A note on alternating knots in handlebodies

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Buchanan, Lizzie, Shah, Tanushree
Format: Preprint
Published: 2026
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author Buchanan, Lizzie
Shah, Tanushree
author_facet Buchanan, Lizzie
Shah, Tanushree
contents We establish a Kauffman-Murasugi-Thistlethwaite-type theorem for alternating knots in a solid torus. Specifically, we show that any dotted-reduced alternating diagram of a knot in a handlebody realizes the minimal crossing number, and that any two such diagrams of the same knot have identical writhe. The proof relies on a generalization of the Jones polynomial to the setting of handlebodies. A stronger version of this result was already proved by Boden, Karimi, and Sikora using a different generalized Jones polynomial; therefore, this text largely expands on one of the main proof tools.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2601_21962
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle A note on alternating knots in handlebodies
Buchanan, Lizzie
Shah, Tanushree
Geometric Topology
We establish a Kauffman-Murasugi-Thistlethwaite-type theorem for alternating knots in a solid torus. Specifically, we show that any dotted-reduced alternating diagram of a knot in a handlebody realizes the minimal crossing number, and that any two such diagrams of the same knot have identical writhe. The proof relies on a generalization of the Jones polynomial to the setting of handlebodies. A stronger version of this result was already proved by Boden, Karimi, and Sikora using a different generalized Jones polynomial; therefore, this text largely expands on one of the main proof tools.
title A note on alternating knots in handlebodies
topic Geometric Topology
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2601.21962