arXiv research

Study on bending knots and energy changes in 3D space.

The Palais-Smale condition is proven for various knot energies.

Let $E_f$ be the energy of some knot $τ$ for any $f$ from certain class of functions. The problem is to find knots with extremal values of energy. We discuss the notion of the locally perturbed knot. The knot circle minimizes some energies $E_f$ and maximizes some others. So, is there any energy such that the circle ne…

We develop a regularity theory for extremal knots of scale invariant knot energies defined by J. O'hara in 1991. This class contains as a special case the Möbius energy. For the Möbius energy, due to the celebrated work of Freedman, He, and Wang, we have a relatively good understanding. Their approch is crucially based…

We establish a fundamental connection between smooth and polygonal knot energies, showing that the Minimum Distance Energy for polygons inscribed in a smooth knot converges to the Moebius Energy of the smooth knot as the polygons converge to the smooth knot. However, the polygons must converge in a ``nice'' way, and th…

The Moebius energy of a knot is an energy functional for smooth curves based on an idea of self-repelling. If a knot has a thick tubular neighborhood, we would intuitively expect the energy to be low. In this paper, we give explicit bounds for energy in terms of the ropelength of the knot, i.e. the ratio of the length …

A physically natural potential energy for simple closed curves in $\bold R^3$ is shown to be invariant under Möbius transformations. This leads to the rapid resolution of several open problems: round circles are precisely the absolute minima for energy; there is a minimum energy threshold below which knotting cannot oc…

Gradient flows for knot energies ensure long-term existence of knotted loops.

This paper has been withdrawn by the authors, as it was combined with "Conformally invariant energies of knots I" (math/0409396) to be "Conformally invariant energies of knots" which has replaced the former.

We define a new class of knot energies (known as renormalization energies) and prove that a broad class of these energies are uniquely minimized by the round circle. Most of O'Hara's knot energies belong to this class. This proves two conjectures of O'Hara and of Freedman, He, and Wang. We also find energies not minimi…

This paper details a series of experiments in searching for minimal energy configurations for knots and links using the computer program KnotPlot. The most interesting phenomena found in these experiments is the dependence of the trajectories of energy descent upon the initial geometric conditions of the knotted embedd…

Energy functional for Legendrian knots in Heisenberg group, invariant under PU(2,1).

We investigate knot-theoretic properties of geometrically defined curvature energies such as integral Menger curvature. Elementary radii-functions, such as the circumradius of three points, generate a family of knot energies guaranteeing self-avoidance and a varying degree of higher regularity of finite energy curves. …

This article serves as errata of the book "Energy of knots and conformal geometry", Series on Knots and Everything Vol. 33, World Scientific, Singapore, 304 pages, (2003). (ver. 27/05/2007)

We investigate the elastic behavior of knotted loops of springy wire. To this end we minimize the classic bending energy $E_{\text{bend}}=\intκ^2$ together with a small multiple of ropelength $\mathcal R=\text{length}/\text{thickness}$ in order to penalize selfintersection. Our main objective is to characterize elastic…

We prove the existence of symmetric critical torus knots for O'Hara's knot energy family $E_α$, $α\in (2,3)$ using Palais' classic principle of symmetric criticality. It turns out that in every torus knot class there are at least two smooth $E_α$-critical knots, which supports experimental observations using numerical …

Researchers find optimal configurations of complex knots and links.

This is a survey article on two topics. The Energy E of knots can be obtained by generalizing an electrostatic energy of charged knots in order to produce optimal knots. It turns out to be invariant under Moebius transformations. We show that it can be expressed in terms of the infinitesimal cross ratio, which is a con…

The paper calculates minimal ribbonlength for various knots.

The present chapter gives an overview on results for discrete knot energies. These discrete energies are designed to make swift numerical computations and thus open the field to computational methods. Additionally, they provide an independent, geometrically pleasing and consistent discrete model that behaves similarly …

The ropelength of a knot is the quotient of its length by its thickness. We consider a family of energy functions for knots, depending on a power p, which approach ropelength as p increases. We describe a numerically computed trefoil knot which seems to be a local minimum for ropelength; there are nearby critical point…

Stability of knots at low regularity, and symmetric critical knots for Möbius energy.

We introduce and begin the study of new knot energies defined on knot diagrams. Physically, they model the internal energy of thin metallic solid tori squeezed between two parallel planes. Thus the knots considered can perform the second and third Reidemeister moves, but not the first one. The energy functionals consid…

Investigates energy minimizers and critical points of scale-invariant tangent-point energies for knots.

Study on helix curves and their Möbius energy asymptotics.

Symmetric elastic knots are found for certain classes with dihedral symmetry.

