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Diagrammatic representations of 3-periodic entanglements

Geometric Topology 2025-04-04 v4 Algebraic Topology

Abstract

Diagrams enable the use of various algebraic and geometric tools for analysing and classifying knots. In this paper we introduce a new diagrammatic representation of triply periodic entangled structures (TP tangles), which are embeddings of simple curves in R3\mathbb{R}^3 that are invariant under translations along three non-coplanar axes. As such, these entanglements can be seen as preimages of links embedded in the 3-torus T3=S1×S1×S1\mathbb{T}^3 = \mathbb{S}^1 \times \mathbb{S}^1 \times \mathbb{S}^1 in its universal cover R3\mathbb{R}^3, where two non-isotopic links in T3\mathbb{T}^3 may possess the same TP tangle preimage. We consider the equivalence of TP tangles in R3\mathbb{R}^3 through the use of diagrams representing links in T3\mathbb{T}^3. These diagrams require additional moves beyond the classical Reidemeister moves, which we define and show that they preserve ambient isotopies of links in T3\mathbb{T}^3. The final definition of a tridiagram of a link in T3\mathbb{T}^3 allows us to then consider additional notions of equivalence relating non-isotopic links in T3\mathbb{T}^3 that possess the same TP tangle preimage.

Cite

@article{arxiv.2401.14254,
  title  = {Diagrammatic representations of 3-periodic entanglements},
  author = {Toky Andriamanalina and Myfanwy E. Evans and Sonia Mahmoudi},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2401.14254},
  year   = {2025}
}

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