Braid Representatives

KnotTheory`/Navigation

The Mathematica Package KnotTheory`

Every knot and every link is the closure of a braid. KnotTheory` can also represent knots and links as braid closures:

(For In[1] see Setup)

In[1]:=

?BR

BR stands for Braid Representative. BR[k,l] represents a braid on k strands with crossings l={i1,i2,...}, where a positive index i within the list l indicates a right-handed crossing between strand number i and strand number i+1 and a negative i indicates a left handed crossing between strands numbers |i| and |i|+1. Each ij can also be a list of non-adjacent (i.e., commuting) indices. BR also acts as a "type caster": BR[K] will return a braid whose closure is K if K is given in any format that KnotTheory` understands. BR[K] where K is is a named knot with up to 10 crossings returns a minimum braid representative for that knot.

In[2]:=	BR::about
The minimum braids representing the knots with up to 10 crossings were provided by Thomas Gittings. See his article on the subject at arXiv:math.GT/0401051. Vogel's algorithm was implemented by Dan Carney in the summer of 2005 at the University of Toronto.

In[3]:=	?Mirror
Mirror[br] return the mirror braid of br.

Thus for example,

In[4]:= br1 = BR[2, {-1, -1, -1}];

`In[5]:=`	`PD[br1]`
`Out[5]=`	`PD[X[6, 3, 1, 4], X[4, 1, 5, 2], X[2, 5, 3, 6]]`

`In[6]:=`	`Jones[br1][q]`
`Out[6]=`	`-4 -3 1 -q + q + - q`

`In[7]:=`	`Mirror[br1]`
`Out[7]=`	`BR[2, {1, 1, 1}]`

T(5,4)

K11a362

KnotTheory` has the braid representatives of some knots and links pre-loaded, and for all other knots and links it will find a braid representative using Vogel's algorithm. Thus for example,

`In[8]:=`	`BR[TorusKnot[5, 4]]`
`Out[8]=`	`BR[4, {1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3}]`

`In[9]:=`	`BR[Knot[11, Alternating, 362]]`
`Out[9]=`	`BR[10, {1, 2, -3, -4, 5, 6, 5, 4, 3, -2, -1, -4, 3, -2, -4, 3, 5, 4, -6, 7, -6, 5, 8, 7, 6, 5, -4, -3, 2, 5, -6, 9, -8, 7, -6, 5, 4, -3, 5, 6, 5, 4, 5, -7, 8, -7, 6, 5, -9, -8, -7}]`

(As we see, Vogel's algorithm sometimes produces scary results. A 51-crossings braid representative for an 11-crossing knot, in the case of K11a362).

10_1

5_2

The minimum braid representative of a given knot is a braid representative for that knot which has a minimal number of braid crossings and within those braid representatives with a minimal number of braid crossings, it has a minimal number of strands (full details are in [Gittings]). Thomas Gittings kindly provided us the minimum braid representatives for all knots with up to 10 crossings. Thus for example, the minimum braid representative for the knot 10_1 has length (number of crossings) 13 and width 6 (number of strands, also see Invariants from Braid Theory):

`In[10]:=`	`br2 = BR[Knot[10, 1]]`
`Out[10]=`	`BR[6, {-1, -1, -2, 1, -2, -3, 2, -3, -4, 3, 5, -4, 5}]`

`In[12]:=`	`Show[BraidPlot[CollapseBraid[br2]]]`

`Out[12]=`	`-Graphics-`

Already for the knot 5_2 the minimum braid is shorter than the braid produced by Vogel's algorithm. Indeed, the minimum braid is

`In[14]:=`	`Show[BraidPlot[CollapseBraid[BR[Knot[5, 2]]]]]`

`Out[14]=`	`-Graphics-`

To force KnotTheory` to run Vogel's algorithm on 5_2, we first convert it to its PD form,

`In[15]:=`	`pd = PD[Knot[5, 2]]`
`Out[15]=`	`PD[X[1, 4, 2, 5], X[3, 8, 4, 9], X[5, 10, 6, 1], X[9, 6, 10, 7], X[7, 2, 8, 3]]`

and only then run BR:

`In[17]:=`	`Show[BraidPlot[CollapseBraid[BR[pd]]]]`

`Out[17]=`	`-Graphics-`

(Check Drawing Braids for information about the command BraidPlot and the related command CollapseBraid.)

[Gittings] ^ T. A. Gittings, Minimum braids: a complete invariant of knots and links, arXiv:math.GT/0401051.

Braid Representatives

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