O'Hara introduced several functionals as knot energies. One of them is the Möbius energy. We know its Möbius invariance from Doyle-Schramm's cosine formula. It is also known that the Möbius energy was decomposed into three components keeping the Möbius invariance. The first component of decomposition represents the ext…

We prove the analyticity of smooth critical points for O'Hara's knot energies $\mathcal{E}^{α,p}$, with $p=1$ and $2<α< 3$, subject to a fixed length constraint. This implies, together with the main result in \cite{BR13}, that bounded energy critical points of $\mathcal{E}^{α,1}$ subject to a fixed length constraint ar…

We generalize the notion of integral Menger curvature introduced by Gonzalez and Maddocks by decoupling the powers in the integrand. This leads to a new two-parameter family of knot energies $intM^{p,q}$. We classify finite-energy curves in terms of Sobolev-Slobodeckij spaces. Moreover, restricting to the range of para…

Kirchhoff energy is a classical functional on the space of arclength-parameterized framed curves whose critical points approximate configurations of springy elastic rods. We introduce a generalized functional on the space of framed curves of arbitrary parameterization, which model rods with axial stretch or cross-secti…

A new type of knot energy is presented via real life experiments involving a thin resilient metallic tube. Knotted in different ways, the device mechanically acquires a uniquely determined (up to isometry) normal form at least when the original knot diagram has a small number of crossings, thus outperforming the famous…

We give a condition for a function to produce a Möbius invariant weighted inner product on the tangent space of the space of knots, and show that some kind of Möbius invariant knot energies can produce Möbius invariant and parametrization invariant weighted inner products. They would give a natural way to study the evo…

Conformally invariant functionals on the space of knots are introduced via extrinsic conformal geometry of the knot and integral geometry on the space of spheres. Our functionals are expressed in terms of a complex-valued 2-form which can be considered as the cross-ratio of a pair of infinitesimal segments of the knot.…

In this article we study the regularity of stationary points of the knot energies $E^α$ introduced by O'Hara in the range $α\in (2,3)$. In a first step we prove that $E^α$ is $C^1$ on the set of all regular embedded closed curves belonging to $H^{(α+1)/2,2}$ and calculate its derivative. After that we use the structure…

We study a 1-form which can be given by a vector in a conformally invariant way. We then study conformally invariant functionals associated to a ``Y-diagram'' on the space of knots which are made from the 1-form.

Given a closed submanifold, or a compact regular domain, in euclidean space, we consider the Riesz energy defined as the double integral of some power of the distance between pairs of points. When this integral diverges, we compare two different regularization techniques (Hadamard's finite part and analytic continuatio…

In this thesis, we consider the knot energy "integral Menger curvature" which is the triple integral over the inverse of the classic circumradius of three distinct points on the given knot to the power $p\in [2,\infty)$. We prove the existence of the first variation for a subset of a certain fractional Sobolev space if…

We investigate a discrete version of the Möbius energy, that is of geometric interest in its own right and is defined on equilateral polygons with $n$ segments. We show that the $Γ$-limit regarding $L^{q}$ or $W^{1,q}$ convergence, $q\in [1,\infty]$ of these energies as $n\to\infty$ is the smooth Möbius energy. This re…

We examine on the static and dynamical properties of quantum knots in a Bose-Einstein condensate. In particular, we consider the Gross-Pitaevskii model and revise a technique to construct ab initio the condensate wave-function of a generic torus knot. After analysing its excitation energy, we study its dynamics relatin…

Researchers establish bounds and continuity of decomposed Möbius energies using cosine formula.

The Möbius energy, defined by O'Hara, is one of the knot energies, and named after the Möbius invariant property which was shown by Freedman-He-Wang. The energy can be decomposed into three parts, each of which is Möbius invariant, proved by Ishizeki-Nagasawa. Several discrete versions of Möbius energy, that is, corres…

In this article we introduce and investigate a new two-parameter family of knot energies $TP^{(p,q)}$ that contains the tangent-point energies. These energies are obtained by decoupling the exponents in the numerator and denominator of the integrand in the original definition of the tangent-point energies. We will firs…

The paper studies Möbius energy gradient of helix pairs and finds limiting behavior as coiling ratio increases.

We formulate large $N$ duality of $\mathrm{U}(N)$ refined Chern-Simons theory with a torus knot/link in $S^3$. By studying refined BPS states in M-theory, we provide the explicit form of low-energy effective actions of Type IIA string theory with D4-branes on the $Ω$-background. This form enables us to relate refined C…

The energy minimization problem associated to uniform, isotropic, linearly elastic rods leads to a geometric variational problem for the rod centerline, whose solutions include closed, knotted curves. We give a complete description of the space of closed and quasiperiodic solutions. The quasiperiodic curves are paramet…

We introduce and illustrate a new approach to the unknotting problem via the dynamics of vortex strings in a nonlinear partial differential equation of reaction-diffusion type. To untangle a given knot, a Biot-Savart construction is used to initialize the knot as a vortex string in the FitzHugh-Nagumo equation. Remarka…

We investigate the relationship between a discrete version of thickness and its smooth counterpart. These discrete energies are defined on equilateral polygons with $n$ vertices. It will turn out that the smooth ropelength, which is the scale invariant quotient of length divided by thickness, is the $Γ$-limit of the di…

New energy model avoids self-intersections in curve optimization.