{"entities":{"Q715299":{"pageid":717148,"ns":120,"title":"Item:Q715299","lastrevid":63831006,"modified":"2026-04-11T15:50:34Z","type":"item","id":"Q715299","labels":{"en":{"language":"en","value":"What are the longest ropes on the unit sphere?"}},"descriptions":{"en":{"language":"en","value":"scientific article; zbMATH DE number 6101927"}},"aliases":{},"claims":{"P31":[{"mainsnak":{"snaktype":"value","property":"P31","hash":"fd5912e4dab4b881a8eb0eb27e7893fef55176ad","datavalue":{"value":{"entity-type":"item","numeric-id":56887,"id":"Q56887"},"type":"wikibase-entityid"},"datatype":"wikibase-item"},"type":"statement","id":"Q715299$5997A6C8-9A10-4937-A2D1-8B5CE2BAD3FC","rank":"normal"}],"P159":[{"mainsnak":{"snaktype":"value","property":"P159","hash":"28318768691af39412aaccb69cf327628156d771","datavalue":{"value":{"text":"What are the longest ropes on the unit sphere?","language":"en"},"type":"monolingualtext"},"datatype":"monolingualtext"},"type":"statement","id":"Q715299$CE93A667-E902-44C5-ABCC-4CFC588772EF","rank":"normal"}],"P225":[{"mainsnak":{"snaktype":"value","property":"P225","hash":"b5948bbb1f54b14e6ebe8f60caeabfa74ac20489","datavalue":{"value":"1268.49050","type":"string"},"datatype":"external-id"},"type":"statement","id":"Q715299$618B9E88-7F98-4F47-92C7-6BE97A0F6BF9","rank":"normal"}],"P16":[{"mainsnak":{"snaktype":"value","property":"P16","hash":"d37a218f23837688d3cf300b0c6249c6e5309c9b","datavalue":{"value":{"entity-type":"item","numeric-id":715298,"id":"Q715298"},"type":"wikibase-entityid"},"datatype":"wikibase-item"},"type":"statement","id":"Q715299$C0E5674D-8306-47E0-BAA8-F5E419CBC9E7","rank":"normal"},{"mainsnak":{"snaktype":"value","property":"P16","hash":"afbdf46d61a57be6131113f51d1e188eb427e494","datavalue":{"value":{"entity-type":"item","numeric-id":166245,"id":"Q166245"},"type":"wikibase-entityid"},"datatype":"wikibase-item"},"type":"statement","id":"Q715299$24E89CA2-0CDD-497C-82BB-835139F9D68A","rank":"normal"}],"P200":[{"mainsnak":{"snaktype":"value","property":"P200","hash":"511d57c88112b9a679d7b7c8c8c776608976a72a","datavalue":{"value":{"entity-type":"item","numeric-id":163608,"id":"Q163608"},"type":"wikibase-entityid"},"datatype":"wikibase-item"},"type":"statement","id":"Q715299$675942B5-B111-4F30-9092-A1DDF45574FB","rank":"normal"}],"P28":[{"mainsnak":{"snaktype":"value","property":"P28","hash":"174516433fefa0f694e5cec43ecb3656376db8bf","datavalue":{"value":{"time":"+2012-11-05T00:00:00Z","timezone":0,"before":0,"after":0,"precision":11,"calendarmodel":"http://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q1985727"},"type":"time"},"datatype":"time"},"type":"statement","id":"Q715299$3CE87C5D-751D-418F-B574-9D9DFDF51451","rank":"normal"}],"P205":[{"mainsnak":{"snaktype":"value","property":"P205","hash":"ef0736d0ff5059f74015976e3ccc558b575ea3d0","datavalue":{"value":"https://infoscience.epfl.ch/record/171307/files/205_2010_Article_390.pdf","type":"string"},"datatype":"url"},"type":"statement","id":"Q715299$212F805C-8036-4069-BBF1-7258F61EDCB4","rank":"normal"}],"P1448":[{"mainsnak":{"snaktype":"value","property":"P1448","hash":"d40fd477253f5fb07b37ee44fbde7e9fe8f75531","datavalue":{"value":"The