The Gradient Flow of O'Hara's Knot Energies

Abstract

Jun O'Hara invented a family of knot energies $E^{j,p}$, $j,p \in (0, \infty)$. We study the negative gradient flow of the sum of one of the energies $E^\alpha = E^{\alpha,1}$, $\alpha \in (2,3)$, and a positive multiple of the length. Showing that the gradients of these knot energies can be written as the normal part of a quasilinear operator, we derive short time existence results for these flows. We then prove long time existence and convergence to critical points.