Mar 19

Title: Braid positivity, taut foliations, and unknot detection

Speaker: Siddhi Krishna (Columbia University)

Abstract: The L-space conjecture predicts that three seemingly different ways to measure the "size" of a 3-manifold are equivalent. In particular, it predicts that a manifold with the "extra" geometric structure of a taut foliation also has "extra" Heegaard Floer homology. In this talk, I'll discuss the motivation for this conjecture, and describe some new results which produce taut foliations by leveraging special properties of positive braid knots. Along the way, we will produce some novel obstructions to braid positivity. I will not assume any background knowledge in Floer or foliation theories; all are welcome!