Related papers: Topological and physical knot theory are distinct

The statistical mechanics of a long knotted collapsed polymer is determined by a free-energy with a knot-dependent subleading term, which is linked to the length of the shortest polymer that can hold such knot. The only other parameter…

This paper is expository and is accessible to students. We define simple invariants of knots or links (linking number, Arf-Casson invariants and Alexander-Conway polynomials) motivated by interesting results whose statements are accessible…

Starting from a divide, i.e. a generic immersion of finitely many copies of the interval [0,1] in the disk, we construct a classical link in the 3-sphere. We prove that the link's complement fibers over the circle, if the divide is…

We consider the problem of deciding whether a polygonal knot in 3-dimensional Euclidean space is unknotted, capable of being continuously deformed without self-intersection so that it lies in a plane. We show that this problem, {\sc…

In this paper we study the topology of three different kinds of spaces associated to polynomial knots of degree at most $d$, for $d\geq2$. We denote these spaces by $\mathcal{O}_d$, $\mathcal{P}_d$ and $\mathcal{Q}_d$. For $d\geq3$, we show…

The aim of this paper is to realise the techniques of picture-valued invariants and invariants valued in free groups for long knots in the full torus. Such knots and links are of a particular interest because of their relation to Legendrian…

Virtual knot theory, introduced by Kauffman, is a generalization of classical knot theory of interest because its finite-type invariant theory is potentially a topological interpretation of Etingof and Kazhdan's theory of quantization of…

We give a simple obstruction for a knot to be amphichiral, in terms of the homology of the 2-fold branched cover. We work with unoriented knots, and so obstruct both positive and negative amphichirality.

We classify nonnegatively curved simply connected 4-manifolds with circle symmetry up to equivariant diffeomorphisms. The main problem is rule out knotted curves in the singular set of the orbit space. As an extension of this work we…

In this paper, we prove than given two cubic knots $K_1$, $K_2$ in $\mathbb{R}^3$, they are isotopic if and only if one can pass from one to the other by a finite sequence of cubulated moves. These moves are analogous to the Reidemeister…

We show that in a prime, closed, oriented 3-manifold M, equivalent knots are isotopic if and only if the orientation preserving mapping class group is trivial. In the case of irreducible, closed, oriented $3$-manifolds we show the more…

A knot is a circle piecewise-linearly embedded into the 3-sphere. The topology of a knot is intimately related to that of its exterior, which is the complement of an open regular neighborhood of the knot. Knots are typically encoded by…

Knot theory is actively studied both by physicists and mathematicians as it provides a connecting centerpiece for many physical and mathematical theories. One of the challenging problems in knot theory is distinguishing mutant knots. Mutant…

The classical knot groups are the fundamental groups of the complements of smooth or piecewise-linear (PL) locally-flat knots. For PL knots that are not locally-flat, there is a pair of interesting groups to study: the fundamental group of…

Virtual knot theory is a generalization of knot theory which is based on Gauss chord diagrams and link diagrams on closed oriented surfaces. A twisted knot is a generalization of a virtual knot, which corresponds to a link diagram on a…

Some of the basic concepts of topology are explored through known physics problems. This helps us in two ways, one, in motivating the definitions and the concepts, and two, in showing that topological analysis leads to a clearer…

It is well-known that no knot can be cancelled in a connected sum with another knot, whereas every link can be cancelled up to link homotopy in a (componentwise) connected sum with another link. In this paper we address the question whether…

We present two models for the space of knots which have endpoints at fixed boundary points in a manifold with boundary, one model defined as an inverse limit of spaces of maps between configuration spaces and another which is cosimplicial.…

A singular knot is an immersed circle in $\mathbb R^{3}$ with finitely many transverse double points. The study of singular knots was initially motivated by the study of Vassiliev invariants. Namely, singular knots give rise to a decreasing…

In the early 1980's Mike Freedman showed that all knots with trivial Alexander polynomial are topologically slice (with fundamental group Z). This paper contains the first new examples of topologically slice knots. In fact, we give a…