Minimal coloring number for $\mathbb{Z}$-colorable links II

Abstract

The minimal coloring number of a $\mathbb{Z}$-colorable link is the minimal number of colors for non-trivial $\mathbb{Z}$-colorings on diagrams of the link. In this paper, we show that the minimal coloring number of any non-splittable $\mathbb{Z}$-colorable links is four. As an example, we consider the link obtained by replacing each component of the given link with several parallel strands, which we call a parallel of a link. We show that an even parallel of a link is $\mathbb{Z}$-colorable except for the case of 2 parallels with non-zero linking number. We then give a simple way to obtain a diagram which attains the minimal coloring number for such even parallels of links.

15 pages, 25 figures v2:new main result added, v3:title changed with some minor corrections