Trapezoidal conjecture for Conway polynomial coefficients of two-bridge links

Let mm be the degree parameter of the Conway polynomial, let cmc_m be its leading coefficient, and let fjf_j denote the Fibonacci-basis polynomials. Write the Conway polynomial of a two-bridge link or knot as

m=cm(i=0m/2(1)iαifm+12i),α0=1.\nabla_m=c_m\Bigl(\sum_{i=0}^{\lfloor m/2\rfloor}(-1)^i\alpha_i f_{m+1-2i}\Bigr),\qquad \alpha_0=1.

Trapezoidal conjecture. There exists an integer nm/2n\leq\lfloor m/2\rfloor such that

0α0α1αn,αnαn+1αm/20.0\leq\alpha_0\leq\alpha_1\leq\cdots\leq\alpha_n,\qquad \alpha_n\geq\alpha_{n+1}\geq\cdots\geq\alpha_{\lfloor m/2\rfloor}\geq0.

The conjecture was motivated by computations of the Conway polynomials of all 131839131\,839 two-bridge links and knots with at most 20 crossings. If true, it would imply the stated convexity property for the coefficients of the Alexander polynomial of every two-bridge knot.

Sources & referencesView supporting material

Primary source

P. -V. Koseleff and D. Pecker, “Conway polynomials of two-bridge links”, arXiv:1011.5992 (2012).

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