Related papers: Extended signatures and link concordance
J.P. Levine showed that the Conway polynomial of a link is a product of two factors: one is the Conway polynomial of a knot which is obtained from the link by banding together the components; and the other is determined by the…
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…
Based on some analogies with the Hodge theory of isolated hypersurface singularities, we define Hodge-type numerical invariants (called H-numbers) of any, not necessarily algebraic, link in $S^3$. They contain the same information as the…
This paper studies twisted signature invariants and twisted linking forms, with a view towards obstructions to knot concordance. Given a knot $K$ and a representation $\rho$ of the knot group, we define a twisted signature function…
J. Davis showed that the topological concordance class of a link in the 3-sphere is uniquely determined by its Alexander polynomial for 2-component links with Alexander polynomial one. A similar result for knots with Alexander polynomial…
Twisted links are obtained from a base link by starting with a $n$-braid representation, choosing several ($m$) adjacent strands, and applying one or more twists to the set. Various restrictions may be applied, e.g. the twists may be…
We consider certain invariants of links in 3-manifolds, obtained by a specialization of the Turaev-Viro invariants of 3-manifolds, that we call colored Turaev-Viro invariants. Their construction is based on a presentation of a pair (M,L),…
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…
The Pontryagin dual of the twisted Alexander module for a d-component link and GL(N,Z) representation is an algebraic dynamical system with an elementary description in terms of colorings of a diagram. In the case of a knot, its associated…
The augmentation variety of a knot is the locus, in the 3-dimensional coefficient space of the knot contact homology dg-algebra, where the algebra admits a unital chain map to the complex numbers. We explain how to express the Alexander…
Stanley's symmetrized chromatic polynomial is a generalization of the ordinary chromatic polynomial to a graph invariant with values in a ring of polynomials in infnitely many variables. The ordinary chromatic polynomial is a specialization…
We prove some necessary conditions for a link to be either concordant to a quasi-positive link, quasi-positive, positive, or the closure of a positive braid. The main applications of our results are a characterisation of positive links with…
We present a new link invariant which depends on a representation of the link group in SO(3). The computer calculations indicate that an abelian version of this invariant is expressed in terms of the Alexander polynomial of the link. On the…
This paper continues math.DG/9903140. Here we construct a linking form on the torsion part of middle dimensional extended L^2 homology and cohomology of odd-dimensional manifolds. We give a geometric necessary condition when this linking…
We show that there are links whose individual components are concordant to the unknot, but which are not concordant to any link with unknotted components. We give examples in the topological category, and examples in the smooth category…
In the 1950's Milnor defined a family of higher order invariants generalizing the linking number. Even the first of these new invariants, the triple linking number, has received and fruitful study since its inception. In the case that $L$…
We study properties of the signature function of the torus knot $T_{p,q}$. First we provide a very elementary proof of the formula for the integral of the signatures over the circle. We obtain also a closed formula for the Tristram--Levine…
Let $D$ be an oriented link diagram with the set of regions $\operatorname{r}_{D}$. We define a symmetric map (or matrix) $\operatorname{\tau}_{D}\colon\operatorname{r}_{D}\times \operatorname{r}_{D} \to \mathbb{Z}[x]$ that gives rise to an…
We discuss multivariable invariants of colored links associated with the $N$-dimensional root of unity representation of the quantum group. The invariants for $N>2$ are generalizations of the multi-variable Alexander polynomial. The…
We extend the Gordon-Litherland pairing to links in thickened surfaces, and use it to define signature, determinant, and nullity invariants for links that bound (unoriented) spanning surfaces. The invariants are seen to depend only on the…