On a relation between the self-linking number and the braid index of closed braids in open books (Q1753065)

In [Ann. Math. (2) 126, 335--388 (1987; Zbl 0631.57005)], \textit{V. F. R. Jones} showed that the HOMFLY-PT polynomial is related to the Alexander polynomial and the algebraic linking number for closed 3- and 4-braids. Then, the question arose whether the algebraic linking number yields a topological knot invariant when a knot is represented as a closed braid of minimal braid index. This question was later called Jones's conjecture. If \((S,\varphi)\) is an open book decomposition of a contact 3-manifold \((M,\xi)=\left(M_{(S,\varphi)},\xi_{(S,\varphi)}\right)\), and \(B\) is the binding, then an oriented link \(L\) in \(M-B\) is a closed braid if \(L\) is positively transverse to each page. The number of intersections between \(L\) and a page \(S\) is denoted by \(n(L)\) and is called the braid index of \(L\). If, by cutting \(M\) along the page \(S_0\), \(L\) gives rise to an element \(\alpha\) of \(B_{n(L)}(S)\), the \(n(L)\)-strand braid group of the surface \(S\), then \(L\) is said to be a closure of \(\alpha\) and is denoted by \(L=\widehat\alpha\). For a null-homologous transverse link \(L\) with Seifert surface \(\Sigma\) the self-linking number of \(L\) with respect to \([\Sigma]\in H^2(M,L)\) is denoted by \(sl(L)\). In [Algebr. Geom. Topol. 6, 2313--2350 (2006; Zbl 1128.57007)], \textit{K. Kawamuro} proposed a generalization of Jones's conjecture, which is called now the Jones-Kawamuro conjecture and which states that if two closed braids \(\widehat\alpha\) and \(\widehat\beta\) represent the same oriented link \(L\), then the inequality \((*)\,|w(\widehat\alpha)-w(\widehat\beta)|\leq n(\widehat\alpha)+n(\widehat\beta)-2b(L)\) holds, where \(w\) and \(n\) denote the algebraic linking number and the braid index of a closed braid, respectively, and \(b(L)\) is the minimal braid index of \(L\), the minimum number of strands needed to represent \(L\) as a closed braid. Making use of Bennequin's formula \(sl(\widehat\alpha)=w(\widehat\alpha)-n(\widehat\alpha)\), \((*)\) implies \(|sl(\widehat\alpha)-sl(\widehat\beta)|\leq 2\left(\max\{n(\widehat\alpha),n(\widehat\beta)\}-b(L)\right)\). So, from the point of view of contact geometry, the Jones-Kawamuro conjecture can be understood as an interaction between the self-linking number and the braid indices. In this paper, the author proves a generalization of the Jones-Kawamuro conjecture for planar open books, under some additional assumptions and conditions. The main theorem includes the original Jones-Kawamuro conjecture as its special case and provides an optimal generalization of the Jones-Kawamuro conjecture for general open books and closed braids. If the distinguished binding component is a fixed connected component \(C\) of the binding \(B\), then two links \(L_1\) and \(L_2\) in \(M_{(S,\varphi)}-B\) are said to be \(C\)-topologically isotopic if they are topologically isotopic in \(M-(B-C)\). The minimal \(C\)-braid index \(b_C\) of \(L\) is defined by \(b_C(L)=\min\left\{n(\widehat\beta)\right\}\) for all \(\widehat\beta\) being \(C\)-topologically isotopic to \(L\). The generalization of the Jones-Kawamuro conjecture states that if \((S,\varphi)\) is an open book such that the page \(S\) is planar, the fractional Dehn twist coefficient along the distinguished binding \(C\) satisfies \(|c(\varphi,C)|>1\), \(L\subset M_{(S,\varphi)}-B\) is a null-homologous oriented link, and two closed braids \(\widehat\alpha\) and \(\widehat\beta\) are \(C\)-topologically isotopic to \(L\), then the inequality \(|sl(\widehat\alpha)-sl(\widehat\beta)|\leq 2\left(\max\{n(\widehat\alpha),n(\widehat\beta)\}-b_C(L)\right)\) holds. Finally, the author shows that this result is optimal by giving several examples that do not satisfy a naive generalization of the Jones-Kawamuro conjecture.