Related papers: The Tait conjecture in S^1xS^2
The Tait conjecture states that alternating reduced diagrams of links in S^3 have the minimal number of crossings. It has been proved in 1987 by M. Thistlethwaite, L. Kauffman and K. Murasugi studying the Jones polynomial. The author proved…
We prove a Kauffman-Murasugi-Thistlethwaite theorem for alternating links in thickened surfaces. It states that any reduced alternating diagram of a link in a thickened surface has minimal crossing number, and any two reduced alternating…
In this paper we are interested in symmetries of alternating knots, more precisely in those related to achirality. We call the following statement Tait's Conjecture on alternating -achiral knots: Let K be an alternating -achiral knot. Then…
In 1898, Tait asserted several properties of alternating knot diagrams. These assertions became known as Tait's conjectures and remained open until the discovery of the Jones polynomial in 1985. The new polynomial invariants soon led to…
Tait's flyping conjecture, stating that two reduced, alternating, prime link diagrams can be connected by a finite sequence of flypes, is extended to reduced, alternating, prime diagrams of 4-regular graphs in S^3. The proof of this version…
We give a brief historical overview of the Tait conjectures, made 120 years ago in the course of his pioneering work in tabulating the simplest knots, and solved a century later using the Jones polynomial. We announce the solution, again…
We establish a characterization of alternating links in terms of definite spanning surfaces. We apply it to obtain a new proof of Tait's conjecture that reduced alternating diagrams of the same link have the same crossing number and writhe.…
In this paper, we apply Kauffman bracket skein algebras to develop a theory of skein adequate links in thickened surfaces. We show that any alternating link diagram on a surface is skein adequate. We apply our theory to establish the first…
Link equivalence up to isotopy in a 3-space is the problem that lies at the root of knot theory, and is important in 3-dimensional topology and geometry. We consider its restriction to alternating links, given by two alternating diagrams…
A link is almost alternating if it is non-alternating and has a diagram that can be transformed into an alternating diagram via one crossing change. We give formulas for the first two and last two potential coefficients of the Jones…
It is well known that the minimum crossing number of an alternating link equals the number of crossings in any reduced alternating link diagram of the link. This remarkable result is an application of the Jones polynomial. In the case of…
We establish a Kauffman-Murasugi-Thistlethwaite-type theorem for alternating knots in a solid torus. Specifically, we show that any dotted-reduced alternating diagram of a knot in a handlebody realizes the minimal crossing number, and that…
Given a class of objects, a pattern theorem is a powerful result describing their structure. We show that alternating knots exhibit a pattern theorem, and use this result to prove a long-standing conjecture that alternating knots grow rare.…
We prove that twisting any quasi-alternating link $L$ with no gaps in its Jones polynomial $V_L(t)$ at the crossing where it is quasi-alternating produces a link $L^{*}$ with no gaps in its Jones polynomial $V_{L^*}(t)$. This leads us to…
In this chapter (Chapter V) we present several results which demonstrate a close connection and useful exchange of ideas between graph theory and knot theory. These disciplines were shown to be related from the time of Tait (if not Listing)…
We prove that the length of any gap in the differential grading of the Khovanov homology of any quasi-alternating link is one. As a consequence, we obtain that the length of any gap in the Jones polynomial of any such link is one. This…
It is a well known result from Thistlethwaite that the Jones polynomial of a non-split alternating link is alternating. We find the right generalization of this result to the case of non-split alternating tangles. More specifically: the…
We extend a result of Thistlethwaite [17, Theorem 1(iv)] on the structure of the Jones polynomial of alternating links to the wider class of quasi-alternating links. In particular, we prove that the Jones polynomial of any prime…
We show that among alternating knots, those which have diagrams whose Seifert and Tait graphs are isomorphic are dominant.
Dasbach and Lin proved a "volumish theorem" for alternating links. We prove the analogue for alternating link diagrams on surfaces, which provides bounds on the hyperbolic volume of a link in a thickened surface in terms of coefficients of…