Related papers: Combinatorial cusp count and clover invariants

In this thesis, we prove several results concerning field-theoretic invariants of knots and 3-manifolds. In Chapter 2, for any knot $K$ in a closed, oriented 3-manifold $M$, we use $SU(2)$ representation spaces and the Lagrangian field…

We make a precision test of a recently proposed conjecture relating Chern-Simons gauge theory to topological string theory on the resolution of the conifold. First, we develop a systematic procedure to extract string amplitudes from vacuum…

The slope is an isotopy invariant of colored links with a distinguished component, initially introduced by the authors to describe an extra correction term in the computation of the signature of the splice. It appeared to be closely related…

We use the theory of sutured TQFT to classify contact elements in the sutured Floer homology, with $\Z$ coefficients, of certain sutured manifolds of the form $(\Sigma \times S^1, F \times S^1)$ where $\Sigma$ is an annulus or punctured…

Using the theory of perverse sheaves of vanishing cycles, we define a homological invariant of knots in three-manifolds, similar to the three-manifold invariant constructed by Abouzaid and the second author. We use spaces of SL(2,C) flat…

Let $\Delta$ be a trivial knot in the three-sphere. For every finite cyclic group $G$ of odd order, we construct a $G$-equivariant Khovanov homology with coefficients in the filed $\F_{2}$. This homology is an invariant of links up to…

We construct graph-valued analogues of the Kuperberg sl(3) and G2 invariants for virtual knots. The restriction of the sl(3) or G2 invariants for classical knots coincides with the usual Homflypt sl(3) invariant and G2 invariants. For…

We construct a new family of knot concordance invariants $\theta^{(q)}(K)$, where $q$ is a prime number. Our invariants are obtained from the equivariant Seiberg-Witten-Floer cohomology, constructed by the author and Hekmati, applied to the…

We define an invariant of transverse links in the standard contact 3-sphere as a distinguished element of the Khovanov homology of the link. The quantum grading of this invariant is the self-linking number of the link. For knots, this gives…

We summarize recent work on a combinatorial knot invariant called knot contact homology. We also discuss the origins of this invariant in symplectic topology, via holomorphic curves and a conormal bundle naturally associated to the knot.

We introduce Tristram-Levine signatures of virtual knots and use them to investigate virtual knot concordance. The signatures are defined first for almost classical knots, which are virtual knots admitting homologically trivial…

Khovanov homology for knots has generated a flurry of activity in the topology community. This paper studies the Khovanov type cohomology for graphs with a special attention to torsions. When the underlying algebra is $\mathbb{Z}[x]/(x^2)$,…

We find further evidence for the conjecture relating large N Chern-Simons theory on S^3 with topological string on the resolved conifold geometry by showing that the Wilson loop observable of a simple knot on S^3 (for any representation)…

We introduce a new combinatorial method to encode knots and links with applications to knot invariants. Clasp diagrams defined in this paper are combinatorial blueprints for building knot diagrams out of full twists on two strings rather…

Given a closed orientable surface (\Sigma) of genus at least two, we establish an affine isomorphism between the convex compact set of isotopy-invariant topological measures on (\Sigma) and the convex compact set of additive functions on…

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…

We propose a spectral curve describing torus knots and links in the B-model. In particular, the application of the topological recursion to this curve generates all their colored HOMFLY invariants. The curve is obtained by exploiting the…

We use grid diagrams to investigate the Ozsvath-Szabo concordance invariant tau, and to prove that |tau(K_1)-tau(K_2)|<=g, whenever there is a genus g knot cobordism joining K_1 to K_2. This leads to an entirely grid diagram-based proof of…

We conjecture the existence of almost integer invariants governing the all-genus equivariant Gromov-Witten theory of Calabi-Yau fivefolds with a torus action. We prove the conjecture for skeletal, locally anti-diagonal torus actions by…

We determine the locally flat cobordism distance between torus knots with small and large braid index, up to high precision. Here small means 2, 3, 4, or 6. As an application, we derive a surprising fact about torus knots that appear as…