere

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 nine crossings and provide new examples of knots, including pretzel knots, non-arborescent knots and symmetric unions for which the conjecture holds.

We use Heegaard Floer homology to define an invariant of homology cobordism. This invariant is isomorphic to a summand of the reduced Heegaard Floer homology of a rational homology sphere equipped with a spin structure and is analogous to Stoffregen's connected Seiberg-Witten Floer homology. We use this invariant to study the structure of the homology cobordism group and, along the way, compute the involutive correction terms for certain families of three-manifolds., 33 pages, 5 figures; v2: added Theorem 1.16 and Corollary 1.17

We prove a Smith-type inequality for regular covering spaces in monopole Floer homology. Using the monopole Floer / Heegaard Floer correspondence, we deduce that if a 3-manifold Y admits a p^n-sheeted regular cover that is a Z/pZ-L-space (for p prime), then Y is a Z/pZ-L-space. Further, we obtain constraints on surgeries on a knot being regular covers over other surgeries on the same knot, and over surgeries on other knots., 15 pages; to appear in Geometry & Topology

We prove that if the lens space $L(n, 1)$ is obtained by a surgery along a knot in the lens space $L(3,1)$ that is distance one from the meridional slope, then $n$ is in $\{-6, \pm 1, \pm 2, 3, 4, 7\}$. This result yields a classification of the coherent and non-coherent band surgeries from the trefoil to $T(2, n)$ torus knots and links. The main result is proved by studying the behavior of the Heegaard Floer $d$-invariants under integral surgery along knots in $L(3,1)$. The classification of band surgeries between the trefoil and torus knots and links is motivated by local reconnection processes in nature, which are modeled as band surgeries. Of particular interest is the study of recombination on circular DNA molecules., This version accepted for publication in Algebraic & Geometric Topology

In this note, we collect various properties of Seifert homology spheres from the viewpoint of Dehn surgery along a Seifert fiber. We expect that many of these are known to various experts, but include them in one place which we hope to be useful in the study of concordance and homology cobordism., 11 pages, 1 figure

We establish three rank inequalities for the reduced flavor of Heegaard Floer homology of Seifert fibered integer homology spheres. Combining these inequalities with the known classifications of non-zero degree maps between Seifert fibered spaces, we prove that a map f : Y ′ → Y f:Y’ \to Y between Seifert homology spheres yields the inequality | deg ⁡ f | r a n k H F r e d ( Y ) ≤ r a n k H F r e d ( Y ′ ) |\deg f|\mathrm {rank} HF_{\mathrm {red}}(Y) \leq \mathrm {rank} HF_{\mathrm {red}}(Y’) . These inequalities are also applied in conjunction with an algorithm of Némethi to give a method to solve the botany problem for the Heegaard Floer homology of these manifolds.

Auckly gave two examples of irreducible integer homology spheres (one toroidal and one hyperbolic) which are not surgery on a knot in the three-sphere. Using Heegaard Floer homology, the authors and Karakurt provided infinitely many small Seifert fibered examples. In this note, we extend those results to give infinitely many hyperbolic examples, as well as infinitely many examples with arbitrary JSJ decomposition., 3 pages

Using Taubes’ periodic ends theorem, Auckly gave examples of toroidal and hyperbolic irreducible integer homology spheres which are not surgery on a knot in the three-sphere. We use Heegaard Floer homology to give an obstruction to a homology sphere being surgery on a knot, and then use this obstruction to construct infinitely many small Seifert fibered examples.

Knot contact homology is an invariant of knots derived from Legendrian contact homology which has numerous connections to the knot group. We use basic properties of knot groups to prove that knot contact homology detects every torus knot. Further, if the knot contact homology of a knot is isomorphic to that of a cable (respectively composite) knot, then the knot is a cable (respectively composite)., 3 pages

We give new obstructions to the module structures arising in Heegaard Floer homology. As a corollary, we characterize the possible modules arising as the Heegaard Floer homology of an integer homology sphere with one-dimensional reduced Floer homology. Up to absolute grading shifts, there are only two. We use this corollary to show that the chain complex depicted by Ozsv\'ath, Stipsicz, and Szab\'o to argue that there is no algebraic obstruction to the existence of knots with trivial $\epsilon$ invariant and non-trivial $\Upsilon$ invariant cannot be realized as the knot Floer complex of a knot., Comment: 10 pages, 3 figures. v2: new corollary added (Corollary 3)

We show that bordered Floer homology provides a categorification of a TQFT described by Donaldson. This, in turn, leads to a proof that both the Alexander module of a knot and the Seifert form are completely determined by Heegaard Floer theory., 80 pages, 21 figures, uses color Version 2: Minor edits as suggested by the referee. This version accepted for publication by the Journal of Topology

Quasi-alternating links of determinant 1, 2, 3 and 5 were previously classified by Greene and Teragaito, who showed that the only such links are two-bridge. In this paper, we extend this result by showing that all quasi-alternating links of determinant at most 7 are connected sums of two-bridge links, which is optimal since there are quasi-alternating links not of this form for all larger determinants. We achieve this by studying their branched double covers and characterising distance-one surgeries between lens spaces of small order, leading to a classification of formal L-spaces with order at most 7.

