Topological and physical knot theory are distinct
Geometric Topology
2016-01-20 v1 Differential Geometry
Abstract
Physical knots and links are one-dimensional submanifolds of R^3 with fixed length and thickness. We show that isotopy classes in this category can differ from those of classical knot and link theory. In particular we exhibit a Gordian Split Link, a two component link that is split in the classical theory but cannot be split with a physical isotopy.
Cite
@article{arxiv.1203.4019,
title = {Topological and physical knot theory are distinct},
author = {Alexander Coward and Joel Hass},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1203.4019},
year = {2016}
}
Comments
8 page, 6 figures