The slice-Bennequin inequality for the fractional Dehn twist coefficient

Peter Feller

doi:10.1017/s1474748024000276

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arXiv · 2204.05288

The slice-Bennequin inequality for the fractional Dehn twist coefficient

Peter Feller

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Abstract

We characterize the fractional Dehn twist coefficient (FDTC) on the $n$-stranded braid group as the unique homogeneous quasimorphism to the real numbers of defect at most 1 that equals 1 on the positive full twist and vanishes on the $(n-1)$-stranded braid subgroup. In a different direction, we establish that the slice-Bennequin inequality holds with the FDTC in place of the writhe. In other words, we establish an affine linear lower bound for the smooth slice genus of the closure of a braid in terms of the braid's FDTC. We also discuss connections between these two seemingly unrelated results. In the appendix we provide a unifying framework for the slice-Bennequin inequality and its counterpart for the FDTC.

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Peter Feller. 2022-04-11. The slice-Bennequin inequality for the fractional Dehn twist coefficient. https://doi.org/10.1017/s1474748024000276

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