A Note on Y-energies of Knots

Jun O'HARA
De ember 11, 2006

Abstra t
We study a 1-form whi h an be given by a ve tor in a onformally invariant way.
We then study onformally invariant fun tionals asso iated to a \Y-diagram" on the
spa e of knots whi h are made from the 1-form.

1 Introdu tion

The study was motivated to merge the following two:

In [O1 we dened the energy of a knot. It an be onsidered as the normalization
of modied ele trostati energy of a harged knot. It measures geometri omplexity
of knots. Later on, it was proved to be onformally invariant ([FHW).
On the other hand, Lin and Wang gave fun tionals asso iated to hoord diagrams
on the spa e of knots using a 1-form whi h omes from the Gauss integral formula
for the linking number ([LW).
The energy of a knot an be onsidered as the integration of the intera tion between a pair of points on a knot. Let us pro eed to study fun tionals so that more
than two points on a knot are involved in the integrands. For this purpose, we study
fun tionals asso iated to a hord diagram of the shape of \Y".
We rst show that a ve tor in R3 an give, in a onformally invariant way, a
ve tor eld, or equivalently, a 1-form on the omplement of the point from whi h the
ve tor starts. This an be done by a onformal transportation of the ve tor, whi h is
generalization of the notion introdu ed in [LO. We an play a similar game to that
in [LW by substituting this onformally invariant 1-form for the 1-form oming from
the Gauss formula for the linking number. But unfortunately, it does not work well:
It turns out that our fun tionals are either identi ally 0 or identi aly +1 for any
knot.
This arti le serves as an errata to the author's talk at the AMS Sprin Western
Se tional Meeting at San Fran is o in May 2003. He presented four kinds of Y energies; two are onfomally invariant and the other two not. But the rst one turns
out to be 0, the se ond one diverges, and the third one was already given in Lin and
Wang's paper, and the forth one an be obtained from the third one by repla ing the
integrand by its absolute value.
1

2 The results by Lin and Wang

Let us start with introdu ing the study by Lin and Wang [LW.
2.1

The linking number

Let L = K1 [K2 be a 2- omponent link in R3 with K1 = f (S 1) and K2 = g(S 1). Put

y 2 S2:
' : R3  R3 n
3 (x; y) 7! jxx yj
(1)

Dene a map 'L from a torus K1  K2 to S 2 by 'L = 'jK1 K2 . The linking number
Lk(K1 ; K2 ) of K1 and K2 is equal to the degree of 'L .
Let !S2 be the unit volume form of S 2:
3 ^ dx1 + x3 dx1 ^ dx2 :
(2)
! S2 = 41 x1 dx2 ^ dx3 + x2 dxjxj
3

Dene a 2-form ! on R3  R3 n
by ! = ' !S2 . Then the linking number an be

expressed by the Gauss integral:
Z
Z

!(x; y)
'L ! S 2 =
GI (f; g) =
K1 K2

= 41

ZZ

S1 S1

K1 K2
det(f 0(s); g0(t); f (s)

jf (s)

g(t)j3

g(t)) dsdt ;

(3)

where f (s); g(t) are onsidered as olumn ve tors and  denotes the ve tor produ t
in R3 .
2.2

Integration asso iated with hord diagrams

2.3

Gauss integral aso iated with hord diagrams

The formulae (??) and (3) an be onsidered as the integrals of the intera tions
between a pair of points on a knot or a link. We an generalize them by taking into
a ount more omplex ombinations of points.
For this purpose, it is natural to use so- alled hord diagrams whi h are used in
the study of the Kontsevi h integral of the Vassiliev invariant. Then (??) an be
onsidered to be asso iated with the \-graph" as illustrated in Figure 1, and (3)
with the \hand us graph".
It is onvenient to give the domain of the integral asso iated with a hord diagram as
a subset of a onguration spa e. Let p1;


; pn be points on an oriented knot. We
write p1 


 pn if the y li order of p1;


; pn oin ides with the orientation of
the knot. Put
Conf 3;1(K; R3 ) = f(y1; y2; y3; x) j y1; y2; y3 2K; x2 R3 n K; yj 6= yk (j 6= k) ;
(4)



UY = (y1 ; y2 ; y3 ; x) 2 Conf 3;1 (K; R3 )  y1  y2  y3 :
2

Figure 1: The \-graph"

([LW) Let ! = '!S2 as before. Dene the X -Gauss integral and
Y -Gauss integral of a knot K by
Z
!(y1 ; y3 ) ^ !(y2 ; y4);
(5)
GIX (K ) =
Denition 2.1

GIY (K ) =

y1 y2 y3 y4

UY

!(x; y1 ) ^ !(x; y2 ) ^ !(x; y3 ):

Figure 2: The \X -graph"

Theorem 2.2

(6)

Figure 3: The \Y -graph"

([BT, [LW) There holds

1 GIX (K ) 1 GIY (K ) + 1 = v2 (K );
4
3
24

where v2 (K ) is the se ond oe ient of the Conway polynomial.

