Combinatorics Seminar - Iván Rasskin (TU Graz)

16:15-18:00

Speaker: Iván Rasskin (TU Graz)

Title: Connecting numbers with knots through polytopes and sphere packings

Abstract: How many spheres are needed to construct a closed knotted necklace? Behind this question lies a deep connection between geometric knot theory, sphere packings, polytopes and number theory. In this talk, we will see how these different theories are linked by describing a method for constructing sphere packings containing optimal knotted necklaces, which at the same time produces solutions of certain Diophantine equations.