A one-dimensional embedding complex (Q1602664)

In a previous paper, the second author constructed a spectral sequence which converges to the rational homotopy groups of the space of ``long knots'' in \(\mathbb{R}^{k+1}\), for \(k\geq 3\). The spectral sequence exploits the known cosimplicial space structure coming from configuration spaces of Euclidean spaces. The \(E^1\)-term involves the rational homotopy Lie algebras of configuration spaces of Euclidean spaces (alias the Yang-Baxter Lie algebras, studied by many authors). The main result in the paper under review establishes the existence of nontrivial elements in the homotopy groups of the above spaces of long knots, in low degrees and for \(k\) odd. To obtain it, the authors perform \(E^2\)-term computations, mostly computer-assisted.