Enumerating Nontrivial Knot Mosaics with SAT (Student Abstract)

Abstract

Mathematical knots are interesting topological objects. Using simple arcs, lines, and crossings drawn on eleven possible tiles, knot mosaics are a representation of knots on a mosaic board. Our contribution is using SAT solvers as a tool for enumerating nontrivial knot mosaics. By encoding constraints for local knot mosaic properties, we computationally reduce the search space by factors of up to 6600. Our future research directions include encoding constraints for global properties and using parallel SAT techniques to attack larger boards.