English

Multi-crossing Number for Knots and the Kauffman Bracket Polynomial

Geometric Topology 2014-07-18 v1

Abstract

A multi-crossing (or n-crossing) is a singular point in a projection at which n strands cross so that each strand bisects the crossing. We generalize the classic result of Kauffman, Murasugi, and Thistlethwaite, which gives the upper bound on the span of the bracket polynomial of K as 4c_2(K), to the n-crossing number: span<K> is bounded above by ([n^2/2] + 4n-8) c_n(K) for all integers n at least 3. We also explore n-crossing additivity under composition, and find that for n at least 4, there are examples of knots such that the n-crossing number is sub-additive. Further, we present the first extensive list of calculations of n-crossing numbers for knots. Finally, we explore the monotonicity of the sequence of n-crossings of a knot, which we call the crossing spectrum.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1407.4485,
  title  = {Multi-crossing Number for Knots and the Kauffman Bracket Polynomial},
  author = {Colin Adams and Orsola Capovilla-Searle and Jesse Freeman and Daniel Irvine and Samantha Petti and Daniel Vitek and Ashley Weber and Sicong Zhang},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1407.4485},
  year   = {2014}
}

Comments

28 pages, 19 figures

R2 v1 2026-06-22T05:05:57.956Z