Related papers: Relationships between braid length and the number …

A knotted ribbon is one of physical aspect of a knot. A folded ribbon knot is a depiction of a knot obtained by folding a long and thin rectangular strip to become flat. The ribbonlength of a knot type can be defined as the minimum length…

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…

We study the band-unknotting number $u_{nb}(K)$ of a knot $K$, and how it behaves with respect to connect sums. We show that this sub-additive function is not additive under connected sums, by finding infinitely many examples of knots $K_1,…

We define the symmetric braid index $b_s(K)$ of a ribbon knot $K$ to be the smallest index of a braid whose closure yields a symmetric union diagram of $K$, and derive a Khovanov-homological characterisation of knots with $b_s(K)$ at most…

Let $u(K)$ and $g(K)$ denote the unknotting number and the genus of a knot $K$, respectively. For a 3-braid knot $K$, we show that $u(K)\le g(K)$ holds, and that if $u(K)=g(K)$ then $K$ is either a 2-braid knot, a connected sum of two…

The unknotting number of a positive braid with n strands and k intersections is known to be equal to (k-n+1)/2. We consider Lorenz knots (which are positive braids) and, using a different method, find their unknotting numbers in terms of…

A ribbon is a two-dimensional object with one-dimensional properties which is related with geometry, robotics and molecular biology. A folded ribbon structure provides a complex structure through a series of folds. We focus on a folded…

We prove that fibred knots cannot be untied with $\bar{t}_{2k}$-moves, for all $k \geq 2$. More generally, we give an upper bound on the number of two strand twist operations that allow to untie a knot with non-trivial HOMFLY polynomial, in…

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…

The genus non-increasing totally positive unknotting number is the minimum number of crossing changes that transform a knot into the unknot, such that all the crossing changes are positive-to-negative crossing changes that do not increase…

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…

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…

We show that the difference between the Seifert genus and the topological 4-genus of a prime positive braid knot is bounded from below by an affine function of the minimal number of strands among positive braid representatives of the knot.…

An equilateral stick number $s_{=}(K)$ of a knot $K$ is defined to be the minimal number of sticks required to construct a polygonal knot of $K$ which consists of equal length sticks. Rawdon and Scharein [12] found upper bounds for the…

It has been conjectured that the algebraic crossing number of a link is uniquely determined in minimal braid representation. This conjecture is true for many classes of knots and links. The Morton-Franks-Williams inequality gives a lower…

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…

Given a knot, we develop methods for finding the braid representative that minimizes the number of simple walks. Such braids lead to an efficient method for computing the colored Jones polynomial of $K$, following an approach developed by…

We consider braids on $m+n$ strands, such that the first $m$ strands are trivially fixed. We denote the set of all such braids by $B_{m,n}$. Via concatenation $B_{m,n}$ acquires a group structure. The objective of this paper is to find a…

A knot $K_1$ is said to be Gordian adjacent to a knot $K_2$ if $K_1$ is an intermediate knot on an unknotting sequence of $K_2$. We extend previous results on Gordian adjacency by showing sufficient conditions for Gordian adjacency between…