A lower bound for the number of Reidemeister moves of type III

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 unknotting number can be obtained from any one diagram of the knot. To do this we tried to prove the unknotting number is not changed under Riedemiester moves, but such a proposition is not correct. Reidemeister II move can change unknotting...

For each odd prime p, and for each non-split link admitting non-trivial p-colorings, we prove that the maximum number of Fox colors is p. We also prove that we can assemble a non-trivial p-coloring with any number of colors, from the minimum to the maximum number of colors. Furthermore, for any rational link, we prove that there exists a non-trivial coloring of any Schubert Normal Form of it, modulo its determinant, which uses all colors available. If this determinant is an o...

This note has an experimental nature and contains no new theorems. We introduce certain moves for classical knot diagrams that for all the very many examples we have tested them on give a monotonic complete simplification. A complete simplification of a knot diagram D is a sequence of moves that transform D into a diagram D' with the minimal possible number of crossings for the isotopy class of the knot represented by D. The simplification is monotonic if the number of cros...

In this paper a classification of Reidemeister moves, which is the most refined, is introduced. In particular, this classification distinguishes some $\Omega_3$-moves that only differ in how the three strands that are involved in the move are ordered on the knot. To transform knot diagrams of isotopic knots into each other one must in general use $\Omega_3$-moves of at least two different classes. To show this, knot diagram invariants that jump only under $\Omega_3$-moves a...

We improve the lower bound for the minimum number of colors for linear Alexander quandle colorings of a knot given in Theorem 1.2 of Colorings beyond Fox: The other linear Alexander quandles (Linear Algebra and its Applications, Vol. 548, 2018). We express this lower bound in terms of the degree k of the reduced Alexander polynomial of the considered knot. We show that it is exactly k + 1 for L-space knots. Then we apply these results to torus knots and Pretzel knots P(-2,3,2...

We consider the number of colors for the colorings of links by the symmetric group $S_3$ of degree $3$. For knots, such a coloring corresponds to a Fox 3-coloring, and thus the number of colors must be 1 or 3. However, for links, there are colorings by $S_3$ with 4 or 5 colors. In this paper, we show that if a 2-bridge link admits a coloring by $S_3$ with 5 colors, then the link also admits such a coloring with only 4 colors.

In this paper, we give a method to evaluate minimum numbers of Dehn colors for knots by using symmetric local biquandle cocycle invariants. We give answers to some questions arising as a consequence of our previous paper [6]. In particular, we show that there exist knots which are distinguished by minimum numbers of Dehn colors.

Pseudodiagrams are diagrams of knots where some information about which strand goes over/under at certain crossings may be missing. Pseudoknots are equivalence classes of pseudodiagrams, with equivalence defined by a class of Reidemeister-type moves. In this paper, we introduce two natural extensions of classical knot colorability to this broader class of knot-like objects. We use these definitions to define the determinant of a pseudoknot (i.e. the pseudodeterminant) that ag...

For a link with zero determinants, a Z-coloring is defined as a generalization of Fox coloring. We call a link having a diagram which admits a non-trivial Z-coloring a Z-colorable link. The minimal coloring number of a Z-colorable link is the minimal number of colors for non-trivial Z-colorings on diagrams of the link. We give sufficient conditions for non-splittable Z-colorable links to have the least minimal coloring number.

A knot in the 3-sphere is said to have zero negative unknotting number if it can be transformed into the unknot by performing only positive crossing changes. In this paper, we provide an obstruction for a knot to having zero negative unknotting number, and discuss its application to two classes of knots.