Christoffel words and the strong Fox conjecture for two-bridge knots

MaRDI QIDQ6420022zbMATH OpenFDO

Authors Ian M. Banfield

Publication date 8 December 2022

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Combinatorics on words (68R15) Knot theory (57K10)

Abstract: The trapezoidal Fox conjecture states that the coefficient sequence of the Alexander polynomial of an alternating knot is unimodal. We are motivated by a harder question, the strong Fox conjecture, which asks whether the coefficient sequence of the Alexander polynomial of alternating knots is actually log-concave. Our approach is to introduce a polynomial $Delta(t)$ associated to a Christoffel word and to prove that its coefficient sequence is log-concave. This implies the strong Fox conjecture for two-bridge knots.

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