Let $P(K)$ be a satellite knot where the pattern, $P$, is a Berge-Gabai knot (i.e., a knot in the solid torus with a non-trivial solid torus Dehn surgery), and the companion, $K$, is a non-trivial knot in $S^3$. We prove that $P(K)$ is an L-space knot if and only if $K$ is an L-space knot and $P$ is sufficiently positively twisted relative to the genus of $K$. This generalizes the result for cables due to Hedden and the first author., 14 pages, 2 figures

We apply results from both contact topology and exceptional surgery theory to study when Legendrian surgery on a knot yields a reducible manifold. As an application, we show that a reducible surgery on a non-cabled positive knot of genus g must have slope 2g-1, leading to a proof of the cabling conjecture for positive knots of genus 2. Our techniques also produce bounds on the maximum Thurston-Bennequin numbers of cables., Comment: 33 pages

In this paper, we use Heegaard Floer homology to study reducible surgeries. In particular, suppose K is a non-cable knot in the three-sphere with an L-space surgery. If p-surgery on K is reducible, we show that p equals 2g(K)-1. This implies that any knot with an L-space surgery has at most one reducible surgery, a fact that we show additionally for any knot of genus at most two., 15 pages, 2 figures; added an additional author and a new section (3.2) which improves Theorem 1.3

A rational homology sphere whose Heegaard Floer homology is the same as that of a lens space is called an L-space. We classify pretzel knots with any number of tangles which admit L-space surgeries. This rests on Gabai's classification of fibered pretzel links., Comment: 24 pages, 11 figures, 1 table

We construct an infinite family of knots in rational homology spheres with irreducible, non-fibered complements, for which every non-longitudinal filling is an L-space., 4 pages, 2 figures. Version 2: expanded discussion per comments from the referee; this version to appear in Pacific Journal of Mathematics

We show that every irreducible toroidal integer homology sphere graph manifold has a left-orderable fundamental group. This is established by way of a specialization of a result due to Bludov and Glass for the almagamated products that arise, and in this setting work of Boyer, Rolfsen and Wiest may be applied. Our result then depends on input from 3-manifold topology and Heegaard Floer homology., 17 pages

Ozsvath and Szabo construct a spectral sequence with E_2 term \Lambda^*(H^1(Y;Z))\otimes Z[U,U^{-1}] converging to HF^\infty(Y,s) for a torsion Spin^c structure s. They conjecture that the differentials are completely determined by the integral triple cup product form via a proposed formula. In this paper, we prove that HF^\infty(Y,s) is in fact determined by the integral cohomology ring when s is torsion. Furthermore, for torsion Spin^c structures, we give a complete calculation of HF^\infty with mod 2 coefficients when b_1 is 3 or 4., Comment: 18 pages, 5 figures

An acyclic mapping from an $n$ element set into itself is a mapping $\phi$ such that if $\phi^k(x) = x$ for some $k$ and $x$, then $\phi(x) = x$. Equivalently, $\phi^\ell = \phi^{\ell+1} = ...$ for $\ell$ sufficiently large. We investigate the behavior as $n \to \infty$ of a Markov chain on the collection of such mappings. At each step of the chain, a point in the $n$ element set is chosen uniformly at random and the current mapping is modified by replacing the current image of that point by a new one chosen independently and uniformly at random, conditional on the resulting mapping being again acyclic. We can represent an acyclic mapping as a directed graph (such a graph will be a collection of rooted trees) and think of these directed graphs as metric spaces with some extra structure. Heuristic calculations indicate that the metric space valued process associated with the Markov chain should, after an appropriate time and ``space'' rescaling, converge as $n \to \infty$ to a real tree ($\R$-tree) valued Markov process that is reversible with respect to a measure induced naturally by the standard reflected Brownian bridge. The limit process, which we construct using Dirichlet form methods, is a Hunt process with respect to a suitable Gromov-Hausdorff-like metric. This process is similar to one that appears in earlier work by Evans and Winter as the limit of chains involving the subtree prune and regraft tree (SPR) rearrangements from phylogenetics., Comment: 26 pages, 4 figures

We investigate a possible definition of expectation and conditional expectation for random variables with values in a local field such as the $p$-adic numbers. We define the expectation by analogy with the observation that for real-valued random variables in $L^2$ the expected value is the orthogonal projection onto the constants. Previous work has shown that the local field version of $L^\infty$ is the appropriate counterpart of $L^2$, and so the expected value of a local field-valued random variable is defined to be its ``projection'' in $L^\infty$ onto the constants. Unlike the real case, the resulting projection is not typically a single constant, but rather a ball in the metric on the local field. However, many properties of this expectation operation and the corresponding conditional expectation mirror those familiar from the real-valued case; for example, conditional expectation is, in a suitable sense, a contraction on $L^\infty$ and the tower property holds. We also define the corresponding notion of martingale, show that several standard examples of martingales (for example, sums or products of suitable independent random variables or ``harmonic'' functions composed with Markov chains) have local field analogues, and obtain versions of the optional sampling and martingale convergence theorems., Comment: 19 pages