Circles minimize most knot energies (Q1863513)

The authors define a new class of knot energies (known as renormalization energies) that generalize the knot energies defined by \textit{J. O'Hara} [see Topology Appl. 48, 147-161 (1992; Zbl 0769.57006) and Topology Appl. 56, 45-61 (1994; Zbl 0996.57503)]. The formal definition of a renormalization energy is as follows: Given a curve \(c:S^{1}\rightarrow \mathbb{R}^n\), parametrized by arclength, let \(|c(s)-c(t)|\) be the distance between \(c(s)\) and \(c(t)\) in space, and let \(d(s,t)\) denote the shortest distance between \(s\) and \(t\) along the curve. Given a function \(F:\mathbb{R}^2\rightarrow \mathbb{R}\), the energy functional in the form \(f[c]:=\iint F(|c(s)-c(t)|,d(s,t)) ds dt\), is called the renormalization energy based on \(F\) if it converges for all embedded \(C^{1,1}\) curves. The main result is that many renormalization energies are uniquely minimized by a round circle, or more precisely if the function \(F\) is convex and decreasing in \(x^2\) for \(x^2\in (0,y^2)\) and \(y\in (0,\pi)\) then the renormalization energy based on \(F\) is uniquely minimized among unit-speed curves of length \(2\pi\) by the round unit circle. The authors also give examples of such energies that are not minimized by round circles.