Virtual knots undetected by 1 and 2-strand bracket polynomials

H. A. Dye

Published 2004-02-18Version 1

Kishino's knot is not detected by the fundamental group or the bracket polynomial; these invariants cannot differentiate between Kishino's knot and the unknot. However, we can show that Kishino's knot is not equivalent to unknot by applying either the 3-strand bracket polynomial or the surface bracket polynomial. In this paper, we construct two non-trivial virtual knot diagrams, $ K_D $ and $ K_m $, that are not not detected by the bracket polynomial or the 2-strand bracket polynomial. From these diagrams, we construct two infinite families of non-classical virtual knot diagrams that are not detected by the bracket polynomial. Additionally, we note these virtual knot diagrams are trivial as flats.