spatial thickness of a continuous closed curve \\(\\gamma:{\\mathbb S}^1\\to {\\mathbb R}^3\\) of length \\(L>0\\) with arc-length parameterization \\(\\Gamma:[0,L]\\to {\\mathbb R}^3\\) is \\(\\triangle[\\gamma]=\\inf R(\\Gamma(s),\\Gamma(t),\\Gamma(\\tau))\\), where \\(s,t,\\tau\\in [0,L)\\), \\(s\\neq t\\neq \\tau\\neq s\\), and \\(R(x,y,z)\\) is the radius of the smallest circle containing \\(x,y,z\\in {\\mathbb R}^3\\), see [\\textit{O. Gonzalez} and \\textit{J. H. Maddocks}, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 96, No. 9, 4769--4773 (1999; Zbl 1057.57500)]. A curve with positive thickness is of class \\(C^{1,1}\\), as shown in [\\textit{O. Gonzalez} et al., Calc. Var. Partial Differ. Equ. 14, No. 1, 29--68 (2002; Zbl 1006.49001)]. Existence of closed curves in the unit sphere \\({\\mathbb S}^2\\) with maximal length and thickness larger than or equal to some constant \\(\\Theta>0\\) was proved in the first author's Ph.D. Thesis in a very general setting.  In this paper, the authors present in Theorem 1 a proof that, for each prescribed minimal thickness \\(\\Theta \\in (0,1]\\), there exists at least a curve of maximal length in the set of \\(C^{1,1}\\) closed curves in \\({\\mathbb S}^2\\) with thickness larger than or equal to \\(\\Theta\\). Moreover, they show that any such solution has spatial thickness \\textit{equal to} \\(\\Theta\\). The authors also construct, for each \\(n\\in {\\mathbb N}\\) and \\(k\\in \\{1,\\dots,n-1\\}\\) with \\(\\roman{gcd}(n,k)=1\\), a curve \\(\\beta^{n,k}\\) of maximal length in the class of \\(C^{1,1}\\) closed curves in \\({\\mathbb S}^2\\) with spatial thickness larger than or equal to \\(\\Theta_n=\\pi/(2n)\\). They also prove that \\(\\triangle[\\beta^{n,k}]=\\Theta_n\\). This is the main content of Theorem 2. In addition, they show in Theorem 3 that \\(\\beta^{n,k}\\) are the only geometric solutions to this variational problem for \\(\\Theta=\\Theta_n\\), and that the number of solutions is \\(\\varphi(n)\\), where \\(\\varphi\\) is Euler's totient function. An interesting geometric characterization of the curves \\(\\beta^{n,k}\\) is given in Theorem 4, where it is proved that the curves \\(\\beta^{n,k}\\) are the only closed curves \\(\\gamma\\) in \\({\\mathbb S}^2\\) so that a spherical tubular neighborhood of radius \\(\\theta\\in (0,\\pi/2]\\) of \\(\\gamma\\) has area \\(4\\pi\\), and the spatial thickness of \\(\\gamma\\) is larger than or equal to \\(\\Theta=\\sin\\theta\\in (0,1]\\). If both conditions are satisfied, there exist \\(n,k\\in {\\mathbb N}\\) with \\(\\roman{gcd}(n,k)=1\\) such that \\(\\theta=\\arcsin\\Theta_n\\), \\(\\triangle[\\beta]=\\Theta_n\\) and \\(\\gamma=\\beta^{n,k}\\). Interesting results of approximation by smooth loops with positive thickness are given in Section~3. In a final section, the case of open curves is