On slice alternating 3-braid closures
arXiv:2012.00577 · doi:10.2140/pjm.2023.324.49
Abstract
We construct ribbon surfaces of Euler characteristic one for several infinite families of alternating 3-braid closures. We also use a twisted Alexander polynomial obstruction to conclude the classification of smoothly slice knots which are closures of alternating 3-braids with up to 20 crossings.
18 pages, 10 figures, 3 tables; added Section 4 and appendix with twisted Alexander polynomial computations, changed title, made minor corrections and improvements in Sections 1-3, uploaded accompanying code