Related papers: Conway polynomials of two-bridge links
We give examples of knots with some unusual properties of the crossing number of positive diagrams or strand number of positive braid representations. In particular we show that positive braid knots may not have positive minimal (strand…
Let $H(p)$ be the set of 2-bridge knots $K$ whose group $G$ is mapped onto a non-trivial free product, $Z/2 * Z/p$, $p$ being odd. Then there is an algebraic integer $s_0$ such that for any $K$ in $H(p)$, $G$ has a parabolic representation…
In this paper we use continued fractions to study a partial order on the set of 2-bridge knots derived from the work of Ohtsuki, Riley, and Sakuma. We establish necessary and sufficient conditions for any set of 2-bridge knots to have an…
We give a counterexample to the Kawauchi conjecture on the Conway polynomial of achiral knots which asserts that the Conway polynomial $C(z)$ of an achiral knot satisfies the splitting property $C(z)=F(z)F(-z)$ for a polynomial $F(z)$ with…
The motivation for this work was to construct a nontrivial knot with trivial Jones polynomial. Although that open problem has not yielded, the methods are useful for other problems in the theory of knot polynomials. The subject of the…
We give explicit formulas for the adjoint twisted Alexander polynomial and the nonabelian Reidemeister torsion of genus one two-bridge knots.
This paper concerns the H(2)-unknotting numbers of links related to 2-bridge links. It consists of three parts. In the first part, we consider a necessary and sufficient condition for a 2-bridge link to have H(2)-unknotting number one. The…
This article contains general formulas for Tutte and Jones polynomials for families of knots and links given in Conway notation and "portraits of families"-- plots of zeroes of their corresponding Jones polynomials.
Schubert proved that, given a composite link $K$ with summands $K_{1}$ and $K_{2}$, the bridge number of $K$ satisfies the following equation: $$\beta(K)=\beta(K_{1})+\beta(K_{2})-1.$$ In ``Conway Produts and Links with Multiple Bridge…
We show that if the connected sum of two knots with coprime Alexander polynomials is doubly slice, then the Ozsv\'ath-Szab\'o correction terms as smooth double sliceness obstructions vanish for both knots. Recently, Jeffrey Meier gave…
The slope conjecture gives a precise relation between the degree of the colored Jones polynomial of a knot and the boundary slopes of essential surfaces in the knot complement. In this note we propose a generalization of the slope…
It is conjectured that for each knot $K$ in $S^3$, the fundamental group of its complement surjects onto only finitely many distinct knot groups. Applying character variety theory we obtain an affirmative solution of the conjecture for a…
This article provides an overview of relative strengths of polynomial invariants of knots and links, such as the Alexander, Jones, Homflypt, and Kaufman two-variable polynomial, Khovanov homology, factorizability of the polynomials, and…
We consider closed orientable 3-dimensional hyperbolic manifolds which are cyclic branched coverings of the 3-sphere, with branching set being a two-bridge knot (or link). We establish two-sided linear bounds depending on the order of the…
A bridge position of a knot is said to be perturbed if there exists a cancelling pair of bridge disks. Motivated by the examples of knots admitting unperturbed strongly irreducible non-minimal bridge positions due to…
We introduce a class of links whose bracket polynomials admit an expansion over perfect matchings of a plane bipartite graph. This class includes 2-bridge links, pretzel links, and Montesinos links. Our first main result (Theorem A)…
We prove the meridional rank conjecture for arborescent links associated to plane trees with the following property: all branching points carry a straight branch to at least three leaves. The proof involves an upper bound on the bridge…
We study factorizations of HOMFLY polynomials of certain knots and oriented links. We begin with a computer analysis of knots with at most 12 crossings, finding 17 non-trivial factorizations. Next, we give an irreducibility criterion for…
It is known that for every spatial complete graph on $n\ge 7$ vertices, the summation of the second coefficients of the Conway polynomials over the Hamiltonian knots is congruent to $r_{n}$ modulo $(n-5)!$, where $r_{n} = (n-5)!/2$ if…
We provide a combinatorial characterisation of positive diagrams satisfying the equality in the Morton-Franks-Williams bound for the degrees of the HOMFLY-PT polynomial. This characterisation allows generating with relative ease examples of…