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Geometry of Alternating Links

Student-Run Geometry/Topology Seminar

Speaker: Brandon Barrette, UC Davis
Location: 2112 MSB
Start time: Tue, Apr 20 2010, 12:10PM

Alternating Links have special geometric properties which allow us to see whether a link is split or prime directly from the link diagram. In this talk, I will present and prove a theorem which tells us that a link is split if and only if it is obviously split. I will talk about standard position of surfaces in a lemma which makes proving this theorem relatively simple.