There are four (plenary) keynote lectures. Each keynote Arsuaga/Vazquezs accompanied by a total of up to 9 hours of (sectional) small group tutorials/problem groups, participants choose their preferred tutorial. The results of the tutorials will be presented on Saturday before lunch.

Additionally there are lectures by Louis Kauffman which are accessible to a broader audience.

On Monday there is a reception and poster session where each participant can present their work.

Program

Monday
(June 5)		 Tuesday
(June 6)		 Wednesday
(June 7)		 Thursday
(June 8)		 Friday
(June 9)		 Saturday
(June 10)
08:00-08:50 Registration
08:50-09:00 Opening
09:00-10:00 Arsuaga/Vazquez[1]
(1)
 Sazdanovic[1]
(2)		 Moffatt/Ricca[1]
(3)		 Tutorial[2]
(5)		 Strzelecki/von der Mosel[1]
(4)		 Tutorial[2]
(9)
10:15-11:15 Sazdanovic[1]
(1)		 Moffatt/Ricca[1]
(2)		 Strzelecki/von der Mosel[1]
(3)		 Tutorial[2]
(6)		 Arsuaga/Vazquez[1]
(4)		 Final Presentations[1]
11:30-12:30 Moffatt/Ricca[1]
(1)		 Kauffman[1]
(1)		 Kauffman[1]
(2)		 Kauffman[1]
(3)		 Moffatt/Ricca[1]
(4)		 Final Presentations[1]
14:00-15:00 Strzelecki/von der Mosel[1]
(1)		 Strzelecki/von der Mosel[1]
(2)		 Arsuaga/Vazquez[1]
(3)		 Excursion Sazdanovic[1]
(4)
15:15-16:15 Tutorial[2]
(1)		 Arsuaga/Vazquez[1]
(2)		 Sazdanovic[1]
(3)		 Tutorial[2]
(7)
16:30-17:30 Tutorial[2]
(2)		 Knotplot-Intro[1],
Tutorial[2]
(3)		 Tutorial[2]
(4)		 Tutorial[2]
(8)
19:30-... Reception/
Poster Session[3]		 Kauffman
(public lecture)[4]		 Dinner

Venues:
[1] Hörsaal Virologie, Hermann-Herder-Str. 11
[2] Mathematisches Institut, Eckerstr. 1, Seminar-Rooms
[3] Mathematisches Institut, Eckerstr. 1, Room 404
[4] KG II, Platz der Alten Synagoge 1, Room HS 2006

Abstracts

Javier Arsuaga/Mariel Vazquez

  • 1. Introduction to DNA topology: enzymes that unknot and unlink DNA by local reconnection and local crossing changes (Tutorial Slides)
  • 2. The tangle method: Modeling local reconnection using band surgery
  • 3. Analysis of DNA packing in viruses using random knotting
  • 4. Random linking of minicircles in trypanosomes
Tutorials will be in: Eckerstr. 1, SR 127 and (possibly) SR 318

On Tuesday, 16:30-17:30, we will give an introduction to knotplot (in the plenary lecture hall, Hörsaal Virologie, Hermann-Herder-Str. 11). Please install knotplot beforehand on your personal computer if you want to participate.

Keith Moffatt/Renzo Ricca

  • 1. Helicity and its role in dynamo theory
  • 2. Relaxation under topological constraints
  • 3. Minimum energy states of knots and links
  • 4. Topological jumps of minimum area soap-films
Lecture Notes

Tutorials will be in: Eckerstr. 1, SR 125 and (possibly) SR 414

Radmila Sazdanović

  • 1. Introduction to Khovanov link homology (Slides)
  • 2. More on Khovanov homology (Slides)
  • 3. Torsion in Khovanov link homology (Slides)
  • 4. Quantum invariants of links and 3-manifolds
Tutorials will be in: Eckerstr. 1, SR 218.

Paweł Strzelecki/Heiko von der Mosel:

  • 1. Introduction: regularity of finite energy curves.
  • 2. Average crossing number estimates and other corollaries of regularity.
  • 3. Characterizing finite energy curves
  • 4. Symmetric critical knots
Tutorials will be in: Eckerstr. 1, SR 119.

Louis H. Kauffman

Physical Knots

This talk is a tour of visual ideas relating knots to situations in natural science. We will begin with knots and DNA and the production of knots in DNA recombination. Then we will show a movie of knotted vortices in water (courtesy of the work of William Irvine at the University of Chicago). Irvine and his group accomplished a feat that is the equivalent of blowing a knotted smoke ring! We discuss the possibility of knotted gluon fields in relation to the complexity of knots measured by rope length. We discuss the possibility of framed braids as a basis for elementary particles. And, time permitting, we discuss the pioneering work of Edward Witten on the nature of knot invariants. The talk is self-contained, no lower age limit required.
Links and References:

School Dinner

will take place in Restaurant Golderner Engel which is located in the Glottertal in the Black Forrest. There are two options to get there:
  • You can hike there (weather permitting, ca. 13 km)
  • At 19:00 (sharp!) a bus leaves from the front of the Mathematics Building (Eckerstr. 1)
The dinner starts at 19:30, the bus will take us back at 22:00.

The dinner is included for speaker, tutors, and funded participants, they only have to pay the drinks.






Funded by

Organizers:

Simon Blatt - Philipp Reiter - Armin Schikorra