A contact geometric proof of the Whitney-Graustein theorem

DOI10.4171/LEM/55-1-4MaRDI QIDQ2272252zbMATH OpenOpenAlexFDO

Authors Hansjörg Geiges

Publication date 10 August 2009

Published in L'Enseignement Mathématique. 2e Série (Search for Journal in Brave)

Full work available at URL https://arxiv.org/abs/0801.0046

zbMATH Keywords

regular closed curvesrotation number

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Curves in Euclidean and related spaces (53A04) Contact manifolds (general theory) (53D10)

Abstract: The Whitney-Graustein theorem states that regular closed curves in the 2-plane are classified, up to regular homotopy, by their rotation number. Here we give a simple proof based on contact geometry.

Review text

The Whitney-Graustein theorem states that regular closed curves in the \(2\)-plane are classified, up to regular homotopy, by their rotation number. The authors give a simple proof of this theorem based on contact geometry.

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• scientific article; zbMATH DE number 5251046

Cited in

(8)

• Degrees of closed curves in the plane
• A note on regular isotopy of singular links
• Constructive Whitney–Graustein Theorem: Or How to Untangle Closed Planar Curves
• On the Whitney-Graustein theorem and homotopies of curves with fixed endpoints
• Optimal planar immersions of prescribed winding number and Arnold invariants
• A note on knot Floer homology of satellite knots with (1,1)-patterns
• Winding number and isotopies for closed curves on \(S^ 2\)
• Horizontal loops in Engel space

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