Volume 13, issue 3 (2013)

 Recent Issues
Author Index
 The Journal About the Journal Editorial Board Subscriptions Editorial Interests Editorial Procedure Submission Guidelines Submission Page Ethics Statement ISSN (electronic): 1472-2739 ISSN (print): 1472-2747 To Appear Other MSP Journals
The classification of rational subtangle replacements between rational tangles

Kenneth L Baker and Dorothy Buck

Algebraic & Geometric Topology 13 (2013) 1413–1463
Abstract

A natural generalization of a crossing change is a rational subtangle replacement (RSR). We characterize the fundamental situation of the rational tangles obtained from a given rational tangle via RSR, building on work of Berge and Gabai, and determine the sites where these RSR may occur. In addition we also determine the sites for RSR distance at least two between $2$–bridge links. These proofs depend on the geometry of the branched double cover. Furthermore, we classify all knots in lens spaces whose exteriors are generalized Seifert fibered spaces and their lens space surgeries, extending work of Darcy and Sumners. This work is in part motivated by the common biological situation of proteins cutting, rearranging and resealing DNA segments, effectively performing RSR on DNA “tangles”.

Keywords
rational tangle, tangle replacement, branched cover
Primary: 57M27