Surface-links represented by 4-charts and quandle cocycle invariants. II. (Q409562)

Surface knots and links in \(4\)-space can be investigated by surface braids, in a way comparable to the methods of classical knot theory. It is known that the surface braid index, decreased by \(2\), is subadditive for non-trivial surface knots. Also, infinitely many ribbon surface knots with arbitrary braid index have been found before. The present work constructs an infinite family of non-ribbon surface knots, homeomorphic to \(2\)-spheres, with braid index \(5\). The examples are sums of a twist spun trefoil knot and a spun torus knot.