How statement and proof provenance work
The first chip identifies the source of the statement or construction; the second identifies the source of its local proof or verification.
- Literature-sourced: the exact statement appears in a cited source; only wording and notation differ.
- AI-adapted: a semantically identical restatement of literature-sourced material, modulo indexing, notation, and boundary cases adopted by the library.
- AI-generated: a genuinely novel statement formulated by AI, with no source for the claim itself.
These labels describe origin, not correctness: citations and verification chips remain separate evidence.
The Borromean string link has nonzero triple Milnor invariant
Example
Assume AC. Let be the based 3-string link represented by the pure braid word using the library's braid-group product, in which the right factor is stacked below the left factor. Thus the six factors from bottom to top are . Here is the positive geometric half twist of adjacent strands in the crossing convention for this library, and labels are assigned from left to right at the bottom. Close each top endpoint to the corresponding bottom endpoint outside the braid cylinder by crossing-free closure arcs; the matching closure is a Borromean link. Use the bottom meridians and the diagram-induced blackboard product-tube parallels for this based braid. The third string-link longitude and the matching based longitude of its closed link have truncated expansion so . Every pairwise linking number of the closed braid is zero, and its based closed-link residue candidate is .
\begin{tikzpicture}[scale=0.85,>=stealth]
% Six adjacent half-twists, read from bottom to top in the stated product convention.
% sigma_2
\draw[gray] (0,0) -- (0,1);
\draw[thick,dashed,->] (1,0) .. controls (1.25,0.25) and (1.75,0.75) .. (2,1);
\draw[thick,->] (2,0) .. controls (1.75,0.25) and (1.25,0.75) .. (1,1);
\node at (0.55,0.5) {$\sigma_2$};
% sigma_1^{-1}
\draw[thick,dashed,->] (1,1) .. controls (0.75,1.25) and (0.25,1.75) .. (0,2);
\draw[thick,->] (0,1) .. controls (0.25,1.25) and (0.75,1.75) .. (1,2);
\draw[gray] (2,1) -- (2,2);
\node at (1.45,1.5) {$\sigma_1^{-1}$};
% sigma_2
\draw[gray] (0,2) -- (0,3);
\draw[thick,dashed,->] (1,2) .. controls (1.25,2.25) and (1.75,2.75) .. (2,3);
\draw[thick,->] (2,2) .. controls (1.75,2.25) and (1.25,2.75) .. (1,3);
\node at (0.55,2.5) {$\sigma_2$};
% sigma_1^{-1}
\draw[thick,dashed,->] (1,3) .. controls (0.75,3.25) and (0.25,3.75) .. (0,4);
\draw[thick,->] (0,3) .. controls (0.25,3.25) and (0.75,3.75) .. (1,4);
\draw[gray] (2,3) -- (2,4);
\node at (1.45,3.5) {$\sigma_1^{-1}$};
% sigma_2
\draw[gray] (0,4) -- (0,5);
\draw[thick,dashed,->] (1,4) .. controls (1.25,4.25) and (1.75,4.75) .. (2,5);
\draw[thick,->] (2,4) .. controls (1.75,4.25) and (1.25,4.75) .. (1,5);
\node at (0.55,4.5) {$\sigma_2$};
% sigma_1^{-1}
\draw[thick,dashed,->] (1,5) .. controls (0.75,5.25) and (0.25,5.75) .. (0,6);
\draw[thick,->] (0,5) .. controls (0.25,5.25) and (0.75,5.75) .. (1,6);
\draw[gray] (2,5) -- (2,6);
\node at (1.45,5.5) {$\sigma_1^{-1}$};
\node at (0,6.25) {$1$};\node at (1,6.25) {$2$};\node at (2,6.25) {$3$};
\node at (0,-0.3) {$1$};\node at (1,-0.3) {$2$};\node at (2,-0.3) {$3$};
\node at (1,-0.75) {bottom-to-top braid; close matching labels outside};
\end{tikzpicture}
The dashed branch is the under-strand and each arrow points from bottom to top. The labels at the top and bottom agree because the braid is pure. The diagram records the word only; the proofs below use the explicit crossing sequence and group words.
