Full-degree irreducible Alexander polynomial implies a prime knot
ID: full-degree-irreducible-alexander-polynomial-implies-a-prime-knot
Assume . A nontrivial connected sum of knots has positive genus summands, and additivity of Seifert genus applies. Its Alexander polynomial of a knot is the product of the summand polynomials. If the polynomial is irreducible, one summand has unit polynomial; the other must then have polynomial breadth , exceeding twice its strictly smaller genus. This contradicts the Alexander breadth bound on Seifert genus. Irreducibility without the full-degree hypothesis alone does not imply primeness.
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