2.4

Expression in terms of

1-form

In order to generalize GIY (K ) in a onformal geometri way in Subse tion 5, we give

another expression of GIY (K ).
For a ve tor v 2 Ty R3 we dene a ve tor eld XG(y; v) on R3 n fyg by


XG (y; v)(x) = 41
jxx yjy 3  v = 41 v  r jx 1 yj
(x 2 R3 n fyg);
3

and a 1-form G(y; v) on R3 n fyg by

x y; v; u) (u 2 T R3 ):
G (y; v)(u) = u
XG (y; v)(x) = det(4jx
x
yj3
Let vy denote a unit tangent ve tor to K at y. Then GIY (K ) an be expressed in
terms of this 1-form, or equivalently, by the ve tor eld as follows ([LW):
Z
GIY (K ) = dy1 dy2 dy3 G (y1 ; vy1 ) ^ G (y2 ; vy2 ) ^ G (y3 ; vy3 )
UY
Z
(7)
det (XG(y1; vy1 )(x); XG (y2; vy2 )(x); XG (y3; vy3 )(x)) dy1dy2dy3dvol x:
=
UY
Denition 2.3

Let K = f (S 1) be a knot. Dene a 1-form K on the omplement

of the knot K by
Z
Z
K (u) = G (y; vy )(u)dy = 41 det(xjx y;yjv3y ; u) dy
K

for u 2 TxR3

(x 62 K ), where vy denotes the unit tangent ve tor to K at y.

Although G (y; vy ) is not losed,
Lemma 2.4 The 1-form K is losed.
Proof: Suppose the knot K is given by K = f (S 1 ). Then
Z
4K (u) = u
1 jxx ff((ss))j3  f 0(s) ds:
S
Therefore, the 2-form dK vanishes if and only if
Z

x
f
(
s
)
0
r  1 jx f (s)j3  f (s) ds = 0;
S
whi h is the onsequen e of




x
f
(
s
)
x
f
(
s
)
0
0
r  jx f (s)j3  f (s) = (f (s)
r) jx f (s)j3


1
2
+r jx f (s)j f 0(s)
0
0
= jx f f(s()s)j3 3 f (sjx)
(xf (s)fj5(s)) (x f (s))


x
f
(
s
)
d
= ds jx f (s)j3 :
When K 0 is a knot in R3 n K then
Z
1 ZZ

=
K
4
0
K

is the linking number of K and K 0.

KK 0

det(x y; vy ; vx) dxdy

jx yj3

3 Preliminaries from onformal geometry

Denition 3.1 (Doyle and S hramm) Let C (x; y; y) (x 6= y) be the ir le whi h is

tangent to K at y that passes through x, and let vx be the unit tangent ve tor to K
at x. Dene the onformal angle K (x; y) (0  K (x; y)  ) by the angle between
C (x; y; y) and vx at x.
Lemma 3.2 ([LO) The onformal angle K (x; y) is of the order of jx yj2 near the
diagonal. To be pre ise,

K (x; y) =

p 2
0 + 2  2

jx yj2 + O(jx yj3 )

near the diagonal, where s; ;  denote the ar -length, urvature, and torsion of
d .
respe tively, and 0 means

ds

Denition 3.3

p 2 R3

by

Lemma 3.4

jT 0(r)j = jdet d T (p)j 16 :

(1) If I0 (p) is an inversion in a sphere of radius r with enter the

origin then

(2) We have

Let T be a Mobius transformation of R3 [ f1g. Dene jT 0(r)j for

jI0 (p)0 (p)j = jpjr :

(8)

jT (p) T (q)j = jT 0 (p)j jT 0(q)j jp qj

(9)
3
for a pair of points p; q in R and
jT vj = jT 0 (p)j2 jvj
(10)
for a ve tor v in Tp R3 .
dxdy
Corollary 3.5 The 2-form
jx yj2 on K K n
is onformally invariant. In other
words, if T is a Mobius transformation and x~ and y~ denote T (x) and T (y ) then


d
x
~
d
y
~

(11)
T jx~ y~j2 = jxdxdyyj2 :

