Related papers: A lower bound on critical points of the electric p…

Symmetries of knots have been studied extensively, and strongly invertible knots are one of them. Lamm defined the equivariant crossing number $c_t(K)$, the minimum crossing number among all symmetric diagrams for a strongly invertible knot…

A knot is called minimal if its knot group admits epimorphisms onto the knot groups of only the trivial knot and itself. In this paper, we determine which two-bridge knot $\mathfrak{b}(p,q)$ is minimal where $q \leq 6$ or $p \leq 100$.

Besides mathematical interest, knots and knot theory have important applications in physics, chemistry, and biology. Stasiak and colleagues devised a constructive method for a knot "energy" using a Metropolis Monte Carlo algorithm to…

We show that if a classical knot diagram satisfies a certain combinatorial condition then it is minimal with respect to the number of classical crossings. This statement is proved by using the Kauffman bracket and the construction of atoms…

We prove a version of symmetric criticality for ropelength-critical knots. Our theorem implies that a knot or link with a symmetric representative has a ropelength-critical configuration with the same symmetry. We use this to construct new…

We prove the existence of symmetric critical torus knots for O'Hara's knot energy family $E_\alpha$, $\alpha\in (2,3)$ using Palais' classic principle of symmetric criticality. It turns out that in every torus knot class there are at least…

If the tunnel number of a link $K$ is denoted $t(K)$, a pair of knots $K_1,K_2$ is said to be subadditive if $t(K_1)+t(K_2)>t(K_1 # K_2)$. We construct new examples of subadditive links.

From the link Floer complex of a link $K$, we extract a lower bound $t_q'(K)$ for the rational unknotting number of $K$ (i.e. the minimum number of rational replacements required to unknot $K$). Moreover, we show that the torsion…

A knot theory for two-dimensional square lattice is proposed, which sheds light on design of new two-dimensional material with high topological numbers. We consider a two-band model, focusing on the Hall conductance {\sigma}xy = e^2/hbar*P,…

The ropelength of a knot is the minimum length required to tie it. Computational upper bounds have previously been computed for every prime knot with up to 11 crossings. Here, we present ropelength measurements for the 2176 knots with 12…

A physically natural potential energy for simple closed curves in $\bold R^3$ is shown to be invariant under M\"obius transformations. This leads to the rapid resolution of several open problems: round circles are precisely the absolute…

It was previously shown by the second author that every knot in $S^3$ is ambient isotopic to one component of a two-component, alternating, hyperbolic link. In this paper, we define the alternating volume of a knot $K$ to be the minimum…

For a polygonal knot K, it is shown that a tube of radius R(K), the polygonal thickness radius, is an embedded torus. Given a thick configuration K, perturbations of size r<R(K) define satellite structures, or local knotting. We explore…

We develop a word mechanism applied in knot and link diagrams for the illustration of a diagrammatic property. We also give a necessary condition for determining incompressible and pairwise incompressible surfaces, that are embedded in knot…

We present a new theory which describes the collection of all tunnels of tunnel number 1 knots in the 3-sphere (up to orientation-preserving equivalence in the sense of Heegaard splittings) using the disk complex of the genus-2 handlebody…

For a knot K, the concordance crosscap number, c(K), is the minimum crosscap number among all knots concordant to K. Building on work of G. Zhang, which studied the determinants of knots with c(K) < 2, we apply the Alexander polynomial to…

Two fundamental objects in knot theory are the minimal genus surface and the least area surface bounded by a knot in a 3-dimensional manifold. When the knot is embedded in a general 3-manifold, the problems of finding these surfaces were…

In a previous paper Kobayashi and Rieck defined the growth rate of the tunnel number of a knot $K$, a knot invariant that measures the asymptotic behavior of the tunnel number under iterated connected sum of $K$. We denote the growth rate…

We construct new knot polynomials. Let $V$ be the standard solid torus in 3-space and let $pr$ be its standard projection onto an annulus. Let $M$ be the space of all smooth oriented knots in $V$ such that the restriction of $pr$ is an…

We compute the Kauffman bracket skein module of the complement of a twist knot, finding that it is free and infinite dimensional. The basis consists of cables of a two-component link, one component of which is a meridian of the knot. The…