Crosscap numbers of pretzel knots (Q1041664)

The crosscap number Crosscap\(\,(K)\) of a knot \(K\) is the minimal first Betti number of non-orientable surfaces bounded by \(K\) in \(S^3\). The crosscap number was defined by \textit{B. E. Clark} [Int. J. Math. Math. Sci. 1, 113--124 (1978; Zbl 0386.57003)]. Let \(P(p_1, p_2, \dots, p_N)\) be a non-trivial pretzel link constructed from \(N\) rational tangles corresponding to \((1/p_1, 1/p_2, \dots, 1/p_N)\), where each \(p_i\) denotes an integer other than \(0, \pm 1\). This link \(P(p_1, p_2, \dots, p_N)\) is a knot if and only if (a) among \(p_1, p_2, \dots, p_N\), exactly one value is even and the others are odd, or (b) \(N\) is odd and all of \(p_1, p_2, \dots, p_N\) are odd. In the paper under review, it is shown that, when \(N \geq 2\), if \((p_1, p_2, \dots, p_N)\) satisfies condition (a) then Crosscap\(\,(P(p_1, p_2, \dots, p_N)) = N-1\), else if \((p_1, p_2, \dots, p_N)\) satisfies condition (b) then Crosscap\(\,(P(p_1, p_2, \dots, p_N)) = N\). Non-orientable spanning surfaces attaining the crosscap numbers are illustrated in Figure 3 in this paper. The lower bound for the crosscap number is obtained by the algorithm of \textit{A. E. Hatcher} and \textit{U. Oertel} [Topology 28, No.~4, 453--480 (1989; Zbl 0686.57006)] and a technique developed by the authors [Hiroshima Math. J. 37, No.~2, 211--252 (2007; Zbl 1138.57004)].