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Related papers: Knot invariants and higher representation theory

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We define a set of "second-order" L^(2)-signature invariants for any algebraically slice knot. These obstruct a knot's being a slice knot and generalize Casson-Gordon invariants, which we consider to be "first-order signatures". As one…

Geometric Topology · Mathematics 2010-04-06 Tim Cochran , Shelly Harvey , Constance Leidy

We explain the notion of a grope cobordism between two knots in a 3-manifold. Each grope cobordism has a type that can be described by a rooted unitrivalent tree. By filtering these trees in different ways, we show how the Goussarov-Habiro…

Geometric Topology · Mathematics 2010-08-25 Jim Conant , Peter Teichner

Recent work on the loop representation of quantum gravity has revealed previously unsuspected connections between knot theory and quantum gravity, or more generally, 3-dimensional topology and 4-dimensional generally covariant physics. We…

General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology · Physics 2007-05-23 John Baez

The fundamental problem of knot theory is to know whether two knots are equivalent or not. As a tool to prove that two knots are different, mathematicians have developed various invariants. Knots invariants are just functions that can be…

Geometric Topology · Mathematics 2018-11-26 Leandro Vendramin

We discuss an infinite class of metabelian Von Neumann rho-invariants. Each one is a homomorphism from the monoid of knots to the real line. In general they are not well defined on the concordance group. Nonetheless, we show that they pass…

Geometric Topology · Mathematics 2014-10-01 Christopher William Davis

We show that the number of homomorphisms from a knot group to a finite group $G$ cannot be a Vassiliev invariant, unless it is constant on the set of $(2,2p+1)$ torus knots. In several cases, such as when $G$ is a dihedral or symmetric…

q-alg · Mathematics 2008-02-03 Daniel Altschuler

We produce combinatorial formulas for invariants of smooth embeddings of $(2\ell-1)$-spheres into $\mathbb{R}^{3\ell}$ for $\ell\geq 2$. Furthermore, we obtain such a formula for the Haefliger invariant, which classifies smooth knots…

Geometric Topology · Mathematics 2025-11-19 Neeti Gauniyal , Victor Turchin

This thesis splits into two major parts. The connection between the two parts is the notion of "categorification" which we shortly explain/recall in the introduction. In the first part of this thesis we extend Bar-Natan's cobordism based…

Quantum Algebra · Mathematics 2013-07-13 Daniel Tubbenhauer

Given a group endowed with a Z/2-valued morphism we associate a Gauss diagram theory, and show that for a particular choice of the group these diagrams encode faithfully virtual knots on a given arbitrary surface. This theory contains all…

Geometric Topology · Mathematics 2014-03-17 Arnaud Mortier

Classical knot theory deals with {\em diagrams} and {\em invariants}. By means of horizontal {\em trisecants}, we construct a new theory of classical braids with invariants valued in {\em pictures}. These pictures are closely related to…

Geometric Topology · Mathematics 2015-01-22 Vassily Olegovich Manturov

Knot theory is an active field of mathematics, in which combinatorial and computational methods play an important role. One side of computational knot theory, that has gained interest in recent years, both for complexity analysis and…

Computational Geometry · Computer Science 2025-12-09 Clément Maria , Hoel Queffelec

In the prequel of this paper, Kauffman and Ogasa introduced new topological quantum invariants of compact oriented 3-manifolds with boundary where the boundary is a disjoint union of two identical surfaces. The invariants are constructed…

Geometric Topology · Mathematics 2022-03-25 Heather A. Dye , Louis H. Kauffman , Eiji Ogasa

We show that the reduced $\mathrm{SL}_2(\mathbb{C})$-twisted Burau representation can be obtained from the quantum group $\mathcal{U}_q(\mathfrak{sl}_2)$ for $q = i$ a fourth root of unity and that representations of…

Quantum Algebra · Mathematics 2022-04-06 Calvin McPhail-Snyder

For a knot K in S^3 we construct according to Casson--or more precisely taking into account Lin and Heusener's further works--a volume form on the SU(2)-representation space of the group of K. We prove that this volume form is a topological…

Geometric Topology · Mathematics 2009-03-06 Jerome Dubois

One construction of the Alexander polynomial is as a quantum invariant associated with representations of restricted quantum $\mathfrak{sl}_2$ at a fourth root of unity. We generalize this construction to define a link invariant…

Quantum Algebra · Mathematics 2026-03-19 Matthew Harper

The paper contains an essentially self-contained treatment of Khovanov homology, Khovanov-Lee homology as well as the Rasmussen invariant for virtual knots and virtual knot cobordisms which directly applies to classical knot and classical…

Geometric Topology · Mathematics 2022-04-20 Heather A. Dye , Aaron Kaestner , Louis H. Kauffman

For non-abelian simple objects in a unitary modular category, the density of their braid group representations, the #P-hard evaluation of their associated link invariants, and the BQP-completeness of their anyonic quantum computing models…

Quantum Algebra · Mathematics 2015-06-15 Matthew B. Hastings , Chetan Nayak , Zhenghan Wang

Given a knot K in S^3, Seidel and Smith described in arXiv:1002.2648v3 a graded cohomology group Kh_{symp,inv}(K), a variant of their symplectic Khovanov cohomology group. They also constructed a spectral sequence converging to the Heegaard…

Geometric Topology · Mathematics 2015-06-25 Eamonn Tweedy

We introduce topological invariants of knots and braid conjugacy classes, in the form of differential graded algebras, and present an explicit combinatorial formulation for these invariants. The algebras conjecturally give the relative…

Geometric Topology · Mathematics 2014-11-11 Lenhard Ng

In this paper, we introduce a sequence of invariants of a knot K in S^3: the knot Floer homology groups of the preimage of K in the m-fold cyclic branched cover over K. We exhibit the knot Floer homology in the m-fold branched cover as the…

Geometric Topology · Mathematics 2009-04-23 J Elisenda Grigsby