Mechanical normal forms of knots and flat knots (Q455583)

The author considers knots in \(\mathbb R^3\) build from a flexible wire of positive width. The question he addresses is: what is a possible normal form of a knot? (That is, a state of the knot that locally minimizes the energy). This state is in general not unique, it is unique for example for the unknot. The paper describes several experiments done in nature as well as effects of computer simulations. This is a beautifully written paper about a very interesting and quickly developing subject of relations between knot theory and physics. Reviewer's comment: The proof of Theorem 1 could be simplified (and the result can be probably strenghtened) if the results from \textit{A. Coward} [Algebr. Geom. Topol. 6, 659--671 (2006; Zbl 1095.57005)] were used.