2017/06/28 by Adams, Colin, Hoste, Jim, Palmer, Martin
#57M25 #FOS: Mathematics #Geometric Topology (math.GT)
paper · doi:10.48550/arxiv.1706.09333
Every link in the 3-sphere has a projection to the plane where the only singularities are pairwise transverse triple points. The associated diagram, with height information at each triple point, is a triple-crossing diagram of the link. We give a set of diagrammatic moves on triple-crossing diagrams analogous to the Reidemeister moves on ordinary diagrams. The existence of n-crossing diagrams for every n>1 allows the definition of the n-crossing number. We prove that for any nontrivial, nonsplit link, other than the Hopf link, its triple-crossing number is strictly greater than its quintuple-crossing number.