There is a positive constant $c_1$ such that for any diagram $D$ representing the unknot, there is a sequence of at most $2^{c_1 n}$ Reidemeister moves that will convert it to a trivial knot diagram, $n$ is the number of crossings in $D$. A similar result holds for elementary moves on a polygonal knot $K$ embedded in the 1-skeleton of the interior of a compact, orientable, triangulated $PL$ 3-manifold $M$. There is a positive constant $c_2$ such that for each $t \geq 1$, if $M$ consists of $t$ tetrahedra, and $K$ is unknotted, then there is a sequence of at most $2^{c_2 t}$ elementary moves in $M$ which transforms $K$ to a triangle contained inside one tetrahedron of $M$. We obtain explicit values for $c_1$ and $c_2$.
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 two-component link need quadratic number of Reidemeister moves for being unknotted with respect to the number of crossings. Assuming a certain conjecture on unknotting numbers of a certain series of composites of torus knots, we show that the above diagrams need quadratic number of Reidemeister moves for being splitted.
Arnold introduced invariants $J^+$, $J^-$ and $St$ for generic planar curves. It is known that both $J^+ /2 + St$ and $J^- /2 + St$ are invariants for generic spherical curves. Applying these invariants to underlying curves of knot diagrams, we can obtain lower bounds for the number of Reidemeister moves for uknotting. $J^- /2 + St$ works well for unmatched RII moves. However, it works only by halves for RI moves. Let $w$ denote the writhe for a knot diagram. We show that $J^- /2 + St \pm w/2$ works well also for RI moves, and demonstrate that it gives a precise estimation for a certain knot d…
In mathematics, a knot is a single strand of string crossed over itself any number of times, and connected at the ends. The Reidemeister Moves have been proven to be the three core moves necessary to fully untangle a knot. Some knots can be untangled to a loop (the unknot), while others are fundamentally knotted. We define four generalized moves based on the Reidemeister Moves. These moves have the capability of untangling knots which must be made more complicated before they can be simplified. With these moves, we construct a computer program which reads the two-dimensional projection of a kn…
We introduce a new knot diagram invariant called the Self-Crossing Index (SCI). Using SCI, we provide bounds for unknotting two families of framed unknots. For one of these families, unknotting using framed Reidemeister moves is significantly harder than unknotting using regular Reidemeister moves. We also investigate the relation between SCI and Arnold's curve invariant St, as well as the relation with Hass and Nowik's invariant, which generalizes cowrithe. In particular, the change of SCI under Ω3 moves depends only on the forward/backward character of the move, similar to how the change of …
Twisted knot theory, introduced by M.O.Bourgoin, is a generalization of virtual knot theory. It is easily shown that any virtual knot can be deformed into a trivial knot by a finite sequence of generalized Reidemeister moves and two "forbidden moves" $F_{1}$ and $F_{2}$. Similarly, we show that any twisted knot also can be deformed into a trivial knot or a trivial knot with a bar by a finite sequence of extended Reidemeister moves and three "forbidden moves" $T_{4}$, $F_{1}$ (or $F_{2}$) and $F_{3}$ (or $F_{4}$) .
The forbidden moves can be combined with Gauss diagram Reidemeister moves to obtain move sequences with which we may change any Gauss diagram (and hence any virtual knot) into any other, including in particular the unknotted diagram
In the previous paper, we considered a link diagram invariant of Hass and Nowik type using regular smoothing and unknotting number, to estimate the number of Reidemeister moves needed for unlinking. In this paper, we introduce a new link diagram invariant using irregular smoothing, and give an example of a knot diagram of the unknot for which the new invariant gives a better estimation than the old one.
The (ordinary) unknotting-number of 1-dimensional knots, which is defined by using the crossing-change, is a very basic and important invariant. It is very natural to consider the `unknotting-number' associated with other local-moves on n-dimensional knots, where n is a natural number. In this paper we prove the following facts. For the ribbon-move on 2-knots, which is a kind of local-move on knots, we have the following: There is a ribbon-move-unknotting-number-two 2-knot. The ribbon-move-unknotting-number of 2-knots is unbounded. For the pass-move on 1-knots, which is a kind of local-move on…
We study a local twist move on welded knots that is an analog of the virtualization move on virtual knots. Since this move is an unknotting operation we define an invariant, unknotting twist number, for welded knots. We relate the unknotting twist number with warping degree and welded unknotting number, and establish a lower bound on the twist number using Alexander quandle coloring. We also study the Gordian distance between welded knots by twist move and define the corresponding Gordian complex.
We show that the page at which the Lee spectral sequence collapses gives a bound on the unknotting number, u(K). In particular, for knots with u(K)<3, we show that the Lee spectral sequence must collapse at the E_2 page. An immediate corollary is that the Knight Move Conjecture is true when u(K)<3.
