On the slice-ribbon conjecture for pretzel knots (Q498731)

This paper gives a necessary, and in some cases sufficient, condition for pretzel knots \(P(p_1,\ldots,p_n)\) with a single \(p_i\) even to be slice. The result constitutes supporting evidence for the slice-ribbon conjecture. A knot in the \(3\)-sphere is said to be slice if it bounds a locally flat disk in the \(4\)-ball. The slice-ribbon conjecture states that any slice knot is ribbon, i.e., it bounds a slice disk with no maxima. Considering the set of parameter sets \(\mathcal{E}=\left\{ \left\{ a, -a-2, -\displaystyle\frac{(a+1)^2}{2}, q_1, -q_1, \ldots, q_m, -q_m \right\} \right\}\), where \(m\geq 0\), \(|q_i|\geq 3\) odd, and \(a\geq 3\) odd with \(a\equiv 1,11,37,47,49,59\) \((\bmod \, 60)\), the author proves if a pretzel knot \(P(p_1,\ldots,p_n)\) with a single \(p_i\) even and with \(\{p_1, \ldots, p_n\} \not\in \mathcal{E}\) is slice, then \((p_1,\ldots,p_n)\) is the following after reordering: (1) \((q_1, -q_1\pm1, q_2, -q_2, \ldots, q_{n/2}, -q_{n/2})\) if \(n\) is even, (2) \((q_0, q_1, -q_1, \ldots, q_{(n-1)/2}, -q_{(n-1)/2})\) if \(n\) is odd. It is also shown that if a pretzel knot satisfies the assumption above, then it is slice. The author first uses known obstructions to exclude non-slice pretzel knots such as the signature, the correction term from Heegaard-Floer homology, the Casson-Gordon invariant and the Alexander polynomial, and then gives explicit constructions of ribbon disks (and hence slice disks) in the remaining cases. A corollary states that the slice-ribbon conjecture is also true for pretzel knots \(P(p_1,p_2,p_3)\) with \(\{p_1, p_2, p_3\} \not\in \mathcal{E}\). This paper also proposes a conjecture: if \(\{p_1, \ldots, p_n\} \in \mathcal{E}\), then the pretzel knot \(P(p_1,\ldots,p_n)\) is not slice.