Delta-unknotting operation and the second coefficient of the Conway polynomial (Q756776)

Let \(d^{\Delta}_ G(K,K')\) be the \(\Delta\)-Gordian distance from K to \(K'\), and \(a_ i(L)\) be the i-th coefficient of the Conway polynomial \(\nabla_ L(z)\) of a link L. The author shows the following: Theorem. Let K and \(K'\) be two knots with \(d^{\Delta}_ G(K,K')=1\). Then, we have \(| a_ 2(K)-a_ 2(K')| =1\). Using this theorem, she determines \(\Delta\)-unknotting numbers of prime knots of \(\leq 8\) crossings, and \(\Delta\)-Gordian distances between any two of twist knots.