If a rectangular diagram represents the trivial knot, then it can be deformed into the trivial rectangular diagram with only four edges by a finite sequence of merge operations and exchange operations, without increasing the number of edges, which was shown by I. A. Dynnikov. Using this, Henrich and Kauffman gave an upper bound for the number of Reidemeister moves needed for unknotting a knot diagram of the trivial knot. However, exchange or merge moves on the top and bottom pairs of edges of rectangular diagrams are not considered in the proof. In this paper, we show that there is a rectangul…
In this paper, we introduce an equivalence relation on the set of local moves and classify local moves, called the extended $ST$-moves, up to the equivalence. Moreover, by inducing a binary relation on the set of equivalence classes of local moves, we show that an extended $ST$-move realizes the crossing change or the $SH(2)$-move. In addition, for any oriented knot and two extended $ST$-moves, we disscus the magnitude relation between the unknotting numbers of the knot via the moves, and show that there is an extended $ST$-move except $SH$-moves so that the knot can be transformed into the tr…
In this note we present a short proof that the 4 oriented Reidemeister moves of type 2 together with any one of the 8 oriented Reidemeister moves of type 3 are sufficient to imply the other 7.
We provide an upper bound on the number of ordered Reidemeister moves required to pass between two diagrams of the same link. This bound is in terms of the number of unordered Reidemeister moves required.
If a rectangular diagram represents the trivial knot, then it can be deformed into the rectangular diagram with only two vertical edges by a finite sequence of merge operations and exchange operations, without increasing the number of vertical edges, which was shown by I. A. Dynnikov. We show in this paper that we need no merge operations to deform a rectangular diagram of the trivial knot to one with no crossings.
We provide an explicit upper bound on the number of Reidemeister moves required to pass between two diagrams of the same link. This leads to a conceptually simple solution to the equivalence problem for links.
We introduce an up-down coloring of a virtual-link diagram. The colorabilities give a lower bound of the minimum number of Reidemeister moves of type II which are needed between two 2-component virtual-link diagrams. By using the notion of a quandle cocycle invariant, we determine the necessity of Reidemeister moves of type II for a pair of diagrams of the trivial virtual-knot. This implies that for any virtual-knot diagram $D$, there exists a diagram $D'$ representing the same virtual-knot such that any sequence of generalized Reidemeister moves between them includes at least one Reidemeister…
We present a sequence of diagrams of the unknot for which the minimum number of Reidemeister moves required to pass to the trivial diagram is quadratic with respect to the number of crossings. These bounds apply both in $S^2$ and in $\R^2$.
In 2001, Oestlund conjectured that Reidemeister moves 1 and 3 are sufficient to describe a homotopy from any generic immersion from the circle into the plane to the standard embedding of the circle. We show that this conjecture is false.
We consider the recently introduced knotting-unknotting game, in which two players take turns resolving crossings in a knot diagram which initially is missing all its crossing information. Once the knot is fully resolved, the winner is decided by whether the knot is equivalent to the unknot. In this paper we determine which player wins under perfect play in the initial positions (knot shadows) that are guaranteed to produce rational knots or sums of rational knots. This is accomplished in part by an analysis of the effects of pseudo Reidemeister moves on positions, and a computer verification …
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 effective both when the evolution is carried out for individual knots and when a generic sequence of moves is evolved for a set of knots.
We prove that any diagram of the unknot with c crossings may be reduced to the trivial diagram using at most (236 c)^{11} Reidemeister moves. Moreover, every diagram in this sequence has at most (7 c)^2 crossings. We also prove a similar theorem for split links, which provides a polynomial upper bound on the number of Reidemeister moves required to transform a diagram of the link into a disconnected diagram.
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 number. See Nakanishi-Bleiler example. So this article is withdrawn.
It is well known that any two diagrams representing the same oriented link are related by a finite sequence of Reidemeister moves O1, O2 and O3. Depending on orientations of fragments involved in the moves, one may distinguish 4 different versions of each of the O1 and O2 moves, and 8 versions of the O3 move. We introduce a minimal generating set of four oriented Reidemeister moves, which includes two O1 moves, one O2 move, and one O3 move. We then study which other sets of up to 5 oriented moves generate all moves, and show that only few of them do. Some commonly considered sets are shown not…
We show that every knot type admits a pair of diagrams that cannot be made identical without using Reidemeister Omega_2-moves. We also show that our proof is compatible with known results for the other move types, in the sense that every knot type admits a pair of diagrams that cannot be made identical without using all of the move types.
