A topological extension of movement primitives for curvature modulation and sampling of robot motion

This paper proposes to enrich robot motion data with trajectory curvature information. To do so, we use an approximate implementation of a topological feature named writhe, which measures the curling of a closed curve around itself, and its analog feature for two closed curves, namely the linking number. Despite these features have been established for closed curves, their definition allows for a discrete calculation that is well-defined for non-closed curves and can thus provide information about how much a robot trajectory is curling around a line in space. Such lines can be predefined by a user, observed by vision or, in our case, inferred as virtual lines in space around which the robot motion is curling. We use these topological features to augment the data of a trajectory encapsulated as a Movement Primitive (MP). We propose a method to determine how many virtual segments best characterize a trajectory and then find such segments. This results in a generative model that permits modulating curvature to generate new samples, while still staying within the dataset distribution and being able to adapt to contextual variables.

Linking Numbers in Three-Manifolds

Let M be a connected, closed, oriented three-manifold and K, L two rationally null-homologous oriented simple closed curves in M. We give an explicit algorithm for computing the linking number between K and L in terms of a presentation of M as an irregular dihedral three-fold cover of $$S^3$$ S 3 branched along a knot $$\alpha \subset S^3$$ α ⊂ S 3 . Since every closed, oriented three-manifold admits such a presentation, our results apply to all (well-defined) linking numbers in all three-manifolds. Furthermore, ribbon obstructions for a knot $$\alpha $$ α can be derived from dihedral covers of $$\alpha $$ α . The linking numbers we compute are necessary for evaluating one such obstruction. This work is a step toward testing potential counter-examples to the Slice-Ribbon Conjecture, among other applications.

A user’s guide to basic knot and link theory

We define simple invariants of knots or links (linking number, Arf-Casson invariants and Alexander-Conway polynomials) motivated by interesting results whose statements are accessible to a non-specialist or a student. The simplest invariants naturally appear in an attempt to unknot a knot or unlink a link. Then we present certain ‘skein’ recursive relations for the simplest invariants, which allow us to introduce stronger invariants. We state the Vassiliev–Kontsevich theorem in a way convenient for calculating the invariants themselves, not only the dimension of the space of the invariants. No prerequisites are required; we give rigorous definitions of the main notions in a way not obstructing intuitive understanding.

Witten effect, anomaly inflow, and charge teleportation

We study a phenomenon that electric charges are “teleported” between two spatially separated objects without exchanging charged particles at all. For example, this phenomenon happens between a magnetic monopole and an axion string in four dimensions, two vortices in three dimensions, and two M5-branes in M-theory in which M2-charges are teleported. This is realized by anomaly inflow into these objects in the presence of cubic Chern-Simons terms. In particular, the Witten effect on magnetic monopoles can be understood as a general consequence of anomaly inflow, which implies that some anomalous quantum mechanics must live on them. Charge violation occurs in the anomalous theories living on these objects, but it happens in such a way that the total charge is conserved between the two spatially separated objects. We derive a formula for the amount of the charge which is teleported between the two objects in terms of the linking number of their world volumes in spacetime.

On the indeterminacy of Milnor’s triple linking number

In the 1950s Milnor defined a family of higher-order invariants generalizing the linking number. Even the first of these new invariants, the triple linking number, has received fruitful study since its inception. In the case that a link [Formula: see text] has vanishing pairwise linking numbers, this triple linking number gives an integer-valued invariant. When the linking numbers fail to vanish, the triple linking number is only well-defined modulo their greatest common divisor. In recent work Davis–Nagel–Orson–Powell produce a single invariant called the total triple linking number refining the triple linking number and taking values in an abelian group called the total Milnor quotient. They present examples for which this quotient is nontrivial even though each of the individual triple linking numbers take values in the trivial group, [Formula: see text], and so carry no information. As a consequence, the total triple linking number carries more information than do the classical triple linking numbers. The goal of this paper is to compute this group and show that when [Formula: see text] is a link of at least six components it is nontrivial. Thus, this total triple linking number carries information for every [Formula: see text]-component link, even though the classical triple linking numbers often carry no information.

On Bennequin-type inequalities for links in tight contact 3-manifolds

We prove that a version of the Thurston–Bennequin inequality holds for Legendrian and transverse links in a rational homology contact 3-sphere [Formula: see text], whenever [Formula: see text] is tight. More specifically, we show that the self-linking number of a transverse link [Formula: see text] in [Formula: see text], such that the boundary of its tubular neighborhood consists of incompressible tori, is bounded by the Thurston norm [Formula: see text] of [Formula: see text]. A similar inequality is given for Legendrian links by using the notions of positive and negative transverse push-off. We apply this bound to compute the tau-invariant for every strongly quasi-positive link in [Formula: see text]. This is done by proving that our inequality is sharp for this family of smooth links. Moreover, we use a stronger Bennequin inequality, for links in the tight 3-sphere, to generalize this result to quasi-positive links and determine their maximal self-linking number.