SELF Ck-MOVE, QUASI SELF Ck-MOVE AND THE CONWAY POTENTIAL FUNCTION FOR LINKS.

Nakanishi and Shibuya gave a relation between link homotopy and quasi self delta-equivalence. And they also gave a necessary condition for two links to be self delta-equivalent by using the multivariable Alexander polynomial. Link homotopy and quasi self delta-equivalence are also called self C1-equivalence and quasi self C2-equivalence respectively. In this paper, we generalize their results. In Sec. 1, we give a relation between self Ck-equivalence and quasi self Ck+1-equivalence. In Secs. 2 and 3, we give necessary conditions for two links to be self Ck-equivalent by using the multivariable Conway potential function and the Conway polynomial respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]