On the additivity of the clasp number of knots (Q1423465)

For any knot \(K\), we can choose an immersion \(f: D\to S^3\) of a disc \(D\) into \(S^3\) such that \(f|_{\partial D}\) is a homeomorphism onto \(K\) and each connected component of the singular set of the immersion \(f\) is an embedded arc on \(D\) joining a point in \(\partial D\) and a point in the interior of \(D\). An immersed disc \(B= f(D)\) with the above properties is called a clasp disc. Let \(cp_B(K)\) be the number of connected components of the singular set in \(B\). The minimum number of \(cp_B(K)\) among all clasp discs \(B\) of \(K\) is called the clasp number of \(K\) and it is denoted by \(cp(K)\). K. Morimoto determined the clasp number for torus knots. For the additivity of \(cp(K)\), he conjectured that \(cp(K_1\sharp K_2)= cp(K_1)+ cp(K_2)\) and obtained a partial answer, that is, if \(cp(K_1\sharp K_2)\leq 2\), then \(cp(K_1\sharp K_2)= cp(K_1)+ cp(K_2)\). In this paper, the author proves that if \(cp(K_1\sharp K_2)= 3\) for nontrivial knots \(K_1\) and \(K_2\), then \(cp(K_1)= 1\) and \(cp(K_2)= 2\) or \(cp(K_1)= 2\) and \(cp(K_2)= 1\). By Morimoto's result and this theorem, it follows that if \(cp(K_1\sharp K_2)\leq 3\), then \(cp(K_1\sharp K_2)= cp(K_1)+ cp(K_2)\).