Narrow Results

We show that twisted torus knots T(p, q; 3, s) are tunnel number one. A short spanning arc connecting two adjacent twisted strands is an unknotting tunnel.

A twisted torus knot is a torus knot with a number of full-twists on some adjacent strands. In this paper, we show that if a twisted torus knot is a satellite knot then the number of full-twists is generically at most two.

A twisted torus knot is a knot obtained from a torus knot by twisting adjacent strands by full twists. The twisted torus knots lie in $F$, the genus 2 Heegaard surface for $S^3$. Primitive/primitive and primitive/Seifert knots lie in $F$ in a particular way. Dean gives sufficient conditions for the parameters of the twisted torus knots to ensure they are primitive/primitive or primitive/Seifert. Using Dean’s conditions, Doleshal shows that there are infinitely many twisted torus knots that are fibered and that there are twisted torus knots with distinct primitive/Seifert representatives with the same slope in $F$. In this paper, we extend Doleshal’s results to show there is a four parameter family of positive twisted torus knots. Additionally, we provide new examples of twisted torus knots with distinct representatives with the same surface slope in $F$.

The ribbonlength Rib$(K)$ of a knot $K$ is the infimum of the ratio of the length of any flat knotted ribbon with core $K$ to its width. A twisted torus knot $T_{p,q;r,s}$ is obtained from the torus knot $T_{p,q}$ by twisting $r$ adjacent strands $s$ full twists. In this paper, we show that the ribbonlength of $T_{p,q;r,s}$ is less then or equal to $2(max\{p,q,r\}+|s|r)$ where $p$ and $q$ are positive. Furthermore, if $r\le p-q$, then the ribbonlength of $T_{p,q;r,s}$ is less then or equal to $2(p+(\left|s\right|-1)r)$.