Bridge distance and plat projections (Q728317)

For every knot or link \(K\) in \(S^3\) there is an \(m \in \mathbb{N}\) such that \(K\) has a \(2m\)-plat projection (we refer the reader to Figure 2 of the article under review). This follows from the classical fact that any knot or link can be presented as a closed braid, and then pulling strands of the braid closure across the braid diagram. A \(2m\)-plat projection has boxes labeled as \(a_{ij}\)'s which are twist regions with \(a_{ij}\in \mathbb{Z}\) crossings, where \(1\leq i \leq n-1\) and \(1\leq j \leq m\) when \(i\) is even and \(1\leq j\leq m-1\) when \(i\) is odd. It is said that a \(2m\)-plat projection is highly twisted if \(| a_{ij}| \geq 3\) for all \(i,j\). This kind of projection gives a bridge presentation with respect to a bridge 2-sphere \(\Sigma\) with bridge number \(m\geq b(K)\), where \(b(K)\) is the bridge index of \(K\). As the authors state in their article: ``The distance of a bridge sphere for a knot is a way of measuring the complexity of the glueing map between the boundary spheres of the rational tangles above and below the bridge sphere''. The concept of bridge sphere distance, denoted by \(d_K(\Sigma)\), is used as defined in [\textit{D. Bachman} and \textit{S. Schleimer}, Pac. J. Math. 219, No. 2, 221--235 (2005; Zbl 1086.57011)]. Much work has been done to find upper and lower bounds for the bridge sphere distance and for Heegaard splittings. Nevertheless, there was no previous work determining the distance from a knot projection. The main result proved by the present authors determines the precise bridge sphere distance directly from the plat projection. Their theorem states: Let \(K\subset S^3\) be a highly twisted knot or link with a \(2m\)-plat projection, with \(m\geq b(K)\geq 3\), then the distance \(d_K(\Sigma)\) of the induced bridge sphere \(\Sigma\) is exactly \(d_K(\Sigma)=\lceil n/(2/(m-2))\rceil\). Where \(\lceil x\rceil\) is the smallest integer greater or equal to \(x\). The upper bound is found by constructing disks in the curve complex of \(\Sigma_K\) realizing the upper bound distance. The lower bound is found using a train track argument. As a corollary the authors state that if a \(2m\)-plat projection has \(n> 4m(m-2)\) rows then the bridge sphere defining the plat projection is the unique, up to isotopy, minimal bridge surface for \(K\).