Strongly invertible links and divides

Abstract To a proper generic immersion of a finite number of copies of the unit interval in a 2-disc, called a divide, A’Campo associates a link in S 3 . From the more general notion of ordered Morse signed divides, one obtains a braid presentation of links of divides. In this paper, we prove that every strongly invertible link is isotopic to the link of an ordered Morse signed divide. We give fundamental moves for ordered Morse signed divides and show that strongly invertible links are equivalent if and only if we can pass from one ordered Morse signed divide to the other by a sequence of such moves. Then we associate a polynomial to an ordered Morse signed divide, invariant for these move…

La symphonie des cercles circonscrits

REPRESENTATIVE BRAIDS FOR LINKS ASSOCIATED TO PLANE IMMERSED CURVES

In [ AC 2], A'Campo associates a link in S3 to any proper generic immersion of a disjoint union of arcs into a 2-disc. We give a sample algorithmic way to produce, from the immersion, a representative braid for such links. As a by-product we get a minimal representative braid for any algebraic link, from a divide associated to a real deformation of the polynomial defining the link.

Khovanov homology for signed divides

The purpose of this paper is to interpret polynomial invariants of strongly invertible links in terms of Khovanov homology theory. To a divide, that is a proper generic immersion of a finite number of copies of the unit interval and circles in a [math] –disc, one can associate a strongly invertible link in the [math] –sphere. This can be generalized to signed divides: divides with [math] or [math] sign assignment to each crossing point. Conversely, to any link [math] that is strongly invertible for an involution [math] , one can associate a signed divide. Two strongly invertible links that are isotopic through an isotopy respecting the involution are called strongly equivalent. Such isotopi…