Related papers: Strict Inequalities for the $n$-crossing Number

A well-known algorithm for unknotting knots involves traversing a knot diagram and changing each crossing that is first encountered from below. The minimal number of crossings changed in this way across all diagrams for a knot is called the…

Let $c(K)$ denote the crossing number of a knot $K$ and let $K_1\# K_2$ denote the connected sum of two oriented knots $K_1$ and $K_2$. It is a very old unsolved question that whether $c(K_1\# K_2)=c(K_1)+c(K_2)$. In this paper we show that…

We use the degree of the colored Jones knot polynomials to show that the crossing number of a $(p,q)$-cable of an adequate knot with crossing number $c$ is larger than $q^2\, c$. As an application we determine the crossing number of…

Traditionally, knot theorists have considered projections of knots where there are two strands meeting at every crossing. A triple crossing is a crossing where three strands meet at a single point, such that each strand bisects the…

We prove that the knots $13n_{592}$ and $15n_{41,127}$ both have stick number 10. These are the first non-torus prime knots with more than 9 crossings for which the exact stick number is known.

Ito-Takimura recently defined a splice-unknotting number $u^-(D)$ for knot diagrams. They proved that this number provides an upper bound for the crosscap number of any prime knot, asking whether equality holds in the alternating case. We…

Given a knot K we introduce a new invariant coming from the Blanchfield pairing and we show that it gives a lower bound on the unknotting number of K. This lower bound subsumes the lower bounds given by the Levine-Tristram signatures, by…

An increasing sequence of integers is said to be universal for knots if every knot has a reduced regular projection on the sphere such that the number of edges of each complementary face of the projection comes from the given sequence.…

The concordance genus of a knot K is the minimum three-genus among all knots concordant to K. For prime knots of 10 or fewer crossings there have been three knots for which the concordance genus was unknown. Those three cases are now…

We introduce an alternative stratification of knots: by the size of lattice on which a knot can be first met. Using this classification, we find ratio of unknots and knots with more than 10 minimal crossings inside different lattices and…

We study relations between unknotting number and crossing number of a spatial embedding of a handcuff-graph and a theta curve. It is well known that for any non-trivial knot $K$ twice the unknotting number of $K$ is less than or equal to…

The concordance orders of many algebraic order two knots of ten or fewer crossings have been heretofore unknown. We use Casson-Gordon invariants and twisted Alexander polynomials to find that, in all but one case, these knots do not have…

The slicing degree of a knot $K$ is defined as the smallest integer $k$ such that $K$ is $k$-slice in $\#^n \overline{\mathbb{CP}^2}$ for some $n$. In this paper, we establish bounds for the slicing degrees of knots using Rasmussen's…

This paper gives new upper bounds on the stick numbers of the knots $9_{18}$, $10_{18}$, $10_{58}$, $10_{66}$, $10_{68}$, $10_{80}$, $10_{82}$, $10_{84}$, $10_{93}$, $10_{100}$, and $10_{152}$, as well as on the equilateral stick number of…

Knotoids are open ended knot diagrams regarded up to Reidemeister moves and isotopies. The notion is introduced by V.~Turaev in 2012. Two most important numeric characteristics of a knotoid are the crossing number and the height. The latter…

The transient number of a knot K, denoted tr(K), is the minimal number of simple arcs that have to be attached to K, in order that K can be homotoped to a trivial knot in a regular neighborhood of the union of K and the arcs. We give a…

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…

We enumerate and show tables of minimal diagrams for all prime knots up to the triple-crossing number equal to five. We derive a minimal generating set of oriented moves connecting triple-crossing diagrams of the same oriented knot. We also…

A knot k is called ``strongly (n-1)-trivial.'' if there exists a projection of k, such that one can choose n crossings of the projection with the property that making the crossing changes corresponding to any of the $2^{n}-1$ nontrivial…

For a knot or link K, let L(K) be the ropelength of K and Cr(K) be the crossing number of K. In this paper, we show that there exists a constant a>0 such that L(K) is bounded above by a Cr(K) ln^5 (Cr(K)) for any knot K. This result shows…