The $F$-polynomial invariant for knotoids

Abstract

As a generalization of the classical knots, knotoids deal with the open ended knot diagrams in a surface. In recent years, many polynomial invariants for knotoids have appeared, such as the bracket polynomial, the index polynomial and the $n$th polynomial, etc. In this paper, we introduce a new polynomial invariant $F$-polynomial for knotoids and discuss some properties of the $F$-polynomial. Then, we construct a family of knotoid diagrams which can be distinguished from each other by the $F$-polynomial but cannnot be distinguished by the index polynomial and the $n$th polynomial.