4 Conformally invariant 1-form via ve tor eld

We shall onstru t a ve tor eld on R3 n fyg for a ve tor in 3Ty R3 in a onformally

invariant manner. It gives a onfomally invariant 1-form on R n fyg. We an dene
onfomally invariant fun tionals asso iated with the Y -graph in terms of this 1-form.
We make use of tangent ir les at a given ve tor in T R3 sin e a Mobius transformation maps a ir le into a ir le and tangent urves into tangent urves.
5

Figure 4: v and v^
Let x and y be a pair of points (x 6= y) and v a ve tor in Ty R3 .
Let C (y; v; x) denote the ir le through x and y whi h is tangent to v at y whose
orientation is given by v.
(1) Let v^(x) be a tangent ve tor to C (y; v; x) at x with the same norm as v. As
v^(x) is symmetri to v in the line joining x and y, it is given by

Denition 4.1



x
y
x
y
v^(x) = 2 v
jx yj jx yj v :
(12)
We all the orresponden e v 7! v^(x) the unit onformal transportation from y to x
 

([LO).
(2) Put

 
y  x y v
v~(x) = jxv^(xyj) 2 = jx 1 yj2 2 v
jxx yj
jx yj
for x; y 2 R3 (x =6 y) and v 2 Ty R3 , and all it the ve tor v onformally transported
to x. We all the orresponden e
Ty R3 3 v 7! v~(x) 2 Tx R3
the onformal transportation from y to x.

On e a ve tor eld is given, a 1-form an be dened in the same way as before.

Denition 4.2 Let v be a ven tor in Ty R3 . Dene a 1-form !e = !e (y ; v) on R3 nfyg
by
!e (u) = u
v~(x) (x 2 R3 n fyg; u 2 TxR3 ):
Remark: The 1-form !^ = !^ (y ; v) on R3 n fyg, where v is a unit ve tor in Ty R3 ,
dened by
!^ (u) = u
v^(x) (x 2 R3 n fyg; u 2 TxR3 )
was used by Helein to show the isoperimetri inequality ([H). Then the ve tor eld
and the 1-form an be expressed in terms of an inversion in a 2-sphere.
6

Lemma 4.3 Let Ip

raidus 1. Let

(p 2 R3 ) denote an inversion in the 2-sphere with enter p and

v be a ve tor in Ty R3 and x a point in R n fyg.

(1) v~(x) = Ix(v) as a ve tor.
(2) !e (y ; v)(u) = v
(Iy u) for u 2 TxR3 .
Proof: (1) Sin e v is tangent to the ir le C (y ; v; x), the ve tor Ix v is tangent to
Ix (C (y; v; x)). Sin e the tangent ve tor to C (y; v; x) at x is equal to a positive multiple
of v~(x), Ix(C (y; v; x)) is a line whose dire tion ve tor is equal to a positive multiple
of v~(x). Therefore, Ixv is a positive multiple of v~(x). Then the on lusion omes
from jIx vj = jx jvjyj2 = jv~(x)j; whi h is implied by Lemma 3.4.
(2) The image Iy (C (y; v; x)) is the line through Iy (x) whose dire tion ve tor is
equal to a positive multiple of v. Sin e v~(x) is tangent to C (y; v; x), it follows that
Iy  v~(x) is a positive multiple of v. Sin e \Iy  is a onformal mapping, we have the

following equality between angles:

\Iy  u
( v) = \Iy  u
Iy  v~(x) = \u
v~(x):
Sin e jIy uj = jx jujyj2 by Lemma 3.4, we have
!e (y ; v)(u) = u
v~(x) = (Iy  u)
( v):
As a orollary we have

: R3 n fyg ! R by
(x) = Iy (x)
v:
Then !
e (y ; v ) = d , i.e. the 1-form !e (y ; v ) is exa t.
Proof: Suppose x 2 R n fyg and u 2 Tx R3 . Then Lemma 4.3 (2) implies
d (u) = (Iy  u)
v = !e (y ; v)(u):

Proposition 4.4 Dene a map

We remark that the 1-form G(y; vy ) is not ne essarily losed.

