Related papers: A fast branching algorithm for unknot recognition …
Random braids that are formed by multiplying randomly chosen permutation braids are studied by analyzing their behavior under Garside's weighted decomposition and cycling. Using this analysis, we propose a polynomial-time algorithm to the…
We study knots in $\mathbb{S}^3$ obtained by the intersection of a minimal surface in $\mathbb{R}^4$ with a small 3-sphere centered at a branch point. We construct examples of new minimal knots. In particular we show the existence of…
The first algorithm for sampling the space of thick equilateral knots, as a function of thickness, will be described. This algorithm is based on previous algorithms of applying random reflections. To prove the existence of the algorithm, we…
We present experimental results approximating the Jones polynomial using 4 qubits in a liquid state nuclear magnetic resonance quantum information processor. This is the first experimental implementation of a complete problem for the…
The group of a nontrivial knot admits a finite permutation representation such that the corresponding twisted Alexander polynomial is not a unit.
We present the first truly subcubic, combinatorial algorithm for detecting an induced $4$-cycle in a graph. The running time is $O(n^{2.84})$ on $n$-node graphs, thus separating the task of detecting induced $4$-cycles from detecting…
We show that the problem of deciding whether a knot in a fixed closed orientable 3-dimensional manifold bounds a surface of genus at most $g$ is in co-NP. This answers a question of Agol, Hass, and Thurston in 2002. Previously, this was…
The presence of slipknots in configurations of proteins and DNA has been shown to affect their functionality, or alter it entirely. Historically, polymers are modeled as polygonal chains in space. As an alternative to space curves, we…
In this paper, we study knot diagrams for which the underlying graph has treewidth two. We give a linear time algorithm for the following problem: given a knot diagram of treewidth two, does it represent the unknot? We also show that for a…
Every element in the first cohomology group of a 3--manifold is dual to embedded surfaces. The Thurston norm measures the minimal `complexity' of such surfaces. For instance the Thurston norm of a knot complement determines the genus of the…
We have developed a reinforcement learning agent that often finds a minimal sequence of unknotting crossing changes for a knot diagram with up to 200 crossings, hence giving an upper bound on the unknotting number. We have used this to…
Inferring probabilistic networks from data is a notoriously difficult task. Under various goodness-of-fit measures, finding an optimal network is NP-hard, even if restricted to polytrees of bounded in-degree. Polynomial-time algorithms are…
In this note we give concise formulas, which lead to a simple and fast computer program that computes a powerful knot invariant. This invariant $\rho_1$ is not new, yet our formulas are by far the simplest and fastest: given a knot we write…
We consider the problem of structured tensor denoising in the presence of unknown permutations. Such data problems arise commonly in recommendation system, neuroimaging, community detection, and multiway comparison applications. Here, we…
This paper contains linear systems of equations which can distinguish knots without knot invariants. Let $M_n$ be the topological moduli space of all n-component string links and such that a fixed projection into the plane is an immersion.…
We present the asymptotically fastest known algorithms for some basic problems on univariate polynomial matrices: rank, nullspace, determinant, generic inverse, reduced form. We show that they essentially can be reduced to two computer…
We present efficient algorithms for detecting central and mirror symmetry for the case of algebraic curves defined by means of polynomial parametrizations. The algorithms are based on the existence of a linear relationship between two…
Introducing a way to modify knots using $n$-trivial rational tangles, we show that knots with given values of Vassiliev invariants of bounded degree can have arbitrary unknotting number (extending a recent result of Ohyama, Taniyama and…
This paper, to be regularly updated, lists those prime knots with the fewest possible number of crossings for which values of basic knot invariants, such as the unknotting number or the smooth 4-genus, are unknown. This list is being…
Plotting solution sets for particular equations may be complicated by the existence of turning points. Here we describe an algorithm which not only overcomes such problematic points, but does so in the most general of settings. Applications…