Topological and physical link theory are distinct

DOI10.2140/PJM.2015.276.387MaRDI QIDQ2516656zbMATH OpenOpenAlexFDO

Authors Alexander Coward, Joel R. Hass

Publication date 4 August 2015

Published in Pacific Journal of Mathematics (Search for Journal in Brave)

Full work available at URL https://arxiv.org/abs/1203.4019

zbMATH Keywords

Gordian, split linkphysical knot theory

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Curves in Euclidean and related spaces (53A04)

Abstract: Physical knots and links are one-dimensional submanifolds of R^3 with fixed length and thickness. We show that isotopy classes in this category can differ from those of classical knot and link theory. In particular we exhibit a Gordian Split Link, a two component link that is split in the classical theory but cannot be split with a physical isotopy.

Review text

The present paper is dedicated to the study of knots theory from two points of view: physical and topological. The authors present physical knots and links like one-dimensional submanifolds of \(\mathbb{R}^{3}\) with fixed length and thickness. Also, in their proofs the authors use the isotopy classes. The authors also develop a particular case, namely a ``Gordian split link: a two-component link that is split in the classical theory but cannot be split with a physical isotopy. The paper consists of 5 parts; in the last parts some interesting open problems are also given.

Cited in

(4)

• A Gordian pair of links
• Ropelength criticality
• The ropelength of complex knots
• Gordian unlinks

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