Related papers: The Tait conjecture in g(S^1xS^2)
The Tait conjecture states that reduced alternating diagrams of links in S^3 have the minimal number of crossings. It has been proved in 1987 by M. Thistlethwaite, L.H. Kauffman and K. Murasugi studying the Jones polynomial. In this paper…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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 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…
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…
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 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…
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…
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 show that among alternating knots, those which have diagrams whose Seifert and Tait graphs are isomorphic are dominant.
In this paper, we study alternating links in thickened surfaces in terms of the lattices of integer flows on their Tait graphs. We use this approach to give a short proof of the first two generalised Tait conjectures. We also prove that the…
We extend some classical results of Bankwitz, Crowell, and Murasugi to the setting of virtual links. For instance, we show that an alternating virtual link is split if and only if it is visibly split, and that the Alexander polynomial of…
We show that the crossing number of any link that is known to be quasi-alternating is less than or equal to its determinant. Based on this, we conjecture that the crossing number of any quasi-alternating link is less than or equal to its…
It is known that the writhe calculated from any reduced alternating link diagram of the same (alternating) link has the same value. That is, it is a link invariant if we restrict ourselves to reduced alternating link diagrams. This is due…
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…