Related papers: A Gordian Pair of Links
This paper gives the first examples of gordian unlinks. The components of these unlinks cannot be separated while maintaining constant length and thickness. We construct infinite families of 2-component gordian unlinks and also construct…
A thick link is a link in $\mathbb{R}^3$ such that each component of the link lies at distance at least $1$ from every other component. Strengthening the notion of thickness, we define a thickly embedded link to be a thick link whose open…
We show that every non-trivial strongly quasipositive link is smoothly concordant to infinitely many pairwise non-isotopic strongly quasipositive links. In contrast to our result, Baker conjectured that smoothly concordant strongly…
Given an $m$-component link $L$ in $S^3$ ($m \ge 2$), we construct a family of links which are link homotopic, but not link isotopic, to $L$. Every proper sublink of such a link is link isotopic to the corresponding sublink of $L$.…
Physical knots and links are one-dimensional submanifolds of R^3 with fixed length and thickness. We show that isotopy classes in this category can differ from those of classical knot and link theory. In particular we exhibit a Gordian…
A gordian unlink is a finite number of unknots that are not topologically linked, each with prescribed length and thickness, and that cannot be disentangled into the trivial link by an isotopy preserving length and thickness throughout. In…
We introduce a new very large family of transformations of rectangular diagrams of links that preserve the isotopy class of the link. We provide an example when two diagrams of the same complexity are related by such a transformation and…
We construct a link in the $3$-space that is not isotopic to any PL link (non-ambiently). In fact, there exist uncountably many $I$-equivalence classes of links. The paper also includes some observations on Cochran's invariants $\beta_i$.
Constructing lattice isomorphic line arrangements that are not lattice isotopic is a complex yet fundamental task. In this paper, we focus on such pairs but which are not Galois conjugated, referred to as nonarithmetic pairs. Splitting…
We prove the existence of lattice isomorphic line arrangements having $\pi_1$-equivalent or homotopy-equivalent complements and non homeomorphic embeddings in the complex projective plane. We also provide two explicit examples, one is…
We construct infinite families of non-simple isotopy classes of links in overtwisted contact structures on $S^1$-bundles over surfaces. These examples include: (1) a pair of Legendrian links that are not Legendrian isotopic, but which are…
Let $P$ be a planar $n$-gon with the sidelengths $a_1, \ldots, a_n$ and let us denote by $L=L(P)$ the corresponding planar polygonal linkage. We are concerned with the problem of finding conditions on the sidelengths $a_i$ which guarantee…
We construct an infinite family of topologically slice 2--component boundary links $\ell_i$, none of which is smoothly concordant to a split link, such that $g_4(\ell_i)=i$.
This is a sequel to the paper \cite{MO-mw} which identified maximally writhed algebraic links in $\rp^3$ and classified them topologically. In this paper we prove that all maximally writhed links of the same topological type are rigidly…
A periodic tangle is a one-dimensional submanifold in $\mathbb{R}^3$ that has translational symmetry in one, two or three transverse directions. A periodic tangle can be seen as the universal cover of a link in the solid torus, the…
We describe a construction procedure of infinite sets of $2$-links in closed simply connected 4-manifolds that are topologically isotopic, smoothly inequivalent and componentwise topologically unknotted. These 2-links are the first examples…
To an oriented link in a solid torus we associate a trace graph in a thickened torus in such a way that links are isotopic if and only if their trace graphs can be related by moves of finitely many standard types. The key ingredient is a…
We construct an isotopy of a planar compactum that is not the restriction of an isotopy of any planar continuum.
In this article we show that in any dimension there exist infinitely many pairs of formally contact isotopic isocontact embeddings into the standard contact sphere which are not contact isotopic. This is the first example of rigidity for…
We discuss physical systems with topologies more complicated than simple gaussian linking. Our examples of these higher topologies are in non-relativistic quantum mechanics and in QCD.