Related papers: Thin Gordian Unlinks
We prove the existence of families of distinct isotopy classes of physical unknots through the key concept of parametrised thickness. These unknots have prescribed length, tube thickness, a uniform bound on curvature, and cannot be…
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…
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…
Numerical simulations indicate that there exist conformations of the unknot, tied on a finite piece of rope, entangled in such a manner, that they cannot be disentangled to the torus conformation without cutting the rope. The simplest…
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…
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…
We define the notion of a knot type having Legendrian large cables and show that having this property implies that the knot type is not uniformly thick. Moreover, there are solid tori in this knot type that do not thicken to a solid torus…
We give a classification of Legendrian torus links. Along the way, we give the first classification of infinite families of Legendrian links where some smooth symmetries of the link cannot be realized by Legendrian isotopies. We also give…
In this paper, we study Legendrian realizations of cable links of knot types that are uniformly thick but not Legendrian simple, extending prior work of Dalton, the second author, and Traynor. This leads to new phenomena, such as stabilized…
We develop a topological model of knots and links arising from a single (or multiple processive) round(s) of recombination starting with an unknot, unlink, or (2,m)-torus knot or link substrate. We show that all knotted or linked products…
The ropelength of a knot is the quotient of its length and its thickness, the radius of the largest embedded normal tube around the knot. We prove existence and regularity for ropelength minimizers in any knot or link type; these are…
The ropelength of a knot or link is the minimal number of inches of 1-inch-thick rope that it takes to tie it. The relationship of this measurement to knot and link invariants has been studied by various authors. We give the first results…
A {\it stuck knot} is a knot diagram containing designated crossings, called {\it stuck crossings}, whose incident strands are required to remain locally non-separable. These rigidity constraints restrict the allowable ambient isotopies and…
The ropelength of a knot is the minimum contour length of a tube of unit radius that traces out the knot in three dimensional space without self-overlap, colloquially the minimum amount of rope needed to tie a given knot. Theoretical upper…
A knot K is called Gordian adjacent to a knot L if there exists an unknotting sequence for L containing K. We provide a sufficient condition for Gordian adjacency of torus knots via the study of knots in the thickened torus. We also…
What length of rope (of given diameter) is required to tie a particular knot? To answer this question, we define some new notions of thickness for a space curve, one based on Gromov's distortion, and another generalizing the thickness of…
We present a systematic classification of uncolored bonded knots with singularity number at most seven. Bonded knots provide a topological model for closed protein chains with intramolecular bridges, such as disulfide bonds. Following the…
In this paper, we study a geometric/topological measure of knots and links called the nullification number. The nullification of knots/links is believed to be biologically relevant. For example, in DNA topology, one can intuitively regard…
A knot is an an embedding of a circle into three-dimensional space. We say that a knot is unknotted if there is an ambient isotopy of the embedding to a standard circle. By representing knots via planar diagrams, we discuss the problem of…
A knotted ribbon is one of physical aspect of a knot. A folded ribbon knot is a depiction of a knot obtained by folding a long and thin rectangular strip to become flat. The ribbonlength of a knot type can be defined as the minimum length…