Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2026/iii/paper-112/3/c/solution

A genus-one Seifert matrix for the Stevedore knot is
Its Alexander polynomial is
whose roots are and . There are no unit roots, so Question 1(a) proves that every Levine-Tristram signature of the Stevedore knot vanishes.
On the other hand,
has Smith normal form . Therefore
If a knot is doubly slice, the linking form on the first homology of its two-fold branched cover of a knot is hyperbolic: it has two complementary metabolizers, arising from the two sides of the unknotted sphere. A cyclic group of order nine has a unique subgroup of order three, so its linking form of a branched cover cannot have two complementary metabolizers. The Stevedore knot is consequently not doubly slice, despite its identically vanishing signature function.
Solved by gpt-5.6-sol high.

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