Maximal Thurston-Bennequin number

The Thurston-Bennequin number, usually denoted Failed to parse (SVG (MathML can be enabled via browser plugin): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://wikimedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle tb} , is an invariant of nullhomologous Legendrian knots in contact manifolds, and in particular Legendrian knots in Failed to parse (SVG (MathML can be enabled via browser plugin): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://wikimedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle {\mathbf R}^3} with the standard contact structure. It is a classical result of [Bennequin] that $tb$ is bounded above for Legendrian knots in any given topological knot type in Failed to parse (SVG (MathML can be enabled via browser plugin): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://wikimedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle {\mathbf R}^3} . The maximal Thurston-Bennequin number of a smooth knot is the largest value of Failed to parse (SVG (MathML can be enabled via browser plugin): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://wikimedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle tb} among all Legendrian representatives of the knot.

Here is a quick combinatorial definition of maximal Thurston-Bennequin number. Define a rectilinear front diagram to be a knot diagram composed of only horizontal and vertical line segments, such that at any crossing, the horizontal segment lies over the vertical segment. To any rectilinear front diagram Failed to parse (SVG (MathML can be enabled via browser plugin): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://wikimedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle F} , one can associate two integers: the writhe Failed to parse (SVG (MathML can be enabled via browser plugin): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://wikimedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle w(F)} , defined as for any diagram by counting the number of crossings with signs (Failed to parse (SVG (MathML can be enabled via browser plugin): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://wikimedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle +1} for Failed to parse (SVG (MathML can be enabled via browser plugin): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://wikimedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle (\overcrossing)} and Failed to parse (SVG (MathML can be enabled via browser plugin): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://wikimedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle -1} for Failed to parse (unknown function "\undercrossing"): {\displaystyle (\undercrossing)} ), and the cusp number $c(F)$, defined to be the number of locally upper-right corners of $F$. Next define the Thurston-Bennequin number $tb(F)$ to be $w(F)-c(F)$. Finally, the maximal Thurston-Bennequin number of a knot is the maximal value of $tb(F)$ over all rectilinear front diagrams Failed to parse (SVG (MathML can be enabled via browser plugin): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://wikimedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle F} in the knot type.

For example, the rectilinear front diagram in the figure, which is a right-handed trefoil, has Failed to parse (SVG (MathML can be enabled via browser plugin): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://wikimedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle w=3} , Failed to parse (SVG (MathML can be enabled via browser plugin): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://wikimedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle c=2} , and Failed to parse (SVG (MathML can be enabled via browser plugin): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://wikimedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle tb=1} . In fact, the maximal Thurston-Bennequin number of the right-handed trefoil is $1$.

In the Knot Atlas, maximal Thurston-Bennequin number is given as Failed to parse (SVG (MathML can be enabled via browser plugin): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://wikimedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle [a][b]} , where Failed to parse (SVG (MathML can be enabled via browser plugin): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://wikimedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle a} and Failed to parse (SVG (MathML can be enabled via browser plugin): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://wikimedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle b} are the maximal Thurston-Bennequin numbers of the knot and its mirror, respectively. The data has been imported from the KnotInfo site (see their page on the Thurston-Bennequin number).

[Bennequin] ^  D. Bennequin, Entrelacements et équations de Pfaff, Astérisque 107-108 (1983) 87-161.