Surgery untying of coloured knots

Abstract

For p=3 and for p=5 we prove that there are exactly p equivalence classes of p-coloured knots modulo (+/-1)--framed surgeries along unknots in the kernel of a p-colouring. These equivalence classes are represented by connect-sums of n left-hand (p,2)-torus knots with a given colouring when n=1,2,...,p. This gives a 3-colour and a 5-colour analogue of the surgery presentation of a knot.