Example references
Facts & Assumptions
Given: The based string link, the stated braid diagram, and its product-tube basing.
Full AC, written AC, supplies the classifying-space and nilpotent-quotient branch. The Axiom of Choice
The positive Artin generator is the positive geometric half twist in the fixed crossing convention, and its inverse reverses the over/under choice. Oriented crossing signs, diagram writhe, and blackboard framing
The based string-link longitude is the ordered product of the over-meridians encountered at its undercrossings, with exponent determined by source-to-target direction. Diagram word for a preferred peripheral longitude
The finite lower-central quotient identifies the bottom and top peripheral systems, and the Magnus coefficient defines . String-link end inclusions identify finite nilpotent peripheral quotients, Integer Milnor coefficients and closed-link residues
The diagram linking-number scan returns one half the signed mixed-crossing sum. Compute oriented linking number from a diagram, The diagram linking-number scan terminates and returns the stated integer
External input: The standard closure of the braid word is the Borromean rings. Wolfram MathWorld lists this exact word as a Borromean braid; this input identifies the closure, while the pairwise-linking and Milnor-coefficient calculations are proved below. Wolfram MathWorld, Braid Word
Verification
Given: The braid word and the input conventions in the Example.
The rightmost factor is stacked lowest, so the factors from bottom to top are . Starting from the bottom positions, the component-position sequence after successive crossings is , , , , , , . The six crossing-label pairs and signs in that order are respectively , , , , , and , as determined by the signed generators in the braid word and [F1]. Thus the closure returns each label to its own endpoint, and each component pair crosses twice with opposite signs. By [F4] each pairwise linking number is half the signed mixed-crossing sum, hence is zero.
At crossing 1, component 2 passes under component 3, so its meridian becomes . At crossing 2, component 3 passes under component 1 and contributes the longitude factor . At crossing 3, component 1 passes under component 2, so its meridian becomes . At crossing 5, component 3 passes under component 1 and contributes the factor . The other crossings do not put component 3 under. Hence .
In , , so Since , multiplication gives Under [A1], the coefficient is , so [F3] gives .
The computed longitude has zero degree-one term, as required by the chosen untwisted based peripheral system. Closing the endpoints along crossing-free arcs adds no undercrossing factor, and component 3 has self-writhe zero, so the same word is its based closed-link preferred longitude by [F2]. Every proper length-two subsequence in is a pairwise linking number, so step 1.1 makes . Thus the same coefficient gives the closed-link residue candidate .
Depends on
- The Axiom of Choice
- Based string links and labeled link peripheral systems
- Lower-central series and Magnus expansion for links
- Integer Milnor coefficients and closed-link residues
- Magnus commutator degree and finite truncation
- Diagram word for a preferred peripheral longitude
- Local meridian conjugacy at a labeled link crossing
- String-link end inclusions identify finite nilpotent peripheral quotients
- Oriented crossing signs, diagram writhe, and blackboard framing
- Compute oriented linking number from a diagram
- The diagram linking-number scan terminates and returns the stated integer
Used by
- Pairwise linking numbers do not classify labeled links Counterexample
Dependency tree · two levels
31 results within two dependency steps of this one, each drawn at its shortest distance from it. An arrow runs from a result to what uses it, so the chart reads left to right and ends at this result, which carries a heavier outline. Every node is a link to that result. Click elsewhere on the chart to enlarge it.
Sources
- John Milnor, Link Groups (standard reference, not scraped)
- Ryan Stees, Milnor’s Invariants for Knots and Links in Closed Orientable 3-Manifolds (standard reference, not scraped)
- Eric W. Weisstein, Braid Word, Wolfram MathWorld (standard reference, not scraped)