considered.","type":"string"},"datatype":"string"},"type":"statement","id":"Q715299$2ACFCABA-2479-4431-BB4B-FB261C26E6FF","rank":"normal"}],"P1447":[{"mainsnak":{"snaktype":"value","property":"P1447","hash":"9bde2a5835ca60f0eaeafe27e00660c3500070f4","datavalue":{"value":{"entity-type":"item","numeric-id":254286,"id":"Q254286"},"type":"wikibase-entityid"},"datatype":"wikibase-item"},"type":"statement","id":"Q715299$8553A2AE-D59A-4BFC-BC3D-642792162CF7","rank":"normal"}],"P226":[{"mainsnak":{"snaktype":"value","property":"P226","hash":"7cbf2a0243275365e9bbdd7e4fa8c07407c688aa","datavalue":{"value":"49Q10","type":"string"},"datatype":"external-id"},"type":"statement","id":"Q715299$4BD4FAC0-9938-4200-948C-1867C889D7A0","rank":"normal"},{"mainsnak":{"snaktype":"value","property":"P226","hash":"92748ab81ad2a4e49256cb5f57aa60dae31ca924","datavalue":{"value":"53A04","type":"string"},"datatype":"external-id"},"type":"statement","id":"Q715299$31E7BEC6-C6DC-4071-A46F-D50C15E7177D","rank":"normal"}],"P1451":[{"mainsnak":{"snaktype":"value","property":"P1451","hash":"8e3c14bc70fb3ea70f4e0605421de148c74cb482","datavalue":{"value":"6101927","type":"string"},"datatype":"external-id"},"type":"statement","id":"Q715299$FCCF1822-24F1-442C-BD43-4332EDEF157C","rank":"normal"}],"P1450":[{"mainsnak":{"snaktype":"value","property":"P1450","hash":"4dc18b730d6f825512e1bf082b00b810b4020f01","datavalue":{"value":"longest ropes on the unit sphere","type":"string"},"datatype":"string"},"type":"statement","id":"Q715299$615AEEE5-8AFD-458B-9024-13A452D9510D","rank":"normal"},{"mainsnak":{"snaktype":"value","property":"P1450","hash":"e2a5b44a66ef377200f7b6d448ebb7170187a53d","datavalue":{"value":"minimal thickness","type":"string"},"datatype":"string"},"type":"statement","id":"Q715299$B7F350D9-A7F7-4845-986A-934DD39E2936","rank":"normal"},{"mainsnak":{"snaktype":"value","property":"P1450","hash":"4c1035320b95bfeea00b064685381be31c7f9751","datavalue":{"value":"sphere filling curves","type":"string"},"datatype":"string"},"type":"statement","id":"Q715299$5D22BE25-B81C-4816-8908-80FBA2E882EC","rank":"normal"}],"P1460":[{"mainsnak":{"snaktype":"value","property":"P1460","hash":"57f7fea50d2ce1b39b695c4a1313582eed405e38","datavalue":{"value":{"entity-type":"item","numeric-id":5976449,"id":"Q5976449"},"type":"wikibase-entityid"},"datatype":"wikibase-item"},"type":"statement","id":"Q715299$22F24AA9-EFE7-47D5-84C5-935141BDDC7B","rank":"normal"}],"P388":[{"mainsnak":{"snaktype":"value","property":"P388","hash":"fb76acce2b0cc3813db5e80aa2d8e5e7fe4431b2","datavalue":{"value":"W2100626528","type":"string"},"datatype":"external-id"},"type":"statement","id":"Q715299$9C6D5D9D-8C07-4FD7-8C2B-71096B20461D","rank":"normal"}],"P223":[{"mainsnak":{"snaktype":"value","property":"P223","hash":"a93f13262bc300fba769190aafdb0940400641e6","datavalue":{"value":{"entity-type":"item","numeric-id":4888749,"id":"Q4888749"},"type":"wikibase-entityid"},"datatype":"wikibase-item"},"type":"statement","id":"Q715299$80501308-73B9-442F-86BB-47610B7DA846","rank":"normal"},{"mainsnak":{"snaktype":"value","property":"P223","hash":"5c1a153324dbb1c4b0fa011b7877c7867927115a","datavalue":{"value":{"entity-type":"item","numeric-id":860175,"id":"Q860175"},"type":