{"paper":{"title":"A lower bound on critical points of the electric potential of a knot","license":"http://arxiv.org/licenses/nonexclusive-distrib/1.0/","headline":"","cross_cats":["math.GT"],"primary_cat":"math.DS","authors_text":"Max Lipton","submitted_at":"2019-08-06T03:45:06Z","abstract_excerpt":"Given a knot $K$ parametrized by $r: [0,2\\pi] \\to \\mathbb{R}^3$, we can define the electric potential on its complement by $\\Phi(x) = \\int_0^{2\\pi} \\frac{|r'(t)|}{|x - r(t)|}dt$. Physicists and knot theorists want to understand the critical points of the potential and their behavior.\n  The tunneling number $t(K)$ of a knot is the smallest number of arcs one needs to add to a knot so the complement is a handlebody. We show the number of critical points of the potential is at least $2t(K) + 2$. The result is proven using Morse theory and stable manifold theory."},"claims":{"count":0,"items":[],"snapshot_sha256":"258153158e38e3291e3d48162225fcdb2d5a3ed65a07baac614ab91432fd4f57"},"source":{"id":"1908.01942","kind":"arxiv","version":6},"verdict":{"id":null,"model_set":{},"created_at":null,"strongest_claim":"","one_line_summary":"","pipeline_version":null,"weakest_assumption":"","pith_extraction_headline":""},"integrity":{"clean":true,"summary":{"advisory":0,"critical":0,"by_detector":{},"informational":0},"endpoint":"/pith/1908.01942/integrity.json","findings":[],"available":true,"detectors_run":[],"snapshot_sha256":"c28c3603d3b5d939e8dc4c7e95fa8dfce3d595e45f758748cecf8e644a296938"},"references":{"count":0,"sample":[],"resolved_work":0,"snapshot_sha256":"258153158e38e3291e3d48162225fcdb2d5a3ed65a07baac614ab91432fd4f57","internal_anchors":0},"formal_canon":{"evidence_count":0,"snapshot_sha256":"258153158e38e3291e3d48162225fcdb2d5a3ed65a07baac614ab91432fd4f57"},"author_claims":{"count":0,"strong_count":0,"snapshot_sha256":"258153158e38e3291e3d48162225fcdb2d5a3ed65a07baac614ab91432fd4f57"},"builder_version":"pith-number-builder-2026-05-17-v1"}