Related papers: Shadows of 2-knots and complexity
The shadow-complexity is an invariant of closed $4$-manifolds defined by using $2$-dimensional polyhedra called Turaev's shadows, which, roughly speaking, measures how complicated a $2$-skeleton of the $4$-manifold is. In this paper, we…
We introduce shadow structures for singular knot theory. Precisely, we define \emph{two} invariants of singular knots and links. First, we introduce a notion of action of a singquandle on a set to define a shadow counting invariant of…
The special shadow-complexity is an invariant of closed $4$-manifolds defined by Costantino using Turaev's shadows. We show that for any positive integer $k$, the special shadow-complexity of the connected sum of $k$ copies of $S^1\times…
We study the set of all closed oriented smooth 4-manifolds experimentally, according to a suitable complexity defined using Turaev's shadows. This complexity roughly measures how complicated the 2-skeleton of the 4-manifold is. We…
Turaev's shadow formula calculates the SU(2)-Reshetikhin-Turaev-Witten invariants using shadows, and its expression is somehow similar to a Euler characteristic. We give a short proof of this formula using skein theory. The formula applies…
We give a self-contained introduction to the theory of Turaev's shadows as a tool to study 3 and 4-manifolds. The goal of the present paper twofold: on one side it is intended to be a shortcut to a basic use of the theory of shadows, on the…
In this paper we describe what should perhaps be called a `type-2' Vassiliev invariant of knots S^2 -> S^4. We give a formula for an invariant of 2-knots, taking values in Z_2 that can be computed in terms of the double-point diagram of the…
This short survey, which was written to accompany a minicourse at the BIRS conference "Topology in dimension 4.5", concerns invariants of knotted $2$-spheres in $S^4$, also known as $2$-knots. It covers invariants extracted from the…
This is a PhD thesis about low dimensional topology, in particular knot thory in 3-manifolds also different from the 3-sphere, topological applications of quantum invariants, and Turaev's shadows. There is an introduction and a survey for…
We show that for each even integer $m\ge 2$, every reduced shadow with sufficiently many crossings is a shadow of a torus knot T(2,m+1), or of a twist knot $T_m$, or of a connected sum of $m$ trefoil knots.
We prove that a closed 4-manifold has shadow-complexity zero if and only if it is a kind of 4-dimensional graph manifold, which decomposes into some particular blocks along embedded copies of S^2 x S^1, plus some complex projective spaces.…
Vassiliev's knot invariants can be computed in different ways but many of them as Kontsevich integral are very difficult. We consider more visual diagram formulas of the type Polyak-Viro and give new diagram formula for the two basic…
Quandle cocycle invariants form a powerful and well developed tool in knot theory. This paper treats their variations - namely, positive and twisted quandle cocycle invariants, and shadow invariants. We interpret the former as particular…
The Turaev genus of a knot is a topological measure of how far a given knot is from being alternating. Recent work by several authors has focused attention on this interesting invariant. We discuss how the Turaev genus is related to other…
We construct two complete invariants of oriented classical knots in space. The value of each invariant on any knot is a set, infinite for the first invariant and finite for the second. The finite set is computed algorithmically from any…
In this paper we investigate the 0-concordance classes of 2-knots in $S^4$, an equivalence relation that is related to understanding smooth structures on 4-manifolds. Using Rochlin's invariant, and invariants arising from Heegaard-Floer…
We construct families of trivial $2$-knots $K_i$ in $\mathbb{R}^4$ such that the maximal complexity of $2$-knots in any isotopy connecting $K_i$ with the standard unknot grows faster than a tower of exponentials of any fixed height of the…
We discuss different invariants of knots and links that depend on a primitive root of unity. We clarify the definitions of existing invariants with the Reshetikhin-Turaev method, present the generalization of ADO invariants to…
A polynomial is presented that models a topological knot in a unique manner. It distinguishes all types of knots including the orientation and has a group theory interpretation. The topologies may be labeled via a number, which upon a base…
We will announce some results on the values of quantum sl_2 invariants of knots and integral homology spheres. Lawrence's universal sl_2 invariant of knots takes values in a fairly small subalgebra of the center of the h-adic version of the…