Related papers: On the Combinatorics of Smoothing

We construct two knot invariants. The first knot invariant is a sum constructed using linking numbers. The second is an invariant of flat knots and is a formal sum of flat knots obtained by smoothing pairs of crossings. This invariant can…

The state-sum invariants for knots and knotted surfaces defined from quandle cocycles are described using the Kronecker product between cycles represented by colored knot diagrams and a cocycle of a finite quandle used to color the diagram.…

We point out the connection between mathematical knot theory and spin glass/search problem. In particular, we present a statistical mechanical formulation of the problem of computing a knot invariant; p-colorability problem, which provides…

This is a report on our ongoing research on a combinatorial approach to knot recognition, using coloring of knots by certain algebraic objects called quandles. The aim of the paper is to summarize the mathematical theory of knot coloring in…

Given any oriented link diagram, one can construct knot invariants using skein relations. Usually such a skein relation contains three or four terms. In this paper, the author introduces several new ways to smooth a crossings, and uses a…

We consider a natural model of random knotting- choose a knot diagram at random from the finite set of diagrams with n crossings. We tabulate diagrams with 10 and fewer crossings and classify the diagrams by knot type, allowing us to…

The combinatorial approach to knot theory treats knots as diagrams modulo Reidemeister moves. Many constructions of knot invariants (e.g., index polynomials, quandle colorings, etc.) use elements of diagrams such as arcs and crossings by…

We construct a new order 1 invariant for knot diagrams. We use it to determine the minimal number of Reidemeister moves needed to pass between certain pairs of knot diagrams.

Knot colorings are one of the simplest ways to distinguish knots, dating back to Reidemeister, and popularized by Fox. In this mostly expository article, we discuss knot invariants like colorability, knot determinant and number of…

We present a combinatorial method for a calculation of knot Floer homology with Z-coefficient of (1,1)-knots, and then demonstrate it for non-alternating (1,1)-knots with ten crossings and the pretzel knots of type (-2,m,n). Our…

The slicing number of a knot, $u_s(K)$, is the minimum number of crossing changes required to convert $K$ to a slice knot. This invariant is bounded above by the unknotting number and below by the slice genus $g_s(K)$. We show that for many…

We compute the involutive knot invariants for pretzel knots of the form P(-2,m,n) for m and n odd and greater than or equal to 3.

We introduce a new combinatorial method to encode knots and links with applications to knot invariants. Clasp diagrams defined in this paper are combinatorial blueprints for building knot diagrams out of full twists on two strings rather…

This manuscript introduces a new framework for the study of knots by exploring the neighborhood of knot embeddings in the space of simple open and closed curves in 3-space. The latter gives rise to a knotoid spectrum, which determines the…

This paper explores the problem of unknotting closed braids and classical knots in mathematical knot theory. We apply evolutionary computation methods to learn sequences of moves that simplify knot diagrams, and show that this can be…

The lectures review the state of affairs in modern branch of mathematical physics called probabilistic topology. In particular we consider the following problems: (i) We estimate the probability of a trivial knot formation on the lattice…

We remind the method to calculate colored Jones polynomials for the plat representations of knot diagrams from the knowledge of modular transformation (monodromies) of Virasoro conformal blocks with insertions of degenerate fields. As an…

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…

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…

The 2-twist spun trefoil is an example of a sphere that is knotted in 4-dimensional space. Here this example is shown to be distinct from the same sphere with the reversed orientation. To demonstrate this fact a state-sum invariant for…