Generalized Gauss maps and integrals for three-component links: Toward higher helicities for magnetic fields and fluid flows

Abstract

To each three-component link in the 3-sphere we associate a generalized Gauss map from the 3-torus to the 2-sphere, and show that the pairwise linking numbers and Milnor triple linking number that classify the link up to link homotopy correspond to the Pontryagin invariants that classify its generalized Gauss map up to homotopy. We view this as a natural extension of the familiar situation for two-component links in 3-space, where the linking number is the degree of the classical Gauss map from the 2-torus to the 2-sphere. The generalized Gauss map, like its prototype, is geometrically natural in the sense that it is equivariant with respect to orientationpreserving isometries of the ambient space, thus positioning it for application to physical situations. When the pairwise linking numbers of a three-component link are all zero, we give an integral formula for the triple linking number analogous to the Gauss integral for the pairwise linking numbers. This new integral is also geometrically natural, like its prototype, in the sense that the integrand is invariant under orientation-preserving isometries of the ambient space. Versions of this integral have been applied by Komendarczyk in special cases to problems of higher order helicity and derivation of lower bounds for the energy of magnetic fields. We have set this entire paper in the 3-sphere because our generalized Gauss map is easiest to present here, but in a subsequent paper we will give the corresponding maps and integral formulas in Euclidean 3-space. C 2013 American Institute of Physics.

Magnetic helicity in multiply connected domains

“…Although it is possible to develop topological invariants in this domain (e.g. DeTurck et al 2013), the physical significance of these quantities remains to investigated in depth.…”

Strong solvability of regularized stochastic Landau–Lifshitz–Gilbert equation

“…Moreover, by interpolation (Corollary 2.1), the solution of (1.6) is almost surely continuous in space and time. It therefore preserves (almost surely) the topology of the initial data, analytically described in terms of the so-called Hopf-Pontryagin invariants, see [5] for a modern analytical approach and Section 3 in [16] for a modern geometric exposition. In the context of string-like topological solitons in magnets as examined in [36], the situation of fields m : R 3 → S 2 defined on the entire Euclidean space is particularly relevant.…”

Tree invariants and Milnor linking numbers with indeterminacy

“…In the last paragraph of this introduction we mention that the applications of Milnor linking numbers are fairly broad; including distant areas such as topological fluid dynamics or plasma physics, c.f. [8,19,7,14]. In the forthcoming paper: [15], we show how the arrow diagrammatic formulation of linking numbers can be applied to address a geometric question of Freedman and Krushkal [9], concerning estimates for thickness of n-component links.…”