Related papers: On sphere-filling ropes
We consider here the $3$-sphere $\mathbf S^3$ seen as the boundary at infinity of the complex hyperbolic plane $\mathbf{H}^2_{\mathbf C}$. It comes equipped with a contact structure and two classes of special curves. First $\mathbf…
Streamlines, vortex lines and magnetic flux tubes in turbulent fluids and plasmas display a great amount of coiling, twisting and linking, raising the question as to whether their topological complexity (continually created and destroyed by…
For each integer n, an n-folding curve is obtained by folding n times a strip of paper in two, possibly up or down, and unfolding it with right angles. Generalizing the usual notion of infinite folding curve, we define complete folding…
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…
We develop a systematic method for computing the angle combinations at all vertices in an edge-to-edge tiling of the sphere by pentagons with the same five angles. The method is a useful and necessary step in many tiling problems about…
An arrangement of pseudocircles is a finite set of oriented closed Jordan curves each two of which cross each other in exactly two points. To describe the combinatorial structure of arrangements on closed orientable surfaces, in (Linhart,…
Hard sphere systems are often used to model simple fluids. The configuration spaces of hard spheres in a three-dimensional torus modulo various symmetry groups are comparatively simple, and could provide valuable information about the…
A family of spherical caps of the 2-dimensional unit sphere $\mathbb{S}^2$ is called a totally separable packing in short, a TS-packing if any two spherical caps can be separated by a great circle which is disjoint from the interior of each…
In this paper we study the geometry of metric spheres in the curve complex of a surface, with the goal of determining the "average" distance between points on a given sphere. Averaging is not technically possible because metric spheres in…
We study the problem of sweeping a pseudoline arrangement with $n$ $x$-monotone curves with a rope (an $x$-monotone curve that connects the points at infinity). The rope can move by flipping over a face of the arrangement, replacing parts…
In this paper the number of ways to glue a surface of genus $g$ has been investigated. We've proven formulas for the number of gluings sphere from three polygons and from two bicolored polygons. Moreover, we've given a new proofs on the…
We consider the problem of a sphere rolling of a curved surface and solve it by mapping it to the precession of a spin 1/2 in a magnetic field of variable magnitude and direction. The mapping can be of pedagogical use in discussing both…
Using graph-theoretic methods we give a new proof that for all sufficiently large $n$, there exist sphere packings in $\R^n$ of density at least $cn2^{-n}$, exceeding the classical Minkowski bound by a factor linear in $n$. This matches up…
We prove explicit bounds on the number of lattice points on or near a convex curve in terms of geometric invariants such as length, curvature, and affine arclength. In several of our results we obtain the best possible constants. Our…
One cannot pull an open, curved string along itself. This fact is clearly reflected in the unwrapping motion of a string or chain as it is dragged around an object, and implies strong consequences for slender structures in passive…
We examine packing of $n$ congruent spheres in a cube when $n$ is close but less than the number of spheres in a regular cubic close-packed (ccp) arrangement of $\lceil p^{3}/2\rceil$ spheres. For this family of packings, the previous…
The topological (resp. geodesic) complexity of a topological (resp. metric) space is roughly the smallest number of continuous rules required to choose paths (resp. shortest paths) between any points of the space. We prove that the geodesic…
A sandpile is a cellular automaton on a graph that evolves by the following toppling rule: if the number of grains at a vertex is at least its valency, then this vertex sends one grain to each of its neighbors. In the study of pattern…
The interplay between the topological and geometrical properties of a polymer ring can be clarified by establishing the entanglement trapped in any portion (arc) of the ring. The task requires to close the open arcs into a ring, and the…
The sphere packing problem is an old puzzle. We consider packings with m spheres in the unit cell (m-periodic packings). For the case m = 1 (lattice packings), Voronoi proved there are finitely many inequivalent local optima and presented…