Related papers: On the groundstate energy of tight knots
The Moebius energy of a knot is an energy functional for smooth curves based on an idea of self-repelling. If a knot has a thick tubular neighborhood, we would intuitively expect the energy to be low. In this paper, we give explicit bounds…
We establish a fundamental connection between smooth and polygonal knot energies, showing that the Minimum Distance Energy for polygons inscribed in a smooth knot converges to the Moebius Energy of the smooth knot as the polygons converge…
We introduce and begin the study of new knot energies defined on knot diagrams. Physically, they model the internal energy of thin metallic solid tori squeezed between two parallel planes. Thus the knots considered can perform the second…
New results on the kinetic energy of ideal vortex filaments in the shape of torus knots and unknots are presented. These knots are given by small-amplitude torus knot solutions (Ricca, 1993) to the Localized Induction Approximation (LIA)…
Physical knot theory, where knots are treated like physical objects, is important to many fields. One natural problem is to give a knot a uniform charge, and analyze the resulting electric field and electric potential. There have been some…
A physical interpretation of the rope simulated by the SONO algorithm is presented. Properties of the tight polygonal knots delivered by the algorithm are analyzed. An algorithm for bounding the ropelength of a smooth inscribed knot is…
We investigate knot-theoretic properties of geometrically defined curvature energies such as integral Menger curvature. Elementary radii-functions, such as the circumradius of three points, generate a family of knot energies guaranteeing…
The most tight conformations of prime knots are found with the use of the SONO algorithm. Their curvature and torsion profiles are calculated. Symmetry of the knots is analysed. Connections with the physics of polymers are discussed.
The mechanical properties of polymer knots under stretching in a bad or good solvent are investigated by applying a given force $F$ to a point of the knot while keeping another point fixed. The Monte Carlo sampling of the polymer…
The ropelength of a knot is the minimum contour length of a tube of unit radius that traces out the knot in three dimensional space without self-overlap, colloquially the minimum amount of rope needed to tie a given knot. Theoretical upper…
We study simple, knotted and linked torus windings that are made of tubes of finite thickness. Knots which have the shortest rope length are often denoted ideal structures. Conventionally, the ideal structure are found by rope shortening…
The ropelength of a knot is the quotient of its length by its thickness. We consider a family of energy functions for knots, depending on a power p, which approach ropelength as p increases. We describe a numerically computed trefoil knot…
Knot theory provides a powerful tool for the understanding of topological matters in biology, chemistry, and physics. Here knot theory is introduced to describe topological phases in the quantum spin system. Exactly solvable models with…
The dynamical symmetries of hot and electrically neutral plasmas in a highly conducting medium suggest that, after the epoch of the electron-positron annihilation, magnetohydrodynamical configurations carrying a net magnetic helicity can be…
Probably the most natural energy functional to be considered for knotted strings is the one given by the electrostatic repulsion. In the absence of counter-charges, a charged, knotted string evolving along the energy gradient of…
This is a survey article on two topics. The Energy E of knots can be obtained by generalizing an electrostatic energy of charged knots in order to produce optimal knots. It turns out to be invariant under Moebius transformations. We show…
Let $E_f$ be the energy of some knot $\tau$ for any $f$ from certain class of functions. The problem is to find knots with extremal values of energy. We discuss the notion of the locally perturbed knot. The knot circle minimizes some…
We report on the geometry and mechanics of knotted stiff strings. We discuss both closed and open knots. Our two main results are: (i) Their equilibrium energy as well as the equilibrium tension for open knots depend on the type of knot as…
This paper details a series of experiments in searching for minimal energy configurations for knots and links using the computer program KnotPlot. The most interesting phenomena found in these experiments is the dependence of the…
Knot and link energies can be computed from sets of closed curves in three dimensional space, and each type of knot or link has a minimum energy associated with it. Here, we consider embeddings of links that locally or globally minimize the…