Related papers: The Trieste look at Knot Theory
These are the notes for a mini-course on the problem of determining knots by means of their cyclic branched coverings given at the Workshop on Branched Covers held at IMUS in Seville from November 17 to 21, 2025.
The colored Jones function of a knot is a sequence of Laurent polynomials. It was shown by TTQ. Le and the author that such sequences are $q$-holonomic, that is, they satisfy linear $q$-difference equations with coefficients Laurent…
We prove an explicit formula for the tail of the colored Jones polynomial for a class of arborescent links in terms of a product of theta functions and/or false theta functions. We also provide numerical evidence towards a classification of…
We confirm the AJ conjecture [Ga04] that relates the A-polynomial and the colored Jones polynomial for those hyperbolic knots satisfying certain conditions. In particular, we show that the conjecture holds true for some classes of…
In this paper, we use skein-theoretic techniques to classify all virtual knot polynomials and trivalent graph invariants with certain smallness conditions. The first half of the paper classifies all virtual knot polynomials giving…
We define new invariants of knots by means of quandle colorings and longitudinal information. These invariants can be applied to a tangle embedding problem and recognizing non-classical virtual knots.
A triangulation of a polygon is a subdivision of it into triangles, using diagonals between its vertices. Two different triangulations of a polygon can be related by a sequence of flips: a flip replaces a diagonal by the unique other…
It has been folklore for several years in the knot theory community that certain integrals on configuration space, originally motivated by perturbation theory for the Chern-Simons field theory, converge and yield knot invariants. This was…
The theory of quandle (co)homology and cocycle knot invariants is rapidly being developed. We begin with a summary of these recent advances. One such advance is the notion of a dynamical cocycle. We show how dynamical cocycles can be used…
The altenating knots, links and twists projected on the S_2 sphere are identified with the phase Space of a Hamiltonian dynamic system of one degree of freedom. The saddles of the system correspond to the crossing points, the edges, to the…
Consider the Chern-Simons topological quantum field theory with gauge group SU(2) and level k. Given a knot in the 3-sphere, this theory associates to the knot exterior an element in a vector space. We call this vector the knot state and…
We study RNA foldings and investigate their topology using a combination of knot theory and embedded rigid vertex graphs. Knot theory has been helpful in modeling biomolecules, but classical knots place emphasis on a biomolecule's…
For a reduced alternating diagram of a knot with a prime determinant $p,$ the Kauffman-Harary conjecture states that every non-trivial Fox $p$-coloring of the knot assigns different colors to its arcs. In this paper, we prove a…
The most tight conformations of prime knots are found with the use of the SONO algorithm. Their curvature and torsion profiles are calculated. Symmetry of the knots is analysed. Connections with the physics of polymers are discussed.
The AJ conjecture, formulated by Garoufalidis, relates the A-polynomial and the colored Jones polynomial of a knot in the 3-sphere. It has been confirmed for all torus knots, some classes of two-bridge knots and pretzel knots, and most…
This paper is an introduction to the subject of virtual knot theory, combined with a discussion of some specific new theorems about virtual knots. The new results are as follows: We prove, using a 3-dimensional topology approach that if a…
We generalise the finite biquandle colouring invariant to a polynomial invariant based on labelling a knot diagram with a finite birack that reduces to the biquandle colouring invariant in that case. The polynomial is an invariant of a…
This survey explores knot polynomials and their categorification, culminating in the homological invariants of knots. We begin with an overview of classical knot polynomials, progressing towards the superpolynomial and its role in unifying…
Determining when two knots are equivalent (more precisely isotopic) is a fundamental problem in topology. Here we formulate this problem in terms of Predicate Calculus, using the formulation of knots in terms of braids and some basic…
By applying a variant of the TQFT constructed by Blanchet, Habegger, Masbaum, and Vogel, and using a construction of Ohtsuki, we define a module endomorphism for each knot K by using a tangle obtained from a surgery presentation of K. We…