Epimorphisms and Boundary Slopes of 2-Bridge Knots

Autor: Hoste, Jim, Shanahan, Patrick D.
Rok vydání: 2010
Předmět:
Zdroj: Algebr. Geom. Topol. 10 (2010) 1221-1244
Druh dokumentu: Working Paper
DOI: 10.2140/agt.2010.10.1221
Popis: In this article we study a partial ordering on knots in the 3-sphere where K_1 is greater than or equal to K_2 if there is an epimorphism from the knot group of K_1 onto the knot group of K_2 which preserves peripheral structure. If K_1 is a 2-bridge knot and K_1 > K_2, then it is known that K_2 must also be 2-bridge. Furthermore, Ohtsuki, Riley, and Sakuma give a construction which, for a given 2-bridge knot K_{p/q}, produces infinitely 2-bridge knots K_{p'/q'} with K_{p'/q'}>K_{p/q}. After characterizing all 2-bridge knots with 4 or less distinct boundary slopes, we use this to prove that in any such pair, K_{p'/q'} is either a torus knot or has 5 or more distinct boundary slopes. We also prove that 2-bridge knots with exactly 3 distinct boundary slopes are minimal with respect to the partial ordering. This result provides some evidence for the conjecture that all pairs of 2-bridge knots with K_{p'/q'}>K_{p/q} arise from the Ohtsuki-Riley-Sakuma construction.
Comment: 24 pages, 4 figures
Databáze: arXiv