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Publications [#330521] of Lenhard L. Ng

Papers Published

  1. Cieliebak, K; Ekholm, T; Latschev, J; Ng, L, Knot contact homology, string topology, and the cord algebra, Journal de l'Ecole Polytechnique - Mathematiques, vol. 4 (January, 2017), pp. 661-780, Cellule MathDoc/CEDRAM [doi]
    (last updated on 2024/03/28)

    Abstract:
    The conormal Lagrangian LK of a knot K in R3 is the submanifold of the cotangent bundle T∗R3 consisting of covectors along K that annihilate tangent vectors to K. By intersecting with the unit cotangent bundle S∗R3, one obtains the unit conormal ΛK, and the Legendrian contact homology of ΛK is a knot invariant of K, known as knot contact homology. We define a version of string topology for strings in R3 ∪ LK and prove that this is isomorphic in degree 0 to knot contact homology. The string topology perspective gives a topological derivation of the cord algebra (also isomorphic to degree 0 knot contact homology) and relates it to the knot group. Together with the isomorphism this gives a new proof that knot contact homology detects the unknot. Our techniques involve a detailed analysis of certain moduli spaces of holomorphic disks in T∗R3 with boundary on R3 ∪ LK.

 

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