Proposition 4.5 The !e (y ; v) is onformally invariant, i.e.
!e (T (y) ; Tv)(T u) = !e (y ; v)(u)
for any u 2 Tx R3 (x 2 R3 n fyg) and Mobius transformation T of R3 [ f1g.
Proof: Lemma 3.4 implies
jT uj = jT 0 (x)j2 juj;
(13)
0
2
jT vj = jT (y)j jvj:


jT vj
jvj
Tgv (T (x)) =
=
(14)
 

2
0
jT (y) T (x)j jT (x)j2 jx yj2 ;
7

where Tg
 v(T (x)) denotes the ve tor T v onformally transported to T (x) (Denition
4.1).
We have
\Tu
Tg
(15)
v (T (x)) = \u
v~(x):
This is be ause the right hand side is equal to the angle between u and C (y; v; x) at
x as v~(x) is tangent to the ir le C (y; v; x) at x, whereas the left hand side is equal to
the angle between Tu and T (C (y; v; x)) at T (x) as Tg
 v(T (x)) is tangent to the ir le
T (C (y; v; x)) at T (x).
Putting (13), (14), and (15) together we have
!e (T (y) ; Tv)(T u) = (T u)
Tg
 v(T (x)) = u
v~(x) = !e (y ; v)(u):

Let us play the same game as in the Subse tion 2 by substituting the onformally
invariant 1-form !e for the 1-form G oming from the Gauss formula for the linking
number. But unfortunately, it turns out that this attempt is not su essful.
A similar onstru tion of K from G(y; vy ) gives a trivial 2-form for !e (y ; vy ).
Proposition 4.6 Let !eK be a 1-form on R3 n K dened by
Z
Z
Z
0(s)(x) ds
!eK (u) = !e (y; vy )(u)dy = u
v~y (x) dy = u
1 f
K

for u 2 Tx R3 , where vy is the unit tangent ve tor to

any knot K .
Proof:

Lemma 4.3 indi ates that

Z

0 (s)(x) ds =
Ix (f 0 (s)) ds =
f
1
1

K at y.

Then !
eK vanishes for

d (I f (s)) ds = 0:
x
S1 ds

(16)
2

5 Conformally invariant Y -energy

Using the onformaly invariant 1-form given in the previous se tion we an onsider
the same onstru tion of GIY from K (7). But unfortunately, it gives a trivial
fun tional.
Let vyi (i = 1; 2; 3) be a unit tangent ve tor at yi and v^yi = v^yi (x) be the image of
vyi under the unit onformal transportation from yi to x (Denition 4.1). Let !e (y ; v)
be the 1-form given in Denition 4.2. Let UY be the domain in K 3  R3 given by (4).

Proposition 5.1 Put

Z

EY (K ) =
UY

dy1 dy2 dy3 !e (y1 ; vy1 ) ^ !e (y2 ; vy2 ) ^ !e (y3 ; vy3 )

det(^vy1 (x); v^y2 (x); v^y3 (x)) dy1dy2dy3dvolx:

jy1 xj2 jy2 xj2 jy3 xj2

Then EY (K ) = 0 for any knot K .
UY

(17)

It is enough to show the following.

Lemma 5.2 Suppose y1 6= y2 6= y3 6= y1 . Then
Z
!e (y1 ; vy1 ) ^ !e (y2 ; vy2 ) ^ !e (y3 ; vy3 ) = 0:
3
R nfy1 ;y2 ;y3 g

Dene a map i : R3 n fyig ! R (i = 1; 2; 3) by
i (x) = Iyi (x)
vyi ;
where Iyi is an inversion in a sphere with radius 1 and enter yi . Proposition 4.4
implies that
!(yi ; vyi ) = d i :
Let i (i = 1; 2; 3) be a sphere with radius " ("  1) and enter yi, and 0 a sphere
with radius R (R  1) and enter the origin. Let
";R be the domain in R3 bounded
by 0, 1, 2, and 3. Then
Z
!e (y1 ; vy1 ) ^ !e (y2 ; vy2 ) ^ !e (y3 ; vy3 )
3
Proof:

R nfy1 ;y2 ;y3 g

= "!+0lim
;R!+1
= "!+0lim
;R!+1

d( 1 d 2 ^ d 3 )

Z";R

2

1

0

Z 

3

1d 2 ^ d 3:

(i) On 0 we have j 1j = O( R1 ) and jd 2 ^ d 3j = O( R14 ) whereas Area(0 ) =

O(R2 ). Therefore
Z
lim
1 d 2 ^ d 3 = 0:
R!+1
0

(ii) On 2 we have 1 = C + O(") for some onstant C . Therefore

Z
Z
d 2^d 3
d
^
d
=
C
lim
lim
1
2
3
"!+0
"!+0
2

The same argument works for 3.

