Counting a Class of Photogenic Knots on 9×9×9 Rubik’s Cubes
David Plaxco, Adaija Warren, and Alia Davis

Proceedings of Bridges 2024: Mathematics, Art, Music, Architecture, Culture
Pages 179–186
Regular Papers

Abstract

In this paper, we introduce and explore a class of knots on 9×9×9 Rubik’s cubes that begin from the same edge permutation and follow the photogenic knot heuristics introduced in our prior work. We identify structure in the composition of the knots, specifically the possible combinations of thread crossings on a face, and develop a labeling system to help name a knot around the entire cube. However, this introduces multiple possible labels for the same knot, up to rotation of the cube. So, we then identify a method that leverages group actions to generate equivalence classes for knots (distinct orbits under the group action). We then identify 224 distinct orbits, which demonstrates that there are 224 distinct knots.

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