Quasipositive links and electromagnetism

Abstract

For every link L we construct a complex algebraic plane curve that intersects S3 transversally in a link L˜ that contains L as a sublink. This construction proves that every link L is the sublink of a quasipositive link that is a satellite of the Hopf link. The explicit construction of the corresponding complex polynomial f:C2→C can be used to give upper bounds on its degree and to create arbitrarily knotted null lines in electromagnetic fields, sometimes referred to as vortex knots. Furthermore, these null lines are topologically stable for all time. We also show that the time evolution of electromagnetic fields as given by Bateman's construction and a choice of time-dependent stereographic projection can be understood as a continuous family of contactomorphisms with knotted field lines of the electric and magnetic fields corresponding to Legendrian knots.