(iii) On 1 we have j 1 j = O( 1" ) and

= C "!lim+0
= 0:

2

2

d( 2 ^ d 3 )

d 2 ^ d 3 = !0 + O(")
for some onstant 2-form !0, whereas Area(1 ) = O("2). Therefore

lim+0
"!

1

1 d 2 ^ d 3 = 0:

Proposition 5.3 Put

jdet(^vy1 (x); v^y2 (x); v^y3 (x))j dy dy dy d x:

(18)
1 2 3 vol
UY jy1 xj2 jy2 xj2 jy3 xj2
Then AEY diverges for any knot K .
Proof:
The integrand blows up near the diagonal of K 3  R3 , whi h is stratied
AEY (K ) =

into strata of dierent ( o)dimensions. The ontribution of the neibhborhood of

N2 = f(y1 ; y2 ; y3 ; x) 2 K 3  R3 j x = y1 = y2 6= y3g
makes the integral diverge.
Let us x y1 and y3 (y1 6= y3). We may assume without loss of generality that the
knot K is parametrized by the ar -length as K = ([0; 1) and that y1 = (0) = 0.
Let
(") be a domain given by
o
n

(") = (y2; x) 2 K  R3 : y2 = (s); x 6= y2; 2" < s; jxj  " :

onstant ve tor v0, we have the similarity
Sin e vy3 (x) = v0 + O(") on
(") for some
"
between the integrands on
(") and
( 2 ):




 det(^v0 ( x ); v^ ( s ) ( x ); v^y3 ( x ))
2
2 = 24 det(^v0 (x); v^ (s) (x); v^y3 (x)) + O(" 3 ):
2 2
j x2 j2 j ( 2s ) x2 j2 jy3 x2 j2
jxj2 j (s) xj2 jy3 xj2
Sin e the volume of
(") is of order "4 we have
Z
jdet(^v0 (x); v^y2 (x); v^y3 (x))j dy d x
2 vol
jxj2 jy2 xj2 jy3 xj2
jdet(^v0 (x); v^y2 (x); v^y3 (x))j dy d x + O("):
=
2 vol

(") jxj2 jy2 xj2 jy3 xj2

It follows that there is a positive onstant C 0 su h that
Z
jdet(^v0 (x); v^y2 (x); v^y3 (x))j dy d x  C 0 :
2 vol
n

(2 ) jxj2 jy2 xj2 jy3 xj2

for all n 2 N. Therefore
!
Z X
1 Z
(
x
))
j
(
x
)
;
v
^
(
x
)
;
v
^
j
det(^
v
y
y
y
3
2
1
AEY (K ) 
2 jy2 xj2 jy3 xj2 dy2 dvol x dy1 dy3
xj
n ) jy1

(2
n=1
= 1:

( "2 )
Z

There is a well-dened non-trivial onformally invariant \trilo al" fun tional on the spa e of knots ([LO2). Although it is not asso iated to a Y-diagram,
the integrand involves a triplet (x; vx ); (y; vy ), and (z; vz ).
A knowledgement The author thanks R
emi Langevin deeply for many helpful
suggestions.

Remark:

10

Referen es
[BT

R. Bott and C. Taubes, On the self-linking of knots, J. of Math. Physi s 35

(1994), 5247{ 5287.
[FHW M.H. Freedman, Z-X. He and Z. Wang, Mobius energy of knots and unknots,
Ann. of Math. 139 (1994), 1{ 50.
[H F. Helein, Isoperimetri inequalities and alibrations, \Progress in Partial
Dierential Equations: the Metz surveys", M. Chipot and I. Shafrir ed.,
Pitman Resear h Notes in Mathemati s, Series 345, Longman (1996).
[LO R. Langevin and J. O'Hara, Conformally invariant energies of knots, J. Institut Math. Jussieu. 4 (2005), 219{280.
[LO2 R. Langevin and J. O'Hara. Extrinsi Conformal Geometry of Curves and
Surfa es. in preparation.
[LW X. -S. Lin. and Z. Wang, Integral geometry of plane urves and knot invariants, J. Di. Geom. 44 (1996), 74{95.
[O1 J. O'Hara, Energy of a knot, Topology 30 (1991), 241{ 247.
Department of Mathemati s, Tokyo Metropolitan University, 1-1 Minami-Ohsawa,
Ha hiouji-Shi, Tokyo 192-0397, JAPAN.
ohara omp.metro-u.a .jp

11