A geometric foundation of virtual knot theory

Virtual knots are defined diagrammatically as a collection of figures, called virtual knot diagrams, that are considered equivalent up to finite sequences of extended Reidemeister moves. By contrast, knots in $\mathbb{R}^3$ can be defined geometrically. They are the points of a space $\mathbb{K}$ of knots. The knot space has a topology so that equivalent knots lie in the same path component. The aim of this paper is to use sheaf theory to obtain a fully geometric model for virtual knots. The geometric model formalizes the intuitive notion that a virtual knot is an actual knot residing in a variable ambient space; the usual diagrammatic theory follows as in the classical case. To do this, it is shown that there exists a site $(\textbf{VK}, J_{\textbf{VK}})$ so that its category $\text{Sh}(\textbf{VK},J_{\textbf{VK}})$ of sheaves can be naturally interpreted as the ``space of virtual knots''. A point of this Grothendieck topos, that is a geometric morphism $\textbf{Sets} \to \text{Sh}(\textbf{VK})$, is a virtual knot. The virtual isotopy relation is generated by paths in this space, or more precisely, geometric morphisms $\text{Sh}([0,1]) \to \text{Sh}(\textbf{VK},J_{\textbf{VK}})$. Virtual knot invariants valued in a discrete topological space $\mathbb{G}$ are geometric morphisms $\text{Sh}(\textbf{VK},J_{\textbf{VK}}) \to \text{Sh}(\mathbb{G})$, just as classical knot invariants valued in $\mathbb{G}$ are continuous functions $\mathbb{K} \to \mathbb{G}$. The embedding of classical knots into virtual knots is also realized as a geometric morphism.