AG&T Student presentations

14.07.2026, 12:15  –  Campus Golm, Building 9, Room 0.12
Forschungsseminar Angewandte Geometrie und Topologie

Ella Kirschner

Knot theory in physics: An application of the Alexander polynomial to CR3BP trajectories

To make use of knot theory in astrophysics, I will introduce a modified version of the three-body problem, the so-called CR3BP. To classify orbit families, I will define the Alexander polynomial, a knot invariant.

The paper "Application and implication of knot theory to the circular restricted three-body problem" by Mason R. Mill and Robert A. Bettinger, which my talk is based on, is the first paper to identify non-trivial knots in the CR3BP trajectories.