Conway Sphere
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In mathematical
knot theory In topology, knot theory is the study of knot (mathematics), mathematical knots. While inspired by knots which appear in daily life, such as those in shoelaces and rope, a mathematical knot differs in that the ends are joined so it cannot be und ...
, a Conway sphere, named after
John Horton Conway John Horton Conway (26 December 1937 – 11 April 2020) was an English mathematician. He was active in the theory of finite groups, knot theory, number theory, combinatorial game theory and coding theory. He also made contributions to many b ...
, is a
2-sphere A sphere (from Greek , ) is a surface analogous to the circle, a curve. In solid geometry, a sphere is the set of points that are all at the same distance from a given point in three-dimensional space.. That given point is the ''center' ...
intersecting a given knot or link in a
3-manifold In mathematics, a 3-manifold is a topological space that locally looks like a three-dimensional Euclidean space. A 3-manifold can be thought of as a possible shape of the universe. Just as a sphere looks like a plane (geometry), plane (a tangent ...
transversely in four points. In a
knot diagram In topology, knot theory is the study of mathematical knots. While inspired by knots which appear in daily life, such as those in shoelaces and rope, a mathematical knot differs in that the ends are joined so it cannot be undone, the simplest k ...
, a Conway sphere can be represented by a simple closed curve crossing four points of the knot, the cross-section of the sphere; such a curve does not always exist for an arbitrary knot diagram of a knot with a Conway sphere, but it is always possible to choose a diagram for the knot in which the sphere can be depicted in this way. A Conway sphere is ''essential'' if it is
incompressible Incompressible may refer to: * Incompressible flow, in fluid mechanics * incompressible vector field, in mathematics * Incompressible surface, in mathematics * Incompressible string, in computing {{Disambig ...
in the
knot complement In mathematics, the knot complement of a tame knot ''K'' is the space where the knot is not. If a knot is embedded in the 3-sphere, then the complement is the 3-sphere minus the space near the knot. To make this precise, suppose that ''K'' is a ...
. Sometimes, this condition is included in the definition of Conway spheres.


References

Knot theory John Horton Conway {{knottheory-stub