A partial order of knots (Q1263842)

In this paper, the author introduces a partial order on the set of link types. The term ``link projection'' is used here to mean a link diagram without regard of an over/under information at each crossing. For a link type L, let PROJ(L) be the set of all projections of links belonging to L. For two link types \(L_ 1\) and \(L_ 2\), \(L_ 1\) is said to be a minor of \(L_ 2\) if \(PROJ(L_ 1)\supset PROJ(L_ 2)\). The author shows that this relation is a partial order, and he gives the following results: For each positive integer n, a trivial n-component link type is a minor of every n-component link type. A trefoil knot type is a minor of every nontrivial knot type. A figure eight knot type is a minor of every nontrivial knot type except a trefoil knot type, and so on.