Related papers: Wilson Loop Invariants from $W_N$ Conformal Blocks
This article surveys the use of configuration space integrals in the study of the topology of knot and link spaces. The main focus is the exposition of how these integrals produce finite type invariants of classical knots and links. More…
We extend the notion of intersection graphs for knots in the theory of finite type invariants to string links. We use our definition to develop weight systems for string links via the adjacency matrix of the intersection graph, and show…
We describe an alternative way of computing Alexander polynomials of knots/links, based on the Artin representation of the corresponding braids by automorphisms of a free group. Then we apply the same method to other representations of…
Following the suggestion of arXiv:1407.6319 to lift the knot polynomials for virtual knots and links from Jones to HOMFLY, we apply the evolution method to calculate them for an infinite series of twist-like virtual knots and antiparallel…
Polyak showed that any Milnor's $\overline{\mu}$-invariant of length 3 can be represented as a combination of Conway polynomials of knots obtained by certain band sum of the link components. On the other hand, Habegger and Lin showed that…
Topological gauge theories in four dimensions which admit surface operators provide a natural framework for realizing homological knot invariants. Every such theory leads to an action of the braid group on branes on the corresponding moduli…
A Gauss diagram is a simple, combinatorial way to present a knot. It is known that any Vassiliev invariant may be obtained from a Gauss diagram formula that involves counting (with signs and multiplicities) subdiagrams of certain…
In "Homfly polynomial via an invariant of colored plane graphs", Murakami, Ohtsuki, and Yamada provide a state-sum description of the level $n$ Jones polynomial of an oriented link in terms of a suitable braided monoidal category whose…
We construct knot invariants from solutions to the Yang--Baxter equation associated to appropriately generalized left/right Yetter--Drinfel'd modules over a braided Hopf algebra with an automorphism. When applied to Nichols algebras, our…
We initiate the study of classical knots through the homotopy class of the n-th evaluation map of the knot, which is the induced map on the compactified n-point configuration space. Sending a knot to its n-th evaluation map realizes the…
Many knots and links in S^3 can be drawn as gluing of three manifolds with one or more four-punctured S^2 boundaries. We call these knot diagrams as double fat graphs whose invariants involve only the knowledge of the fusion and the…
In this survey we summarize results regarding the Kauffman bracket, HOMFLYPT, Kauffman 2-variable and Dubrovnik skein modules, and the Alexander polynomial of links in lens spaces, which we represent as mixed link diagrams. These invariants…
Using the correspondence between Chern-Simons theories and Wess-Zumino-Witten models we present the necessary tools to calculate colored HOMFLY polynomials for hyperbolic knots. For two-bridge hyperbolic knots we derive the colored HOMFLY…
The recently suggested tangle calculus for knot polynomials is intimately related to topological string considerations and can help to build the HOMFLY-PT invariants from the topological vertices. We discuss this interplay in the simplest…
It has been argued based on electric-magnetic duality that the Jones polynomial of a knot in three dimensions can be computed by counting the solutions of certain gauge theory equations in four-dimension. And the Euler characteristic of…
We introduce 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 via surgery on manifolds of the form $F \times I$…
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…
Chern-Simons gauge theory, since its inception as a topological quantum field theory, has proved to be a rich source of understanding for knot invariants. In this work the theory is used to explore the definition of the expectation value of…
In this paper we discuss topological BF theories in 3 and 4 dimensions. Observables are associated to ordinary knots and links (in 3 dimensions) and to 2-knots (in 4 dimensions). The vacuum expectation values of such observables give a wide…
We introduce a framework to analyze knots and links in an unmarked solid torus. We discuss invariants that detect when such links are equivalent under an ambient homeomorphism, and show that the multivariable Alexander polynomial is such in…