Polyak proved that the set $\{\Omega1a,\Omega1b,\Omega2a,\Omega3a\}$ is a minimal generating set of oriented Reidemeister moves. One may distinguish between forward and backward moves, obtaining $32$ different types of moves, which we call directed oriented Reidemeister moves. In this article we prove that the set of $8$ directed Polyak moves $\{ Ω{1a}^\uparrow, Ω{1a}^\downarrow, Ω{1b}^\uparrow, Ω{1b}^\downarrow, Ω{2a}^\uparrow, Ω{2a}^\downarrow, Ω{3a}^\uparrow, Ω{3a}^\downarrow \}$ is a minimal generating set of directed oriented Reidemeister moves. We also specialize the problem, introducing…
In this paper a classification of Reidemeister moves, which is the most refined, is introduced. In particular, this classification distinguishes some $Ω_3$-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 $Ω_3$-moves of at least two different classes. To show this, knot diagram invariants that jump only under $Ω_3$-moves are introduced. Knot diagrams of isotopic knots can be connected by a sequence of Reidemeister moves of only six, out of the total of 24, …
Östlund (2001) showed that all planar isotopy invariants of generic plane curves that are unchanged under cusp moves and triple point moves, and of finite degree (in self-tangency moves) are trivial. Here the term "of finite degree" means Arnold-Vassiliev type. It implies the conjecture, which was often called Östlund conjecture: "Types I and III Reidemeister moves are sufficient to describe a homotopy from any generic immersion from the circle into the plain to the standard embedding of the circle". Although counterexamples are known nowadays, there had been no (easy computable) function that…
Recently, the author discovered an interesting class of knot-like objects called free knots. These purely combinatorial objects are equivalence classes of Gauss diagrams modulo Reidemeister moves (the same notion in the language of words was introduced by Turaev, who thought all free knots to be trivial). As it turned out, these new objects are highly non-trivial, and even admit non-trivial cobordism classes. An important issue is the existence of invariants where a diagram evaluates to itself which makes such objects "similar" to free groups: an element has its minimal representative which "l…
Dalian University of Technology（大连理工大学）；Sobolev Institute of Mathematics of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences（俄罗斯科学院西伯利亚分院索博列夫数学研究所）
Neapolis University Pafos, Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Bachelor program（内帕利斯大学帕福斯，计算机科学与人工智能学士项目）；The University of Sydney, School of Mathematics and Statistics F07（悉尼大学，数学与统计学学院）
A knot is an an embedding of a circle into three-dimensional space. We say that a knot is unknotted if there is an ambient isotopy of the embedding to a standard circle. By representing knots via planar diagrams, we discuss the problem of unknotting a knot diagram when we know that it is unknotted. This problem is surprisingly difficult, since it has been shown that knot diagrams may need to be made more complicated before they may be simplified. We do not yet know, however, how much more complicated they must get. We give an introduction to the work of Dynnikov who discovered the key use of a…
We introduce some chain maps between Khovanov complexes. Each of the chain maps commutes with a chain homotopy map and a retraction maps which obtain a Reidemeister invariance of Khovanov homology.
We study petal diagrams of knots, which provide a method of describing knots in terms of permutations in a symmetric group $S_{2n+1}$. We define two classes of moves on such permutations, called trivial petal additions and crossing exchanges, which do not change the isotopy class of the underlying knot. We prove that any two permutations which represent isotopic knots can be related by a sequence of these moves and their inverses.
We have two results. First, we give 96 generating sets oriented singular Reidemeister moves; it is an answer to a question by Bataineh, Khaled, Elhamdadi, and Hajij who give a generating set of oriented singular Reidemeister moves using their computation. Second, in the theory of plane curve and Legendrian knots introduced by V. I. Arnold, we select which moves survive as those of Legendrian singular knots and fronts diagrammatically and explicitly.
Vassiliev introduced filtered invariants of knots using an unknotting operation, called crossing changes. Goussarov, Polyak, and Viro introduced other filtered invariants of virtual knots, which order is called GPV-order, using an unknotting operation, called virtualization. We defined other filtered invariants, which order is called $F$-order, of virtual knots using an unknotting operation, called forbidden moves. In this paper, we show that the set of virtual knot invariants of $F$-order $\le n+1$ is strictly stronger than that of $F$-order $\le n$ and that of GPV-order $\le 2n+1$. To obtain…
We prove that deciding if a diagram of the unknot can be untangled using at most $k$ Riedemeister moves (where $k$ is part of the input) is NP-hard. We also prove that several natural questions regarding links in the $3$-sphere are NP-hard, including detecting whether a link contains a trivial sublink with $n$ components, computing the unlinking number of a link, and computing a variety of link invariants related to four-dimensional topology (such as the $4$-ball Euler characteristic, the slicing number, and the $4$-dimensional clasp number).
