Can someone provide a reference (preferably an arxiv link) to the published theorem Warren mentions at the end of his post? Jim Propp On Tuesday, December 31, 2013, Warren D Smith wrote:
The E(K) energy functional is badly behaved for "summed" knots. I.e. tie two (or more) small trefoil knots in some string, then glue the two ends of the sting together. Now the self-energies of the little trefoils will be scale-invariant, but if you tighten them thus obtaining more rope to make the whole large loop of string get greater diameter, then you (energetically) win. Hence, the knots will tighten forever to reduce total energy, and there will be no nice energy minimum.
But there is a nice energy min for "prime" knots (this is a published theorem).
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