Integrability of the Pentagram Map

The pentagram map was introduced by R. Schwartz in 1992 for convex planar polygons. Recently, V. Ovsienko, R. Schwartz, and S. Tabachnikov proved Liouville integrability of the pentagram map for generic monodromies by providing a Poisson structure and the sufficient number of integrals in involution on the space of twisted polygons. In this paper we prove algebraic-geometric integrability for any monodromy, i.e., for both twisted and closed polygons. For that purpose we show that the pentagram map can be written as a discrete zero-curvature equation with a spectral parameter, study the corresponding spectral curve, and the dynamics on its Jacobian. We also prove that on the symplectic leaves Poisson brackets discovered for twisted polygons coincide with the symplectic structure obtained from Krichever-Phong's universal formula.Comment: 33 pages, 1 figure; v3: substantially revise

Involutes of Polygons of Constant Width in Minkowski Planes

Consider a convex polygon P in the plane, and denote by U a homothetical copy of the vector sum of P and (-P). Then the polygon U, as unit ball, induces a norm such that, with respect to this norm, P has constant Minkowskian width. We define notions like Minkowskian curvature, evolutes and involutes for polygons of constant U-width, and we prove that many properties of the smooth case, which is already completely studied, are preserved. The iteration of involutes generates a pair of sequences of polygons of constant width with respect to the Minkowski norm and its dual norm, respectively. We prove that these sequences are converging to symmetric polygons with the same center, which can be regarded as a central point of the polygon P.Comment: 20 pages, 11 figure

Minimal knotted polygons in cubic lattices

An implementation of BFACF-style algorithms on knotted polygons in the simple cubic, face centered cubic and body centered cubic lattice is used to estimate the statistics and writhe of minimal length knotted polygons in each of the lattices. Data are collected and analysed on minimal length knotted polygons, their entropy, and their lattice curvature and writhe