Slopes and signatures of links

We define the slope of a colored link in an integral homology sphere, associated to admissible characters on the link group. Away from a certain singular locus, the slope is a rational function which can be regarded as a multivariate generalization of the Kojima--Yamasaki $\eta$-function. It is the ratio of two Conway potentials, provided that the latter makes sense; otherwise, it is a new invariant. The slope is responsible for an extra correction term in the signature formula for the splice of two links, in the previously open exceptional case where both characters are admissible. Using a similar construction for a special class of tangles, we formulate generalized skein relations for the signature

A note on graphs and rational balls

In this short note we study some particular graphs associated to small Seifert spaces and Montesinos links. The study of these graphs leads to new examples of Seifert manifolds bounding rational homology balls and Montesinos links bounding smoothly and properly embedded surfaces (possibly not orientable) in the 4 ball with Euler characteristic equal to 1

On hyperbolic knots in S^3 with exceptional surgeries at maximal distance

Baker showed that 10 of the 12 classes of Berge knots are obtained by surgery on the minimally twisted 5-chain link. In this article we enumerate all hyperbolic knots in S^3 obtained by surgery on the minimally twisted 5 chain link that realize the maximal known distances between slopes corresponding to exceptional (lens, lens), (lens, toroidal), (lens, Seifert fibred spaces) pairs. In light of Baker's work, the classification in this paper conjecturally accounts for 'most' hyperbolic knots in S^3 realizing the maximal distance between these exceptional pairs. All examples obtained in our classification are realized by filling the magic manifold. The classification highlights additional examples not mentioned in Martelli and Petronio's survey of the exceptional fillings on the magic manifold. Of particular interest, is an example of a knot with two lens space surgeries that is not obtained by filling the Berge manifold.Comment: 30 pages, 5 figures. This revised version has some improvements in the exposition. The main theorems remain as in the last versio

The signature of a splice

We study the behavior of the signature of colored links [Flo05, CF08] under the splice operation. We extend the construction to colored links in integral homology spheres and show that the signature is almost additive, with a correction term independent of the links. We interpret this correction term as the signature of a generalized Hopf link and give a simple closed formula to compute it.Comment: Updated version. Sign corrected in Theorems 2.2 and 2.10 of the previous version. Also Corollary 2.6 was corrected and an Example added. 24 pages, 5 figures. To appear in IMR

Complementary legs and rational balls

In this note we study the Seifert rational homology spheres with two complementary legs, i.e. with a pair of invariants whose fractions add up to one. We give a complete classification of the Seifert manifolds with 3 exceptional fibers and two complementary legs which bound rational homology balls. The result translates in a statement on the sliceness of some Montesinos knots

Cohomology Groups for Spaces of Twelve-Fold Tilings

We consider tilings of the plane with twelve-fold symmetry obtained by the cutand-projection method. We compute their cohomology groups using the techniques introduced in [9]. To do this, we completely describe the window, the orbits of lines under the group action, and the orbits of 0-singularities. The complete family of generalized twelve-fold tilings can be described using two-parameters and it presents a surprisingly rich cohomological structure. To put this finding into perspective, one should compare our results with the cohomology of the generalized five-fold tilings (more commonly known as generalized Penrose tilings). In this case, the tilings form a one-parameter family, which fits in simply one of the two types of cohomology