"wikibase-entityid"},"datatype":"wikibase-item"},"type":"statement","id":"Q715299$D68A8B67-C244-4E76-8DCE-91E2416AF25C","rank":"normal"},{"mainsnak":{"snaktype":"value","property":"P223","hash":"cfa872cfca0432b2026b236444eca6bfae74bf73","datavalue":{"value":{"entity-type":"item","numeric-id":1401450,"id":"Q1401450"},"type":"wikibase-entityid"},"datatype":"wikibase-item"},"type":"statement","id":"Q715299$F0CBF86D-D494-4A75-BA54-8E830C7CC43C","rank":"normal"},{"mainsnak":{"snaktype":"value","property":"P223","hash":"f3115eeb1b4cbda4bf382b574ce961bca0b4d95e","datavalue":{"value":{"entity-type":"item","numeric-id":5477831,"id":"Q5477831"},"type":"wikibase-entityid"},"datatype":"wikibase-item"},"type":"statement","id":"Q715299$7FC65D81-FC48-4994-85F6-E1A6DC167EC4","rank":"normal"},{"mainsnak":{"snaktype":"value","property":"P223","hash":"f273dca1c97a038cec0ba4c1412de0e79c24502e","datavalue":{"value":{"entity-type":"item","numeric-id":4091004,"id":"Q4091004"},"type":"wikibase-entityid"},"datatype":"wikibase-item"},"type":"statement","id":"Q715299$93781912-521F-47DB-BF2F-BFDACD62C45F","rank":"normal"},{"mainsnak":{"snaktype":"value","property":"P223","hash":"d7654a53e7cc46803ca18b590cf4487cf86bacfa","datavalue":{"value":{"entity-type":"item","numeric-id":2460841,"id":"Q2460841"},"type":"wikibase-entityid"},"datatype":"wikibase-item"},"type":"statement","id":"Q715299$FF68F250-736F-44D6-9B9A-42CC6992FEEA","rank":"normal"},{"mainsnak":{"snaktype":"value","property":"P223","hash":"176e50b83e753d04abe1067025920a33f3da1f5a","datavalue":{"value":{"entity-type":"item","numeric-id":3106505,"id":"Q3106505"},"type":"wikibase-entityid"},"datatype":"wikibase-item"},"type":"statement","id":"Q715299$84ED0482-7901-41BC-AA51-30327E549A36","rank":"normal"},{"mainsnak":{"snaktype":"value","property":"P223","hash":"a6418027b86f53176caa2ac42e8ba0c51cdcec07","datavalue":{"value":{"entity-type":"item","numeric-id":4414980,"id":"Q4414980"},"type":"wikibase-entityid"},"datatype":"wikibase-item"},"type":"statement","id":"Q715299$AFB440B4-2F61-44E5-BC3C-9B6296AF7311","rank":"normal"},{"mainsnak":{"snaktype":"value","property":"P223","hash":"78d30f835a9fba58038268d99e9296c20bc0dcb5","datavalue":{"value":{"entity-type":"item","numeric-id":4261054,"id":"Q4261054"},"type":"wikibase-entityid"},"datatype":"wikibase-item"},"type":"statement","id":"Q715299$F6945BDA-D420-43C0-BE39-66F299F2679D","rank":"normal"},{"mainsnak":{"snaktype":"value","property":"P223","hash":"88da9f02fe80bd39b913e67015e4d19e788cb0f8","datavalue":{"value":{"entity-type":"item","numeric-id":1349266,"id":"Q1349266"},"type":"wikibase-entityid"},"datatype":"wikibase-item"},"type":"statement","id":"Q715299$D83EC731-33C6-4CBA-A0A6-A60FF990BEA7","rank":"normal"},{"mainsnak":{"snaktype":"value","property":"P223","hash":"f87e69586798f6f597955a9f6a1e74097dd17d0b","datavalue":{"value":{"entity-type":"item","numeric-id":3993500,"id":"Q3993500"},"type":"wikibase-entityid"},"datatype":"wikibase-item"},"type":"statement","id":"Q715299$B7AFE086-2AC0-4135-B58C-88F9EAB66530","rank":"normal"},{"mainsnak":{"snaktype":"value","