We prove a version of symmetric criticality for ropelength-critical knots.
Our theorem implies that a knot or link with a symmetric representative has a
ropelength-critical configuration with the same symmetry. We use this to
construct new examples of ropelength critical configurations for knots and
links which are different from the ropelength minima for these knot and link
types.Comment: This version adds references, and most importantly an
acknowledgements section which should have been in the original postin