Related papers: Three-component link homotopy
We define numerical link-homotopy invariants of link maps of any number of components, which naturally generalize the Kirk invariant. The Kirk invariant is a link-homotopy invariant of 2-component link maps given by linking numbers of loops…
Three-component links in the 3-dimensional sphere were classified up to link homotopy by John Milnor in his senior thesis, published in 1954. A complete set of invariants is given by the pairwise linking numbers p, q and r of the…
We use Kirk's invariant of link maps $S^2\sqcup S^2\to S^4$ and its variations due to Koschorke and Kirk-Livingston to deduce results about classical links. Namely, we give a new proof of the Nakanishi-Ohyama classification of two-component…
Link homotopy has been an active area of research for knot theorists since its introduction by Milnor in the 1950s. We introduce a new equivalence relation on spatial graphs called component homotopy, which reduces to link homotopy in the…
We affirmatively address the question of whether the proposed link homotopy invariant $\omega$ of Li is well-defined. It is also shown that if one wishes to adapt the homotopy invariant $\tau$ of Schneiderman-Teichner to a link homotopy…
To each three-component link in the 3-sphere, we associate a geometrically natural characteristic map from the 3-torus to the 2-sphere, and show that the pairwise linking numbers and Milnor triple linking number that classify the link up to…
We study configuration space integral formulas for Milnor's homotopy link invariants, showing that they are in correspondence with certain linear combinations of trivalent trees. Our proof is essentially a combinatorial analysis of a…
It is an open problem whether Kirk's $\sigma$ invariant is the complete obstruction to a link map $S^2\cup S^2\to S^4$ being link homotopically trivial. With the objective of constructing counterexamples, Li proposed a link homotopy…
We show that for links with at most 5 components, the only finite type homotopy invariants are products of the linking numbers. In contrast, we show that for links with at least 9 components, there must exist finite type homotopy invariants…
An ordered and oriented 2-component link L in the 3-sphere is said to be achiral if it is ambient isotopic to its mirror image ignoring the orientation and ordering of the components. Kirk-Livingston showed that if L is achiral then the…
Given an $m$-component link $L$ in $S^3$ ($m \ge 2$), we construct a family of links which are link homotopic, but not link isotopic, to $L$. Every proper sublink of such a link is link isotopic to the corresponding sublink of $L$.…
Meier and Zupan showed that every surface in the four-sphere admits a bridge trisection and can therefore be represented by three simple tangles. This raises the possibility of applying methods from link homology to knotted surfaces. We use…
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 prove the analogue of the Concordance Implies Isotopy in Codimension $\ge 3$ Theorem for link maps, together with some other its singular analogues. In the case of spherical link maps, a stronger result was independently obtained by P.…
We define a notion of finite type invariants for links with a fixed linking matrix. We show that Milnor's triple link homotopy invariant is a finite type invariant, of type 1, in this sense. We also generalize the approach to Milnor's…
Koschorke introduced a map from the space of closed $n$-component links to the ordered configuration space of $n$-tuples of points in $\mathbb{R}^3$, and conjectured that this map separates homotopy links. The purpose of this paper is to…
We describe a new approach to triple linking invariants and integrals, aiming for a simpler, wider and more natural applicability to the search for higher order helicities of fluid flows and magnetic fields. To each three-component link in…
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…
Using elementary counting methods of weight systems for finite type invariants of knots and integral homology 3-spheres, in the spirit of [B-NG], we answer positively three questions raised in [Ga]. In particular, we exhibit a one-to-one…
Following the approach to grid homology of links in $S^3$, we prove combinatorially that the grid homology of links in lens spaces defined by Baker, Grigsby, and Hedden is a link invariant. Further, using the sign assignment defined by…