On an alternative stratification of knots

Abstract

We introduce an alternative stratification of knots: by the size of lattice on which a knot can be first met. Using this classification, we find ratio of unknots and knots with more than 10 minimal crossings inside different lattices and answer the question which knots can be realized inside 3 × 3 and 5 × 5 lattices. In accordance with previous research, the ratio of unknots decreases exponentially with the growth of the lattice size. Our computational results are approved with theoretical estimates for amounts of knots with fixed crossing number lying inside lattices of given size.