The 4-move kills the Alexander polynomial

Nikos Askitas

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arXiv · 2606.24268

The 4-move kills the Alexander polynomial

Nikos Askitas

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Abstract

Whether or not the 4-move is an unknotting operation remains an open problem. In this paper I show that every knot can be reduced to one with a trivial Alexander polynomial via a sequence of $4$-moves and isotopies.

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Nikos Askitas. 2026-06-23. The 4-move kills the Alexander polynomial. https://arxiv.org/abs/2606.24268

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