Minimum lattice length and ropelength of knots

TL;DR

This paper establishes new upper bounds for the minimum lattice length and ropelength of knots based on their crossing number, providing insights into their geometric complexity within lattice models.

Contribution

It introduces explicit quadratic upper bounds for lattice length and ropelength of knots in terms of crossing number, advancing understanding of knot geometry in lattice models.

Findings

Upper bounds for lattice length in terms of crossing number.

Upper bounds for ropelength close to twice the lattice length.

Quantitative relationships between crossing number and knot complexity.

Abstract

Let $\mbox{Len}(K)$ be the minimum length of a knot on the cubic lattice (namely the minimum length necessary to construct the knot in the cubic lattice). This paper provides upper bounds for $\mbox{Len}(K)$ of a nontrivial knot $K$ in terms of its crossing number $c(K)$ as follows: $\mbox{Len}(K) \leq \min \left\{ \frac{3}{4}c(K)^2 + 5c(K) + \frac{17}{4}, \, \frac{5}{8}c(K)^2 + \frac{15}{2}c(K) + \frac{71}{8} \right\}.$ The ropelength of a knot is the quotient of its length by its thickness, the radius of the largest embedded normal tube around the knot. We also provide upper bounds for the minimum ropelength $\mbox{Rop}(K)$ which is close to twice $\mbox{Len}(K)$: $\mbox{Rop}(K) \leq \min \left\{ 1.5 c(K)^2 + 9.15 c(K) + 6.79, 1.25 c(K)^2 + 14.58 c(K) + 16.90 \right\}.$