Related papers: The fourth skein module and the Montesinos-Nakanis…
This paper is based on my talks (`Skein modules with a cubic skein relation: properties and speculations' and `Symplectic structure on colorings, Lagrangian tangles and its applications') given in Kyoto (RIMS), September 11 and September 18…
Skein lasagna modules are a recent tool developed for the study of 4-manifolds. We provide general formula for 1-, 2-, and 3-handle attachments for skein modules defined with any functorial link theory in $S^3 \times I$ generalizing…
It is natural to try to place the new polynomial invariants of links in algebraic topology (e.g. to try to interpret them using homology or homotopy groups). However, one can think that these new polynomial invariants are byproducts of a…
Yasutaka Nakanishi formulated the following conjecture in 1981: every link is 3-move equivalent to a trivial link. While the conjecture was proved for several specific cases, it remained an open question for over twenty years. In 2002,…
This paper introduces an algebra structure on the part of the skein module of an arbitrary $3$-manifold $M$ spanned by links that represent $0$ in $H_1(M;\mathbb{Z}_2)$ when the value of the parameter used in the Kauffman bracket skein…
We extend the skein lasagna theory of Morrison-Walker-Wedrich to 4-manifolds with corners and formulate gluing formulas for 4-manifolds with boundary and, more generally, with corners. As an application, we develop a categorical framework…
New obstructions for embedding one compact oriented 3-manifold in another are given. A theorem of D. Krebes concerning 4-tangles embedded in links arises as a special case. Algebraic and skein-theoretic generalizations for 2n-tangles…
The Kauffman bracket skein modules, S(M,A), have been calculated for A=+1,-1, for all 3-manifolds M by relating them to the SL(2,C)-character varieties. We extend this description to the case when A is a 4-th root of 1 and M is either a…
We describe in this chapter (Chapter IX) the idea of building an algebraic topology based on knots (or more generally on the position of embedded objects). That is, our basic building blocks are considered up to ambient isotopy (not…
We define the Conway skein module C(M) of ordered based links in a 3-manifold M. This module gives rise to C(M)-valued invariants of usual links in M. We determine a basis of the Z[z]-module C(F x [0,1])/Tor(C(F x [0,1])) where F is the…
Morrison, Walker, and Wedrich used the blob complex to construct a generalization of Khovanov-Rozansky homology to links in the boundary of a 4-manifold. The degree zero part of their theory, called the skein lasagna module, admits an…
We compute two-term skein modules of framed oriented links in oriented 3-manifolds. They contain the self-writhe and total linking number invariants of framed oriented links in a universal way. The relations in a natural presentation of the…
Yasutaka Nakanishi asked in 1981 whether a 3-move is an unknotting operation. In Kirby's problem list, this question is called `The Montesinos-Nakanishi 3-move conjecture'. We define the n-th Burnside group of a link and use the 3rd…
The skein lasagna module is an extension of Khovanov-Rozansky homology to the setting of a four-manifold and a link in its boundary. This invariant plays the role of the Hilbert space of an associated fully extended (4+epsilon)-dimensional…
We study framed links in irreducible 3-manifolds that are $Z$-homology 3-spheres or atoroidal $Q$-homology 3-spheres. We calculate the dual of the Kauffman skein module over the ring of two variable power series with complex coefficients.…
The nth relative Kauffman bracket skein modules are defined and two theorems are given relating them to the Kauffman bracket skein module of a 3-manifold. The first theorem covers the case when the 3-manifold is split along a separating…
Let k be an integral domain containing the invertible elements \alpha, s and \frac{1}{s-s^{-1}}. If M is an oriented 3-manifold, let K(M) denote the Kauffman skein module of M over k. Based on the work on Birman-Murakami-Wenzl algebra by…
We use Khovanov-Rozansky gl(N) link homology to define invariants of oriented smooth 4-manifolds, as skein modules constructed from certain 4-categories with well-behaved duals. The technical heart of this construction is a proof of the…
For each Frobenius algebra there is defined a skein module of surfaces embedded in a given 3-manifold and bounding a prescribed curve system in the boundary. The skein relations are local and generate the kernel of a certain natural…
For a 3-manifold $M$ with boundary, we study the Kauffman module with indeterminate equal to $-1+\epsilon$ where $\epsilon^2=0$. We conjecture an explicit relation between this module and the Reidemeister torsion of $M$ which we prove in…