Related papers: Braids for pretzel links
This paper is the second part of our comprehensive study on the braid index problem of pretzel links. Our ultimate goal is to completely determine the braid indices of all pretzel links, alternating or non alternating. In our approach, we…
A special class of braids, called woven, is introduced and it is shown that every conjugation class of the braid group contains woven braids. In consequence, links can be presented as plats or closures of woven braids. Restricting on knots,…
This is an expository article on diagrammatic representations of knots and links in various settings via braids.
The determination of the braid index of an oriented link is generally a hard problem. In the case of alternating links, some significant progresses have been made in recent years which made explicit and precise braid index computations…
Given a knot or link in the form of plat closure of a braid, we describe an algorithm to obtain a braid representing the same knot or link with the standard closure, and vice-versa. We analyze the three cases of knots and links: in…
In this paper, we introduce \textit{graph-pretzel links}, a generalization of classical pretzel links based on spatial graph projections. As our main result, we investigate a subfamily associated with the complete graph on four vertices to…
Algorithm of construction of all knots, links with given number of crosses on diagram of knot, link is offered. This algorithm is based on simple proposition, that there is a representation of knot (link) as closure of braid with n threads…
The depth of a link measures the minimum height of a resolving tree for the link whose leaves are all unlinks. We show that the depth of the closure of a strictly positive braid word is the length of the word minus the number of distinct…
We give a simple naming argument for establishing lower bounds on the combinatorial distance between (positive) braid words.
Knots and links which are closed 3-braids are a very special class. Like 2-bridge knots and links, they are simple enough to admit a complete classification. At the same time they are rich enough to serve as a source of examples on which,…
We show a simple and easily implementable solution to the word problem for virtual braid groups.
This paper is concerned with detecting when a closed braid and its axis are 'mutually braided' in the sense of Rudolph. It deals with closed braids which are fibred links, the simplest case being closed braids which present the unknot. The…
We provide explicit formulas for the Alexander polynomial of pretzel knots and establish several immediate corollaries, including the characterization of pretzel knots with a trivial Alexander polynomial. As an application, we construct a…
We give a simple characterization of braids that can be unplaited keeping separately their upper ends and their lower ends tied together
We study a subset of square free positive braids and we give a few algebraic characterizations of them and one geometric characterization: the set of positive braids whose closures are unlinks. We describe canonical forms of these braids…
Every link is shown to be presentable as a boundary of an unknotted flat banded surface. A (flat) banded link is defined as a boundary of an unknotted (flat) banded surface. A link's (flat) band index is defined as the minimum number of…
In this expositional essay, we introduce some elements of the study of groups by analysing the braid pattern on a knitted blanket. We determine that the blanket features pure braids with a minimal number of crossings. Moreover, we determine…
The notion of a braided chord diagram is introduced and studied. An equivalence relation is given which identifies all braidings of a fixed chord diagram. It is shown that finite-type invariants are stratified by braid index for knots which…
Minimum braids are a complete invariant of knots and links. This paper defines minimum braids, describes how they can be generated, presents tables for knots up to ten crossings and oriented links up to nine crossings, and uses minimum…
We describe Artin's braid group on a (fixed) finite number of strings as a crossed module over itself. In particular, we interpret the braid relations as crossed module structure relations.