Related papers: A statistical approach to knot confinement via per…
Simple closed curves in the plane can be mapped to nontrivial knots under the action of origami foldings that allow the paper to self-intersect. We show all tame knot types may be produced in this manner, motivating the development of a new…
Persistent homology probes topological properties from point clouds and functions. By looking at multiple scales simultaneously, one can record the births and deaths of topological features as the scale varies. In this paper we use a…
In this note, I describe a formalism for treating knots as geometric spaces, and make an application to a simple statistical mechanics computation. The motivation for this study is the natural visual symmetry of the knot, and I describe how…
The knots-quivers correspondence states that various characteristics of a knot are encoded in the corresponding quiver and the moduli space of its representations. However, this correspondence is not a bijection: more than one quiver may be…
We describe a new methodology for studying persistence of topological features across a family of spaces or point-cloud data sets, called zigzag persistence. Building on classical results about quiver representations, zigzag persistence…
The problem of finding robust and effective methods for locating entanglement in embedded curves is relevant to both applications and theoretical investigations. Rather than focusing on an exact determination, we introduce the knot…
We initiate the study of persistent homology of random geometric simplicial complexes. Our main interest is in maximally persistent cycles of degree-$k$ in persistent homology, for a either the \cech or the Vietoris--Rips filtration built…
Ropelength and embedding thickness are related measures of geometric complexity of classical knots and links in Euclidean space. In their recent work, Freedman and Krushkal posed a question regarding lower bounds for embedding thickness of…
A geometric entropy is defined as the Riemannian volume of the parameter space of a statistical manifold associated with a given network. As such it can be a good candidate for measuring networks complexity. Here we investigate its ability…
We report on the geometry and mechanics of knotted stiff strings. We discuss both closed and open knots. Our two main results are: (i) Their equilibrium energy as well as the equilibrium tension for open knots depend on the type of knot as…
For a topological space $X$ we study continuous maps $f : X\to \mathbb R^m$ such that images of every pairwise distinct $k$ points are affinely (linearly) independent. Such maps are called affinely (linearly) $k$-regular embeddings. We…
Through the use of examples, we explain one way in which applied topology has evolved since the birth of persistent homology in the early 2000s. The first applications of topology to data emphasized the global shape of a dataset, such as…
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…
Knots and links are fascinating and intricate topological objects. Their influence spans from DNA and molecular chemistry to vortices in superfluid helium, defects in liquid crystals and cosmic strings in the early universe. Here, we find…
We study the expected topological properties of Cech and Vietoris-Rips complexes built on i.i.d. random points in R^d. We find higher dimensional analogues of known results for connectivity and component counts for random geometric graphs.…
We show that recent results on randomized dimension reduction schemes that exploit structural properties of data can be applied in the context of persistent homology. In the spirit of compressed sensing, the dimension reduction is…
Two geometric spaces are in the same topological class if they are related by certain geometric deformations. We propose machine learning methods that automate learning of topological invariance and apply it in the context of knot theory,…
Knot theory is a study of the embedding of closed circles into three-dimensional Euclidean space, motivated the ubiquity of knots in daily life and human civilization. However, the current knot theory focuses on the topology rather than…
Consider the space of `long knots' in R^n, K_{n,1}. This is the space of knots as studied by V. Vassiliev. Based on previous work of the authors, it follows that the rational homology of K_{3,1} is free Gerstenhaber-Poisson algebra. A…
We use computer simulations to compare the dynamical behaviour of torus and even-twist knots in polymers under tension. The knots diffuse through a mechanism similar to reptation. Their friction coefficients grow linearly with average knot…