On the degeneration of tunnel numbers under connected sum

Abstract

We show that, for any integer $n\ge 3$, there is a prime knot $k$ such that (1) $k$ is not meridionally primitive, and (2) for every $m$-bridge knot $k'$ with $m\leq n$, the tunnel numbers satisfy $t(k\# k')\le t(k)$. This gives counterexamples to a conjecture of Morimoto and Moriah on tunnel number under connected sum and meridionally primitive knots.