Knots and Braids: An introduction

Julia Collins, PhD student

Knots

What is a knot?

A knot is a circle embedded in 3-dimensional space.

Why in 3-dimensional space?

In 2 dimensions all knots are trivial because there is no space
to make complicated knots.

Why in 3-dimensional space?

In 4 dimensions all knots are trivial because any knot can be
unknotted.

Higher dimensions
The important thing is to have a difference of two dimensions.

Higher dimensions
The important thing is to have a difference of two dimensions.

Definition
An n-dimensional knot is an embedding of S n in S n+2 .

Higher dimensions
The important thing is to have a difference of two dimensions.

Definition
An n-dimensional knot is an embedding of S n in S n+2 .
For example, if n = 2, we have a 2-dimensional sphere in
4-dimensional space.

Questions of a knot theorist

Questions of a knot theorist

How can we tell if two knots are the same?

Questions of a knot theorist

How can we tell if two knots are the same?

How many knots are there?

Questions of a knot theorist

How can we tell if two knots are the same?

How many knots are there?
How are two different diagrams of the same knot related?

Questions of a knot theorist

How can we tell if two knots are the same?

How many knots are there?
How are two different diagrams of the same knot related?
What is a prime knot?

Questions of a knot theorist

How can we tell if two knots are the same?

How many knots are there?
How are two different diagrams of the same knot related?
What is a prime knot?
What kind of surfaces does a knot bound?

Questions of a knot theorist

How can we tell if two knots are the same?

How many knots are there?
How are two different diagrams of the same knot related?
What is a prime knot?
What kind of surfaces does a knot bound?
What is the topology of the knot complement?

Questions of a knot theorist

How can we tell if two knots are the same?

How many knots are there?
How are two different diagrams of the same knot related?
What is a prime knot?
What kind of surfaces does a knot bound?
What is the topology of the knot complement?
Does the knot complement admit a hyperbolic structure?

Telling knots apart

Knot theorists use invariants to distinguish knots. For example...

Telling knots apart

Knot theorists use invariants to distinguish knots. For example...

Crossing/unknotting numbers

Telling knots apart

Knot theorists use invariants to distinguish knots. For example...

Crossing/unknotting numbers
Smallest genus of a bounding surface

Telling knots apart

Knot theorists use invariants to distinguish knots. For example...

Crossing/unknotting numbers
Smallest genus of a bounding surface
Knot polynomials: Alexander, Jones, Kauffman, HOMFLY

Telling knots apart

Knot theorists use invariants to distinguish knots. For example...

Crossing/unknotting numbers
Smallest genus of a bounding surface
Knot polynomials: Alexander, Jones, Kauffman, HOMFLY
Homology theories: Floer, Khovanov

Telling knots apart

Knot theorists use invariants to distinguish knots. For example...

Crossing/unknotting numbers
Smallest genus of a bounding surface
Knot polynomials: Alexander, Jones, Kauffman, HOMFLY
Homology theories: Floer, Khovanov
Quantum invariants

Telling knots apart

Knot theorists use invariants to distinguish knots. For example...

Crossing/unknotting numbers
Smallest genus of a bounding surface
Knot polynomials: Alexander, Jones, Kauffman, HOMFLY
Homology theories: Floer, Khovanov
Quantum invariants
Hyperbolic invariants

Knots in real life

Knots come up in a surprising variety of places!

Knots in real life

Knots come up in a surprising variety of places!
In your DNA

Knots in real life

Knots come up in a surprising variety of places!
In dynamical systems

Knots in real life

Knots come up in a surprising variety of places!
In chemistry

Braids

What is a braid?

A braid consists of n strings travelling from left to right, not

looping back on themselves.

What is a braid?

A braid consists of n strings travelling from left to right, not

looping back on themselves.

What is a braid?

A braid consists of n strings travelling from left to right, not

looping back on themselves.

What is a braid?

A braid consists of n strings travelling from left to right, not

looping back on themselves.

What is a braid?

A braid consists of n strings travelling from left to right, not

looping back on themselves.

What is a braid?

A braid consists of n strings travelling from left to right, not

looping back on themselves.

Braids and knots?

Question: How do we get a knot (or link) from a braid?

Braids and knots?

Answer: Attach the end of the strings to the beginning without
introducing more crossings.

Braids and knots?

Answer: Attach the end of the strings to the beginning without
introducing more crossings.

Braids and knots?

Answer: Attach the end of the strings to the beginning without
introducing more crossings.

Braids and knots?

Answer: Attach the end of the strings to the beginning without
introducing more crossings.

Why the knot theorists are happy

Theorem
Braids form a group under concatenation.

Why the knot theorists are happy

Theorem
Braids form a group under concatenation.

Why everyone else is happy

Why everyone else is happy

Theorem
The braid group on n strands is the group of paths of n particles
moving in 2 dimensions.
(Jargon: the braid group is the fundamental group of the
configuration space of n particles in R2 .)

Braids in real life

Braids come up in a surprising variety of places!

In air traffic control

Braids in real life

Braids come up in a surprising variety of places!

On the sun

Braids in real life

Braids come up in a surprising variety of places!

In quantum computers

Thank you for your

attention!