Rectangle conditions and families of 3-bridge prime knots (Q1998807)

It is complicated to compute the bridge number of knots in general, even though there exist many knot families for which the bridge number is known. In this paper, the authors show that certain infinite families of alternating diagrams are indeed 3-bridge knots. To be more precise, in [\textit{J. Emert} and \textit{C. Ernst}, J. Knot Theory Ramifications 9, No. 8, 987--1004 (2000; Zbl 1001.57009)] the authors defined a family of essential alternating rational 3-tangles. In this paper, the authors show that knots obtained by taking closures on these tangles are indeed alternating 3-bridge prime knots. This is done using a result of one of the authors [\textit{B.-H. Kwon}, ibid. 28, No. 14, Article ID 1950082, 7 p. (2019; Zbl 1435.57004)], where he defines a rectangle condition on the bridge sphere for an \(n\)-bridge decomposition of a knot and shows that if a 3-bridge decomposition of a knot satisfies the rectangle condition, then the knot is a 3-bridge knot.