A formula for the braid index of links (Q1041671)

\textit{J. W. Alexander} [Nat. Acad. Proc. 9, 93--95 (1923; JFM 49.0408.03)] showed that every link in \(S^{3}\) can be represented as a closed \(n\)-string braid. The \textit{braid link \(b(L)\)} of a link \(L\) is the smallest positive integer \(n\) such that \(L\) can be represented as a closed \(n\)-string braid. It is an open problem to determine the braid index among all closed braid representatives of a given knot or link. \textit{H. R. Morton} [Math. Proc. Camb. Philos. Soc. 99, 107--109 (1986; Zbl 0588.57008)] and \textit{J. Franks} and \textit{R. F. Williams} [Trans. Am. Math. Soc. 303, 97--108 (1987; Zbl 0647.57002)] independently gave a lower bound for the braid index \(b(L)\) of a link \(L\) in \(S^{3}\) in terms of the \(v\)-span of the Homfly-pt polynomial \(P_L(v,z)\) of \(L: \frac 1 2 \text{span}_v P_L(v,z)+1\leqslant b(L)\). The Morton-Franks-Williams (MFW, for short) inequality is closely related the well-known conjecture of \textit{V. F. R. Jones} [Ann. Math. (2) 126, 335--388 (1987; Zbl 0631.57005)] that says that the algebraic crossing number in a minimal braid representation is a link invariant. If a knot or a link satisfies the equality of the MFW inequality, then the knot or link also satisfies the Jones conjecture. Many classes of knots and links satisfying the equality of the MFW inequality have been found. In this paper, the authors introduce a new class \(\mathcal K \) of knots and links in \(S^{3}\) for which the MFW inequality is sharp and they find an explicit formula for determining the braid index of knots and links that belong to this class \(\mathcal K\). This gives a new class of knots and links satisfying the Jones conjecture. At last, they also give an algorithm to find a minimal braid representative for a given knot or link in \(\mathcal K\).