Related papers: Ball packings for links
We adapt a construction of Klee (1981) to find a packing of unit balls in $\ell_p$ ($1\leq p<\infty$) which is efficient in the sense that enlarging the radius of each ball to any $R>2^{1-1/p}$ covers the whole space. We show that the value…
A (continuous) necklace is simply an interval of the real line colored measurably with some number of colors. A well-known application of the Borsuk-Ulam theorem asserts that every $k$-colored necklace can be fairly split by at most $k$…
Given a thin strip of paper, tie a knot, connect the ends, and flatten into the plane. This is a physical model of a folded ribbon knot in the plane, first introduced by Louis Kauffman. We study the folded ribbonlength of these folded…
Given a graph $G$ and a positive integer $R$ we address the following combinatorial search theoretic problem: What is the minimum number of queries of the form "does an unknown vertex $v \in V(G)$ belong to the ball of radius $r$ around…
In graph theory, the objective of the k-centre problem is to find a set of $k$ vertices for which the largest distance of any vertex to its closest vertex in the $k$-set is minimised. In this paper, we introduce the $k$-centre problem for…
Let T be a triangulation of S^3 containing a link L in its 1-skeleton. We give an explicit lower bound for the number of tetrahedra of T in terms of the bridge number of L. Our proof is based on the theory of almost normal surfaces.
Let $\mbox{Len}(K)$ be the minimum length of a knot on the cubic lattice (namely the minimum length necessary to construct the knot in the cubic lattice). This paper provides upper bounds for $\mbox{Len}(K)$ of a nontrivial knot $K$ in…
The twisting number of a ribbon knot $K$ is the minimal number of tangle replacements on the symmetry axis of $J \# -J$ for any knot $J$ that is required to produce a symmetric union diagram of $K$. We prove that the twisting number is…
Let $M$ be a connected, closed, oriented three-manifold and $K$, $L$ two rationally null-homologous oriented simple closed curves in $M$. We give an explicit algorithm for computing the linking number between $K$ and $L$ in terms of a…
We develop and deploy a set of constraints for the purpose of calculating minimal sizes of lottery designs. Specifically, we find the minimum number of tickets of size six which are needed to match at least two balls on any draw of size…
The well-known "splitting necklace theorem" of Noga Alon says that each "necklace" having beads of n different colors can be fairly divided between k "thieves" by at most n(k-1) cuts. We demonstrate that Alon's result is a special case of a…
We define a metric on $\mathbb{F}_q^n$ using the linear complexity of finite sequences. We will then develop a coding theory for this metric. We will give a Singleton-like bound and we will give constructions of subspaces of…
It has been conjectured that the algebraic crossing number of a link is uniquely determined in minimal braid representation. This conjecture is true for many classes of knots and links. The Morton-Franks-Williams inequality gives a lower…
We generalize the classical notion of packing a set by balls with identical radii to the case where the radii may be different. The largest number of such balls that fit inside the set without overlapping is called its {\em non-uniform…
The transient number of a knot K, denoted tr(K), is the minimal number of simple arcs that have to be attached to K, in order that K can be homotoped to a trivial knot in a regular neighborhood of the union of K and the arcs. We give a…
Knots are commonly found in molecular chains such as DNA and proteins, and they have been considered to be useful models for structural analysis of these molecules. One interested quantity is the minimum number of monomers necessary to…
In an earlier note [arXiv:2301.00295] it was shown that there is an upper bound to the number of disjoint Hopf links (and certain related links) that can be embedded in the unit cube where there is a fixed separation required between the…
Traditionally, knot theorists have considered projections of knots where there are two strands meeting at every crossing. A multi-crossing is a crossing where more than two strands meet at a single point, such that each strand bisects the…
In this note we prove that for any compact subset $S$ of a Busemann surface $({\mathcal S},d)$ (in particular, for any simple polygon with geodesic metric) and any positive number $\delta$, the minimum number of closed balls of radius…
In this paper we describe the intersection between the balls of maximal symplectic packings of $\P^2$. This analysis shows the existence of singular points for maximal packings of $\P^2$ by more than three equal balls. It also yields a…