On knot adjacency (Q1867172)

A special case of the Gusarov-Ohyama notion of \(n\)-triviality occurs when a knot \(K\) admits a projection in which changing any non-empty subset of a certain \(n\) of the crossings unknots \(K\). In such a case \(K\) is said to be \(n\)-adjacent to the unknot. The authors find a geometric characterization of such knots. Supposing \(n\) is greater than or equal to 3, and that \(K\) is \(n\)-adjacent to the unknot, they prove that all the Vassiliev invariants of \(K\) of degree less than \(2n-1\) vanish. They also show that the Alexander Polynomial of \(K\) is 1. With additional hypotheses on \(K\) they are able to obtain other results.