Mathematisches Kolloquium

We investigate the elastic behavior of knotted loops of springy wire. To this end we minimize in given knot classes the classic bending energy ∫ κ² together with a small multiple of a repulsive potential ℛ in order to penalize selfintersection. Our main objective is to characterize elastic knots, i.e., all limit configurations of energy minimizing knots of the total energy ∫ κ² + Θ ℛ as Θ tends to zero. For that, it turns out quite useful to look at various proofs of the classic Fáry-Milnor theorem on the total curvature ∫ κ of knotted curves.

Donnerstag, den 29. Juni 2017 um 17.15 Uhr, in Mathematikon, INF 205, Hörsaal Mathematikon Donnerstag, den 29. Juni 2017 at 17.15, in Mathematikon, INF 205, Hörsaal Mathematikon

Der Vortrag folgt der Einladung von The lecture takes place at invitation by Prof. P. Reiter