Knotted surfaces as vanishing sets of polynomials (Q2058824)

The main results are as follow. For any element \(B\) of the loop braid group, there is an algorithm that constructs a polynomial \(f: \mathbb{R}^5 \to \mathbb{R}^2\) such that the vanishing set on the unit 4-sphere, \(f^{-1}(0) \cap S^4\), contains a set that is ambient isotopic to the closure of \(B\). The algorithm gives an upper bound on the degree of \(f\) in terms of the number of strands and the number of crossings of \(B\). The authors discuss possible applications to theoretical physics including the possibility of the construction of time-dependent magnetic fields with closed flow lines, whose time evolution is determined by a loop braid. For any spinning braid \(B\) in \(\mathbb{C} \times S^1 \times S^1\), there is an algorithm that constructs a holomorphic polynomial \(f: \mathbb{C}^3 \to \mathbb{C}\) such that the vanishing set \(f^{-1} (0) \cap (\mathbb{C} \times S^1 \times S^1)\) is ambient isotopic to \(B\). The algorithm gives an upper bound on the degree of \(f\). For a surface braid \(B\) in \(\mathbb{C} \times S^1 \times S^1\) without any branch points, there exists a holomorphic polynomial \(f: \mathbb{C}^3 \to \mathbb{C}\) such that the vanishing set \(f^{-1} (0) \cap (\mathbb{C} \times S^1 \times S^1)\) is ambient isotopic to \(B\) and the polynomial degree of \(f\) with respect to the first complex variable agrees with the degree of \(B\). In order to show the results, the authors extend the construction due to the first author and \textit{M. R. Dennis} [J. Knot Theory Ramifications 28, No. 1, Article ID 1850082, 31 p. (2019; Zbl 1411.57010)], that presents 1-dimensional links as vanishing sets of polynomials \(f: \mathbb{R}^4 \to \mathbb{R}^2\), on the unit 3-sphere. \newline We review the main terms. The loop braid group \(LB_n\) is the fundamental group of the configuration space of \(n\) disjoint unordered unlinked Euclidean circles in the 3-ball, satisfying the condition that each circle lies in a plane that is parallel to a given fixed plane. The loop braid group \(LB_n\) has \(2(n-1)\) generators \(\rho_i\), \(\sigma_i\) (\(i=1, \ldots, n-1\)), and 8 types of relations. A loop braid, that is an element of \(LB_n\), is interpreted as a signed singular braid, where all intersection points of strands are marked either by a plus-sign or a minus-sign. For a connected compact oriented surface \(F\), a surface braid in \(\mathbb{C} \times F\) is a compact oriented surface \(B\) in \(\mathbb{C} \times F\) such that the restriction of the projection map \(p: \mathbb{C} \times F \to F\) to \(B\) is an oriented simple branched covering map, and the boundary of \(B\) is a trivial closed braid \(X_n \times \partial F \subset \partial (\mathbb{C} \times F)\), where \(X_n\) is the set of \(n\) fixed points in \(\mathbb{C}\). For a classical braid on \(s\) strands given by the parametrisation \(\cup_{j=1}^s (X_j(\phi)+\sqrt{-1}Y_j(\phi), \phi)\) (\(\phi \in [0, 2\pi]\)), a spinning braid is a surface braid in \(\mathbb{C} \times S^1 \times S^1\) that is given by the parametrisation \(\cup_{j=1}^s (e^{\sqrt{-1}n \chi}(X_j(\phi)+\sqrt{-1}Y_j(\phi)), \phi, \chi)\) (\(\phi, \chi \in [0, 2\pi]\)), for some integer \(n\).