On the normal form of knots (Q2344175)

In this paper the authors perform an experimental study of the knot energy theory. Suppose that one charges the knot in the space and allows it to evolve. Then the knot will evolve to a local minimum of the corresponding energy. In the current paper the authors study a Euler functional supplemented with two correction terms. They present an algorithm to make an energy descent towards minima and discuss experimental facts that they have observed using it. In particular the authors establish an experimental table of normal forms of prime knots with up to 7 crossings and compare it with the table of normal forms of a certain mechanical wire model. Finally they show an example of a nontrivial local minimum that is not a global minimum in the knot class.