This paper gives mathematical models for flat knotted ribbons, and makes specific conjectures for the least length of ribbon (for a given width) needed to tie the trefoil knot and the figure eight knot. The first conjecture states that (for width one) the least length of ribbon needed to tie an open-ended trefoil knot is L = 4(F + 1)/Sqrt[2 + F] where F = (1 + Sqrt[5])/2 is the golden ratio. The second conjecture states that the least length of the figure eight knot (in the same sense) is 32/Sqrt[15].
Knotted ribbons form an important topic in knot theory. They have applications in natural sciences, such as cyclic duplex DNA modeling. A flat knotted ribbon can be obtained by gently pulling a knotted ribbon tight so that it becomes flat and folded. An important problem in knot theory is to study the minimal ratio of length to width of a flat knotted ribbon. This minimal ratio is called the ribbonlength of the knot. It has been conjectured that the ribbonlength has an upper bound and a lower bound which are both linear in the crossing number of the knot. In the first part of the paper, we use…
For knots in $S^3$, it is well-known that the Alexander polynomial of a ribbon knot factorizes as $f(t)f(t^{-1})$ for some polynomial $f(t)$. By contrast, the Alexander polynomial of a ribbon $2$-knot is not even symmetric in general. Via an alternative notion of ribbon $2$-knots, we give a topological condition on a $2$-knot that implies the factorization of the Alexander polynomial.
Ribbon 2-knotted objects are locally flat embeddings of surfaces in 4-space which bound immersed 3-manifolds with only ribbon singularities. They appear as topological realizations of welded knotted objects, which is a natural quotient of virtual knot theory. In this paper we consider ribbon tubes and ribbon torus-links, which are natural analogues of string links and links, respectively. We show how ribbon tubes naturally act on the reduced free group, and how this action classifies ribbon tubes up to link-homotopy, that is when allowing each component to cross itself. At the combinatorial le…
A ribbon is a two-dimensional object with one-dimensional properties which is related with geometry, robotics and molecular biology. A folded ribbon structure provides a complex structure through a series of folds. We focus on a folded ribbon with knotted core. The folded ribbonlength $Rib(K)$ of a knot $K$ is the infimum of the quotient of length by width among the ribbons representing a knot type of $K$. This quantity tells how efficiently the folded ribbon is realized. Kusner conjectured that folded ribbonlength is bounded by a linear function of the minimal crossing number $c(K)$. In this …
The Meridional Rank Conjecture asks whether the bridge number of a knot in $S^3$ is equal to the minimal number of meridians needed to generate the fundamental group of its complement. In this paper we investigate the analogous conjecture for knotted surfaces in $S^4$. Towards this end, we give a construction to produce classical knots with quotients sending meridians to elements of any finite order and which detect their meridional ranks. We establish the equality of bridge number and meridional rank for these knots and knotted spheres obtained from them by twist-spinning. On the other hand, …
We consider knotted annuli in 4-space, called 2-string-links, which are knotted surfaces in codimension two that are naturally related, via closure operations, to both 2-links and 2-torus links. We classify 2-string-links up to link-homotopy by means of a 4-dimensional version of Milnor invariants. The key to our proof is that any 2-string link is link-homotopic to a ribbon one; this allows to use the homotopy classification obtained in the ribbon case by P. Bellingeri and the authors. Along the way, we give a Roseman-type result for immersed surfaces in 4-space. We also discuss the case of ri…
Using Kauffman's model of flat knotted ribbons, we demonstrate how all regular polygons of at least seven sides can be realised by ribbon constructions of torus knots. We calculate length to width ratios for these constructions thereby bounding the Ribbonlength of the knots. In particular, we give evidence that the closed (respectively, truncation) Ribbonlength of a (q+1,q) torus knot is (2q+1)cot(π/(2q+1)) (resp., 2q cot(π/(2q+1))). Using these calculations, we provide the bounds c_1 \leq 2/πand c_2 \geq 5/3 cot(π/5) for the constants c_1 and c_2 that relate Ribbonlength R(K) and crossing num…
We prove that a crossing change along a double point circle on a 2-knot is realized by ribbon-moves for a knotted torus obtained from the 2-knot by attaching a 1-handle. It follows that any 2-knots for which the crossing change is an unknotting operation, such as ribbon 2-knots and twist-spun knots, have trivial Khovanov-Jacobsson number.
