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25.0%50.0%75.0%100.0% · Feb 199419922001200920172026
48 results for unknotting problem

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 unknotting a knot diagram when we know that it is unknotted. This problem is surp…

2010-06-21abs ↗pdf ↗

Determining unknotting numbers is a large and widely studied problem. We consider the more general question of the unknotting number of a spatial graph. We show the unknotting number of spatial graphs is subadditive. Let gg be an embedding of a planar graph GG, then we show u(g)max{u(s)u(g) \geq \max\{u(s) | ss is a non-overl…

2017-10-14abs ↗pdf ↗

We resolve parts (A) and (B) of Problem 1.100 from Kirby's list by showing that many nontrivial links arise as cross-sections of unknotted holomorphic disks in the four-ball. The techniques can be used to produce unknotted ribbon surfaces with prescribed cross-sections, including unknotted Lagrangian disks with nontriv…

2018-01-16abs ↗pdf ↗

The UNKNOT problem solved using natural language processing and machine learning.

problem Determining if a knot is the unknot.
method Braid word representation, binary classification, Reformer and shared-QK Transformer networks, reinforcement learning, Markov moves, braid relations.
result Reformer and shared-QK Transformer networks outperform fully-connected networks in predicting the unknot.

Unknot recognition is one of the fundamental questions in low dimensional topology. In this work, we show that this problem can be encoded as a validity problem in the existential fragment of the first-order theory of real closed fields. This encoding is derived using a well-known result on SU(2) representations of kno…

2018-02-27abs ↗pdf ↗

We consider the problem of deciding whether a polygonal knot in 3-dimensional Euclidean space is unknotted, capable of being continuously deformed without self-intersection so that it lies in a plane. We show that this problem, {\sc unknotting problem} is in {\bf NP}. We also consider the problem, {\sc unknotting probl…

1998-07-03abs ↗pdf ↗

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…

2016-04-15abs ↗pdf ↗

We provide a partial classification of the 3-strand pretzel knots K=P(p,q,r)K = P(p,q,r) with unknotting number one. Following the classification by Kobayashi and Scharlemann-Thompson for all parameters odd, we treat the remaining families with rr even. We discover that there are only four possible subfamilies which may satis…

2011-09-21abs ↗pdf ↗

We prove that if an alternating knot has unknotting number one, then there exists an unknotting crossing in any alternating diagram. This is done by showing that the obstruction to unknotting number one developed by Greene in his work on alternating 3-braid knots is sufficient to identify all unknotting number one alte…

2013-12-04abs ↗pdf ↗

We determine a wide class of knots, which includes unknotting number one knots, within which Khovanov homology detects the unknot. A corollary is that the Khovanov homology of many satellite knots, including the Whitehead double, detects the unknot.

2008-05-28abs ↗pdf ↗

RL pipeline simplifies knot diagrams, including very hard unknots.

problem Simplifying complex knot diagrams, especially very hard unknots.
method Reinforcement learning for move proposals and heuristic navigation of Reidemeister moves.
result Trained agent simplifies diagrams, including a 41#9104_1\#9_{10} link to a three-step unknotting process.

This paper concerns the H(2)-unknotting numbers of links related to 2-bridge links. It consists of three parts. In the first part, we consider a necessary and sufficient condition for a 2-bridge link to have H(2)-unknotting number one. The second part concerns an explicit form of composite links with H(2)-unknotting nu…

2011-04-22abs ↗pdf ↗

The virtual unknotting number of a virtual knot is the minimal number of crossing changes that makes the virtual knot to be the unknot, which is defined only for virtual knots virtually homotopic to the unknot. We focus on the virtual knot obtained from the standard (p,q)-torus knot diagram by replacing all crossings o…

2017-01-15abs ↗pdf ↗

We explore the application of automated reasoning techniques to unknot detection, a classical problem of computational topology. We adopt a two-pronged experimental approach, using a theorem prover to try to establish a positive result (i.e. that a knot is the unknot), whilst simultaneously using a model finder to try …

2014-05-16abs ↗pdf ↗

The unknotting number is the classical invariant of a knot. However, its determination is difficult in general. To obtain the unknotting number from definition one has to investigate all possible diagrams of the knot. We tried to show the unknotting number can be obtained from any one diagram of the knot. To do this we…

2013-03-28abs ↗pdf ↗

The unknotting number of a knot is bounded from below by its slice genus. It is a well-known fact that the genera and unknotting numbers of torus knots coincide. In this note we characterize quasipositive knots for which the genus bound is sharp: the slice genus of a quasipositive knot equals its unknotting number, if …

2008-09-01abs ↗pdf ↗

Every knot can be unknotted with two generalized twists; this was first proved by Ohyama. Here we prove that any knot of genus g can be unknotted with 2g null-homologous twists and that there exist genus g knots that cannot be unknotted with fewer than 2g null-homologous twists.

2019-02-14abs ↗pdf ↗

Spatial embeddings of planar graphs can have higher unknotting numbers than crossing numbers.

problem Understanding the relationship between unknotting numbers and crossing numbers of spatial embeddings of planar graphs.
method Analyzing specific examples of planar graphs and their spatial embeddings to find counterexamples.
result There exist planar graphs and their spatial embeddings where the unknotting number is greater than half the crossing number.

This paper explores the problem of unknotting closed braids and classical knots in mathematical knot theory. We apply evolutionary computation methods to learn sequences of moves that simplify knot diagrams, and show that this can be effective both when the evolution is carried out for individual knots and when a gener…

2013-02-04abs ↗pdf ↗

This paper gives infinitely many examples of unknot diagrams that are hard, in the sense that the diagrams need to be made more complicated by Reidemeister moves before they can be simplified. In order to construct these diagrams, we prove theorems characterizing when the numerator of the sum of two rational tangles is…

2006-01-22abs ↗pdf ↗

A knot in the 3-sphere is said to have zero negative unknotting number if it can be transformed into the unknot by performing only positive crossing changes. In this paper, we provide an obstruction for a knot to having zero negative unknotting number, and discuss its application to two classes of knots.

2016-04-07abs ↗pdf ↗

For a knot K in S^3, let T(K) be the characteristic toric sub-orbifold of the orbifold (S^3,K) as defined by Bonahon and Siebenmann. If K has unknotting number one, we show that an unknotting arc for K can always be found which is disjoint from T(K), unless either K is an EM-knot (of Eudave-Munoz) or (S^3,K) contains a…

2006-01-11abs ↗pdf ↗

We use Heegaard Floer homology to obtain bounds on unknotting numbers. This is a generalisation of Ozsvath and Szabo's obstruction to unknotting number one. We determine the unknotting numbers of 9_10, 9_13, 9_35, 9_38, 10_53, 10_101 and 10_120; this completes the table of unknotting numbers for prime knots with crossi…

2005-06-23abs ↗pdf ↗