English

Delta-Unknotting Number for Pretzel Knots

Geometric Topology 2026-02-06 v1

Abstract

The Δ\Delta-unknotting number for a knot is defined as the minimum number of Δ\Delta-moves needed to deform the knot into the trivial knot. It is known that, for positive pretzel knots, the Δ\Delta-unknotting number coincides with the second coefficient of their Conway polynomial. In this paper, we compute the Δ\Delta-unknotting number for positive pretzel knots. Furthermore, we determine the Δ\Delta-unknotting number for pretzel knots of type P(1,p2,...,pn)P(-1, p_2, ..., p_n), where pip_i is a positive odd integer for 2in2 \leq i \leq n and nn is odd.

Cite

@article{arxiv.2602.05682,
  title  = {Delta-Unknotting Number for Pretzel Knots},
  author = {Kazumichi Nakamura},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2602.05682},
  year   = {2026}
}

Comments

10 pages, 5 figures

R2 v1 2026-07-01T09:37:56.781Z