Ribbonlength of twisted torus knots

Abstract

The ribbonlength Rib$(K)$ of a knot $K$ is the infimum of the ratio of the length of any flat knotted ribbon with core $K$ to its width. A twisted torus knot $T_{p,q;r,s}$ is obtained from the torus knot $T_{p,q}$ by twisting $r$ adjacent strands $s$ full twists. In this paper, we show that the ribbonlength of $T_{p,q;r,s}$ is less then or equal to $2(\max \{p,q,r\}+|s|r)$ where $p$ and $q$ are positive. Furthermore, if $r\le p-q$, then the ribbonlength of $T_{p,q;r,s}$ is less then or equal to $2(p+(|s|-1)r)$.

9 pages, 11 figures