Related papers: When is arc crossing change an unknotting operatio…

A region crossing change at a region of a spatial-graph diagram is a transformation changing every crossing on the boundary of the region. In this paper, it is shown that every spatial graph consisting of theta-curves can be unknotted by…

A crossing in a knot is nugatory if changing the crossing does not change the knot type. Using an invariant of certain types of closed 3-braid diagrams, we show that if a closed 3-braid contains a nugatory crossing then its braid index is…

We describe a method of encoding various types of link diagrams, including those with classical, flat, rigid, welded, and virtual crossings. We show that this method may be used to encode link diagrams, up to equivalence, in a notation…

The operation of transforming one spanning tree into another by replacing an edge has been considered widely, both for general and planar straight-line graphs. For the latter, several variants have been studied (e.g., edge slides and edge…

For any knot with genus one and unknotting number one, other than the figure-eight knot, we prove that there is exactly one way to unknot it by means of a crossing change. In the case of the figure-eight knot, we prove that there are…

Using unknotting number, we introduce a link diagram invariant of Hass and Nowik type, which changes at most by 2 under a Reidemeister move. As an application, we show that a certain infinite sequence of diagrams of the trivial…

In this paper, we study knot diagrams for which the underlying graph has treewidth two. We give a linear time algorithm for the following problem: given a knot diagram of treewidth two, does it represent the unknot? We also show that for a…

In the present paper, we consider local moves on classical and welded diagrams: (self-)crossing change, (self-)virtualization, virtual conjugation, Delta, fused, band-pass and welded band-pass moves. Interrelationship between these moves is…

In this study of the Reidemeister moves within the classical knot theory, we focus on hard diagrams of knots and links, categorizing them as either rigid or shaky based on their adaptability to certain moves. We establish that every link…

We use Heegaard Floer homology to give obstructions to unknotting a knot with a single crossing change. These restrictions are particularly useful in the case where the knot in question is alternating. As an example, we use them to classify…

We introduce a new numerical invariant of knots and links from the descending diagrams. It is considered to live between the unknotting number and the bridge number.

The unknotting number is the classical invariant of a knot. However, its determination is difficult in general. To obtain the unknotting number from definition one has to investigate all possible diagrams of the knot. We tried to show the…

We work with a generalization of knot theory, in which one diagram is reachable from another via a finite sequence of moves if a fixed condition, regarding the existence of certain morphisms in an associated category, is satisfied for every…

Consider a robot that remembers only the starting position and walks along a knot once on a knot diagram, switching every undercrossing it meets until it returns to the starting position. We observe that the robot produces an ascending…

In this paper we define Crossing Change Alternating Knots (CCA knots) and their generalization: $k$-CCA knots.

A weaving knot is an alternating knot whose minimal diagram is a closed braid of a lattice-like pattern. In this paper, the warping degree of a braid diagram is defined, and upper bounds of the unknotting number and the region unknotting…

A pseudodiagram is a diagram of a knot with some crossing information missing. We review and expand the theory of pseudodiagrams introduced by R. Hanaki. We then extend this theory to the realm of virtual knots, a generalization of knots.…

The untwisting number of a knot K is the minimum number of null-homologous twists required to convert K to the unknot. Such a twist can be viewed as a generalization of a crossing change, since a classical crossing change can be effected by…

This paper explores the problem of unknotting closed braids and classical knots in mathematical knot theory. We apply evolutionary computation methods to learn sequences of moves that simplify knot diagrams, and show that this can be…

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…