Eisermann has shown that the Jones polynomial of a $n$-component ribbon link $L\subset S^3$ is divided by the Jones polynomial of the trivial $n$-component link. We improve this theorem by extending its range of application from links in $S^3$ to colored knotted trivalent graphs in $\#_g(S^2\times S^1)$, the connected sum of $g\geqslant 0$ copies of $S^2\times S^1$. We show in particular that if the Kauffman bracket of a knot in $\#_g(S^2\times S^1)$ has a pole in $q=i$ of order $n$, the ribbon genus of the knot is at least $\frac {n+1}2$. We construct some families of knots in $\#_g(S^2\times…
We define an invariant of welded virtual knots from each finite crossed module by considering crossed module invariants of ribbon knotted surfaces which are naturally associated with them. We elucidate that the invariants obtained are non trivial by calculating explicit examples. We define welded virtual graphs and consider invariants of them defined in a similar way.
We will discuss a method for visual presentation of knotted surfaces in the four space, by examining a number and a position of its Morse's critical points. Using this method, we will investigate surface-knot with one critical point of index 1. Then we show infinitely many mutually distinct surface-knots that has an embedding with two critical points of index 1. Next we define a long flat for a banded link for any surface-knot and show diagrammatically a long flat form of $n$-twist-spun $(2,t)$-torus knots.
We define a generalization of virtual links to arbitrary dimensions by extending the geometric definition due to Carter et al. We show that many homotopy type invariants for classical links extend to invariants of virtual links. We also define generalizations of virtual link diagrams and Gauss codes to represent virtual links, and use such diagrams to construct a combinatorial biquandle invariant for virtual $2$-links. In the case of $2$-links, we also explore generalizations of Fox-Milnor movies to the virtual case. In addition, we discuss definitions extending the notion of welded links to h…
This note investigates the so-called Tube map which connects welded knots, that is a quotient of the virtual knot theory, to ribbon torus-knots, that is a restricted notion of fillable knotted tori in the 4-sphere. It emphasizes the fact that ribbon torus-knots with a given filling are in one-to-one correspondence with welded knots before quotient under classical Reidemeister moves and reformulates these moves and the known sources of non-injectivity of the Tube map in terms of filling changes.
We explain a direct topological proof for the multiplicativity of Duflo isomorphism for arbitrary finite dimensional Lie algebras, and derive the explicit formula for the Duflo map. The proof follows a series of implications, starting with "the calculation 1+1=2 on a 4D abacus", using the study of homomorphic expansions (aka universal finite type invariants) for ribbon 2-knots, and the relationship between the corresponding associated graded space of arrow diagrams and universal enveloping algebras. This complements the results of the first author, Le and Thurston, where similar arguments usin…
We study Kauffman's model of folded ribbon knots: knots made of a thin strip of paper folded flat in the plane. The ribbonlength is the length to width ratio of such a ribbon, and it turns out that the way the ribbon is folded influences the ribbonlength. We give an upper bound of $n\cot(π/n)$ for the ribbonlength of $n$-stick unknots. We prove that the minimum ribbonlength for a 3-stick unknot with the same type of fold at each vertex is $3\sqrt{3}$, and such a minimizer is an equilateral triangle. We end the paper with a discussion of projection stick number and ribbonlength.
This survey reviews Kauffman's model of folded ribbon knots: knots made of a thin strip of paper folded flat in the plane. The ribbonlength is the length to width ratio of such a ribbon, and the ribbonlength problem asks to minimize the ribbonlength for a given knot type. We give a summary of known results. For the most part, these are upper bounds of ribbonlength of twist knots and certain families of torus knots. We discuss result of G. Tian, which give upper bounds of ribbonlength in terms of crossing number. In addition, it turns out the choice of fold affects the ribbonlength. We end with…
We study Kauffman's model of folded ribbon knots: knots made of a thin strip of paper folded flat in the plane. The ribbonlength is the length to width ratio of such a folded ribbon knot. We show for any knot or link type that there exist constants $c_1, c_2>0$ such that the ribbonlength is bounded above by $c_1\cdot Cr(K)^2$, and also by $c_2\cdot Cr(K)^{3/2}$. We use a different method for each bound. The constant $c_1$ is quite small in comparison to $c_2$, and the first bound is lower than the second for knots and links with $Cr(K)\leq$ 12,748.
A new type of knot energy is presented via real life experiments involving a thin resilient metallic tube. Knotted in different ways, the device mechanically acquires a uniquely determined (up to isometry) normal form at least when the original knot diagram has a small number of crossings, thus outperforming the famous Möbius energy due to Jun O'Hara and studied by Michael Freedman et al. Various properties of the device are described (under certain conditions it does the Reidemeister and Markov moves, it beautifully performs the Whitney trick by uniformizing its own local curvature). If the d…
