The braid index of surface-knots and quandle colorings (Q2567514)

A surface-knot is a closed, connected, oriented surface embedded locally flatly in \(\mathbb{R}^4\). The notion of a surface braid was defined by O. Viro in 1990, and a similar notion had been investigated by L. Rudolph in the 1980s. The braid index of a surface-knot \(F\) is defined as the minimal number among the degrees of all simple surface braids whose closures are ambiant isotopic to \(F\). In the paper under review, the author proves that for any integer \(k> 0\), there exists a surface-knot with braid index \(k\). In proving this result, he uses colorings of surface-knots by quandles and he gives lower bounds on the braid index of surface knots.