Quadrisecants give new lower bounds for the ropelength of a knot (Q2501674)

The authors continue the development of lower bounds for the ropelength of knots. The ropelength of a knot \(K\) is defined as a (scale invariant) quotient of length \(L(K)\) of the knot over its thickness \(t(K)\). If \(K\) is a \(C^1\) curve then \(t(K)\) can be thought of as the supremal diameter of a normal tube around \(K\) that remains embedded. The main result in the article is that the ropelength of any nontrivial knot is at least \(15.66\). This improves the previous best known bound of \(12\) in [\textit{Y. Diao}, J. Knot Theory Ramifications 12, No. 1, 1--16 (2003; Zbl 1028.57007)]. Numerical experiments for the trefoil give an upper bound of the ropelength of \(16.372\) and thus the lower bound is quite sharp. The main tool to derive the improved lower bound is the concept of an essential quadrisecant. A \textit{quadrisecant} to a knot \(K\) in \(\mathbb{R}^3\) is a line that intersects \(K\) in four points. A quadrisecant is essential is it satisfies additional conditions that specify that certain curves in the knot complement are homotopically nontrivial. (The exact definition is rather technical.) Essential quadrisecants were introduced in [\textit{G. Kuperberg}, J. Knot Theory Ramifications 3, No. 1, 41--50 (1994; Zbl 0797.57007)], and in the PhD thesis of one of the authors (E. Denne) it was shown that every nontrivial knot embedding has a quadrisecant of a certain type.