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Lizzie Buchanan

Publications and source records attributed to Lizzie Buchanan.

6 recordsLinked to original sources
arXiv2026

A note on alternating knots in handlebodies

We establish a Kauffman-Murasugi-Thistlethwaite-type theorem for alternating knots in a solid torus. Specifically, we show that any dotted-reduced alternating diagram of a knot in a handlebody realizes the minimal crossing number, and that any two such diagrams of the same knot have identical writhe. The proof relies on a generalization of the Jones polynomial to the setting of handlebodies. A stronger version of this result was already proved by Boden, Karimi, and Sikora using a different generalized Jones polynomial; therefore, this text largely expands on one of the main proof tools.

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arXiv2025

A condition on the Khovanov homology of three families of positive links

In previous work, we developed diagram-independent upper bounds on the maximum degree of the Jones polynomial of three families of positive links. These families are characterized by the second coefficient of the Jones polynomial. In this paper, we extend those results and construct diagram-independent upper bounds on the maximum non-vanishing quantum degree of the Khovanov homology of three families of positive links. This can be used as a positivity obstruction.

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arXiv2025

On the notion of Khovanov A-adequacy

The concept of adequate links, introduced by Lickorish and Thistlethwaite as a generalization of alternating links, has recently gained interest among knot theorists in the context of Khovanov homology. Przytycki and Silvero introduced the more general concept of Khovanov adequacy: a diagram is Khovanov-adequate if its associated Khovanov chain complexes at both potential maximal and minimal quantum gradings have non-trivial homology. This article explores Khovanov adequacy within the framework of independence complexes and the calculation of the homotopy type of extreme Khovanov spectra.

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arXiv2023

A pair of Jones polynomial positivity obstructions

We provide a new bound on the maximum degree of the Jones polynomial of a positive link with second Jones coefficient equal to $\pm 1$ or $\pm 2$. This builds upon the result of our previous work, in which we found such a bound for positive fibered links. We also show that each of these three bounds obstruct positivity for infinitely many almost-positive diagrams, allowing us to classify infinitely many knots as almost-positive.

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arXiv2022

A new condition on the Jones polynomial of a fibered positive link

We give a new upper bound on the maximum degree of the Jones polynomial of a fibered positive link. In particular, we prove that the maximum degree of the Jones polynomial of a fibered positive knot is at most four times the minimum degree. Using this result, we can complete the classification of all knots of crossing number $\leq 12$ as positive or not positive, by showing that the seven remaining knots for which positivity was unknown are not positive. That classification was also done independently at around the same time by Stoimenow.

math.GT↗