property":"P223","hash":"2811b1d74413c2ea7c41d7026dc67f58a512dc25","datavalue":{"value":{"entity-type":"item","numeric-id":5772932,"id":"Q5772932"},"type":"wikibase-entityid"},"datatype":"wikibase-item"},"type":"statement","id":"Q715299$2DF91E99-92BB-4B9B-9BD5-CB0C2A86C6CF","rank":"normal"},{"mainsnak":{"snaktype":"value","property":"P223","hash":"a086db8b53caa103b09d1fd3a7d17cba59548978","datavalue":{"value":{"entity-type":"item","numeric-id":4797596,"id":"Q4797596"},"type":"wikibase-entityid"},"datatype":"wikibase-item"},"type":"statement","id":"Q715299$A9A1256B-00FD-42E5-BDB8-8FFAA95F8ADB","rank":"normal"},{"mainsnak":{"snaktype":"value","property":"P223","hash":"786c5ac01166618be791f5a2e12b7861f90f8460","datavalue":{"value":{"entity-type":"item","numeric-id":1566411,"id":"Q1566411"},"type":"wikibase-entityid"},"datatype":"wikibase-item"},"type":"statement","id":"Q715299$DD38707C-8E92-4FED-9409-18B4875C5AF7","rank":"normal"},{"mainsnak":{"snaktype":"value","property":"P223","hash":"0acd2fd43a81beb553733c5d4292f11fd0624259","datavalue":{"value":{"entity-type":"item","numeric-id":502689,"id":"Q502689"},"type":"wikibase-entityid"},"datatype":"wikibase-item"},"type":"statement","id":"Q715299$20E61E21-D9FB-4694-8D96-861FEBD69227","rank":"normal"},{"mainsnak":{"snaktype":"value","property":"P223","hash":"03a59c4e86d069f68293cdadbb909fb1bf0e4ef1","datavalue":{"value":{"entity-type":"item","numeric-id":2384741,"id":"Q2384741"},"type":"wikibase-entityid"},"datatype":"wikibase-item"},"type":"statement","id":"Q715299$FDAEB8D2-CCDC-49A7-8E7B-00C6C11AEEAB","rank":"normal"}],"P27":[{"mainsnak":{"snaktype":"value","property":"P27","hash":"553c2e53348dffd47f356984d6362b70a51dab0d","datavalue":{"value":"10.1007/S00205-010-0390-Y","type":"string"},"datatype":"external-id"},"type":"statement","id":"Q715299$84264285-03C3-4357-A603-FF849105164A","rank":"normal"}],"P1643":[{"mainsnak":{"snaktype":"value","property":"P1643","hash":"ae677168f6173e4ca7bb8647f85b2b6ab5435685","datavalue":{"value":{"entity-type":"item","numeric-id":3106505,"id":"Q3106505"},"type":"wikibase-entityid"},"datatype":"wikibase-item"},"type":"statement","qualifiers":{"P1659":[{"snaktype":"value","property":"P1659","hash":"b2f4f2dd35c23d778d1572a7a68d55d3f5813040","datavalue":{"value":{"amount":"+0.8199124932289124","unit":"1"},"type":"quantity"},"datatype":"quantity"}],"P1660":[{"snaktype":"value","property":"P1660","hash":"a327a09ea0305e98d5cf33bd4036320e19f2aed0","datavalue":{"value":{"entity-type":"item","numeric-id":6821328,"id":"Q6821328"},"type":"wikibase-entityid"},"datatype":"wikibase-item"}]},"qualifiers-order":["P1659","P1660"],"id":"Q715299$2E3E284D-B49E-4F4C-9AC9-0EAC77EE6444","rank":"normal"},{"mainsnak":{"snaktype":"value","property":"P1643","hash":"d5396ca48c76d9d87a55f0c89bd05103b3621b94","datavalue":{"value":{"entity-type":"item","numeric-id":2054214,"id":"Q2054214"},"type":"wikibase-entityid"},"datatype":"wikibase-item"},"type":"statement","qualifiers":{"P1659":[{"snaktype":"value","property":"P1659","hash":"3aee28eb179b05e5065baa834d8d74708c264333","datavalue":{"value