Homotopically equivalent simple loops on 2-bridge spheres in 2-bridge link complements (III)

Abstract

This is the last of a series of papers which give a necessary and sufficient condition for two essential simple loops on a 2-bridge sphere in a 2-bridge link complement to be homotopic in the link complement. The first paper of the series treated the case of the 2-bridge torus links, and the second paper treated the case of 2-bridge links of slope $$n/(2n+1)$$ and $$(n+1)/(3n+2)$$ , where $$n \ge 2$$ is an arbitrary integer. In this paper, we first treat the case of 2-bridge links of slope $$n/(mn+1)$$ and $$(n+1)/((m+1)n+m)$$ , where $$m \ge 3$$ is an arbitrary integer, and then treat the remaining cases by induction.