The Jones polynomial of an almost alternating link (Q1747844)

A fundamental open question in knot theory is whether the Jones polynomial detects the unknot. \textit{V. F. R. Jones} conjectured in [``Ten problems'', in: Mathematics: frontiers and perspectives. Providence, RI: American Mathematical Society (AMS). 79--91 (2000; Zbl 0969.57001)] that if a knot has trivial Jones polynomial, then it is the unknot. This conjecture has been verified in the case of alternating, adequate and semi-adequate knots by different people. Also, it has been verified for all knots with at most 22 crossings. In the case of links with any number of components \(l\geq 2\), it is well-known that there are links with trivial Jones polynomial. The triviality means that the Jones polynomial is equal to the Jones polynomial of the unlink with the same number of components. The authors verify the conjecture for the case of almost alternating knots and they show that almost alternating links have nontrivial Jones polynomial. This is done by studying the first two and last two potential coefficients of the Jones polynomial of an almost alternating link. Moreover, they give necessary conditions of an almost alternating diagram to have the fewest number of crossings among all almost alternating diagrams of the link.