":{"amount":"+0.7142601013183594","unit":"1"},"type":"quantity"},"datatype":"quantity"}],"P1660":[{"snaktype":"value","property":"P1660","hash":"a327a09ea0305e98d5cf33bd4036320e19f2aed0","datavalue":{"value":{"entity-type":"item","numeric-id":6821328,"id":"Q6821328"},"type":"wikibase-entityid"},"datatype":"wikibase-item"}]},"qualifiers-order":["P1659","P1660"],"id":"Q715299$C698DAA7-8A71-4AA8-8541-44403B808036","rank":"normal"},{"mainsnak":{"snaktype":"value","property":"P1643","hash":"f6619d7564ae3c6bc4492dcff60fc9e0fcf33e7a","datavalue":{"value":{"entity-type":"item","numeric-id":5477856,"id":"Q5477856"},"type":"wikibase-entityid"},"datatype":"wikibase-item"},"type":"statement","qualifiers":{"P1659":[{"snaktype":"value","property":"P1659","hash":"ca0424d7dc9b9b27e3ba7668b9eacbe69bad201b","datavalue":{"value":{"amount":"+0.6998668909072876","unit":"1"},"type":"quantity"},"datatype":"quantity"}],"P1660":[{"snaktype":"value","property":"P1660","hash":"a327a09ea0305e98d5cf33bd4036320e19f2aed0","datavalue":{"value":{"entity-type":"item","numeric-id":6821328,"id":"Q6821328"},"type":"wikibase-entityid"},"datatype":"wikibase-item"}]},"qualifiers-order":["P1659","P1660"],"id":"Q715299$E367651E-4086-49E8-9BB7-E31C18079F5F","rank":"normal"},{"mainsnak":{"snaktype":"value","property":"P1643","hash":"b80c3df7335f25133416c4c95e6dd675a2913624","datavalue":{"value":{"entity-type":"item","numeric-id":463142,"id":"Q463142"},"type":"wikibase-entityid"},"datatype":"wikibase-item"},"type":"statement","qualifiers":{"P1659":[{"snaktype":"value","property":"P1659","hash":"aca5f29bb47c63661aab08b4d9d40fa229f3c350","datavalue":{"value":{"amount":"+0.6996875405311584","unit":"1"},"type":"quantity"},"datatype":"quantity"}],"P1660":[{"snaktype":"value","property":"P1660","hash":"a327a09ea0305e98d5cf33bd4036320e19f2aed0","datavalue":{"value":{"entity-type":"item","numeric-id":6821328,"id":"Q6821328"},"type":"wikibase-entityid"},"datatype":"wikibase-item"}]},"qualifiers-order":["P1659","P1660"],"id":"Q715299$A51C3DCC-17DE-446E-AE66-36AA1BF9A517","rank":"normal"},{"mainsnak":{"snaktype":"value","property":"P1643","hash":"671cc0ba4a0b6397c3c0fd011d5b7922bb05bdca","datavalue":{"value":{"entity-type":"item","numeric-id":3124174,"id":"Q3124174"},"type":"wikibase-entityid"},"datatype":"wikibase-item"},"type":"statement","qualifiers":{"P1659":[{"snaktype":"value","property":"P1659","hash":"cb6ba2013014f0ea9bfea5d50daa7cad78dbcb89","datavalue":{"value":{"amount":"+0.697227418422699","unit":"1"},"type":"quantity"},"datatype":"quantity"}],"P1660":[{"snaktype":"value","property":"P1660","hash":"a327a09ea0305e98d5cf33bd4036320e19f2aed0","datavalue":{"value":{"entity-type":"item","numeric-id":6821328,"id":"Q6821328"},"type":"wikibase-entityid"},"datatype":"wikibase-item"}]},"qualifiers-order":["P1659","P1660"],"id":"Q715299$56996769-0B15-48A5-99DB-8289DCBF31E7","rank":"normal"}]},"sitelinks":{"mardi":{"site":"mardi","title":"What are the longest ropes on the unit sphere?","badges":[],"url":"https://portal.mardi4nfdi.de/wiki/What_are_the_longest_ropes_on_the_unit_sphere%3F"}}}}}