Maximal determinant knots (Q2454934)

Let \(L\) be a link in the oriented 3-sphere. If \(\Delta_L\) denotes the Alexander polynomial of \(L\), then \(\det(L)=|\Delta_L(-1)|\) is the order of the homology group \(H_1(D_L,\mathbb Z)\) of the double covering \(D_L\) of the 3-sphere branched over \(L\) (or zero if this group is infinite). This order is called ``determinant'' because of its expression (up to sign) as the determinant of a Seifert matrix. The author uses the Kauffman bracket approach to give estimates on the size of the determinant of a link \(L\) of given crossing number, or equivalently on the number of spanning trees of planar graphs with given number of edges. One of the results proved in the paper states that there exists a constant \(C> 0\) such that, for any link diagram \(D\) of \(c(D)\) crossings, the inequality \(\det(D)\leq C\delta^{c(D)}\) holds, where the \(\delta\sim 1.83929\) is the inverse of the real positive zero of \(f(x)= x^3+ x^2+ x-1\). If \(D\) is an arborescent diagram (that is, a diagram whose checkerboard graph is series-parallel), then \(\text{det}(D)\leq F_{c(D)+ 1}\), where the \(F_i\) denote the Fibonacci numbers recursively defined by \(F_1= 1\), \(F_2= 1\), and \(F_n= F_{n-1}+ F_{n-2}\) for \(n> 2\). Moreover, the inequality is sharp, that is, there are relevant diagrams for which equality holds. Finally, the author investigates some properties of the knots and links with maximal determinant for a given crossing number.