Related papers: Does the Jones polynomial detect the unknot?
It is a major unsolved problem as to whether unknot recognition - that is, testing whether a given closed loop in R^3 can be untangled to form a plain circle - has a polynomial time algorithm. In practice, trivial knots (which can be…
The colored Jones polynomial is a knot invariant that plays a central role in low dimensional topology. We give a simple and an efficient algorithm to compute the colored Jones polynomial of any knot. Our algorithm utilizes the walks along…
The Jones polynomial of a knot in 3-space is a Laurent polynomial in $q$, with integer coefficients. Many people have pondered why is this so, and what is a proper generalization of the Jones polynomial for knots in other closed…
We analyze relationships between quantum computation and a family of generalizations of the Jones polynomial. Extending recent work by Aharonov et al., we give efficient quantum circuits for implementing the unitary Jones-Wenzl…
There are infinitely many pretzel links with the same Alexander polynomial (actually with trivial Alexander polynomial). By contrast, in this note we revisit the Jones polynomial of pretzel links and prove that, given a natural number S,…
Extending upon our previous work, we verify the Jones Unknot Conjecture for all knots up to $24$ crossings. We describe the method of our approach and analyze the growth of the computational complexity of its different components.
The paper introduces Slope Conjecture which relates the degree of the Jones polynomial of a knot and its parallels with the slopes of incompressible surfaces in the knot complement. More precisely, we introduce two knot invariants, the…
The A-polynomial of a knot is defined in terms of SL(2,C) representations of the knot group, and encodes information about essential surfaces in the knot complement. In 2005, Dunfield-Garoufalidis and Boyer-Zhang proved that it detects the…
Using the Huynh and Le quantum determinant description of the colored Jones polynomial, we construct a new combinatorial description of the colored Jones polynomial in terms of walks along a braid. We then use this description to show that…
We explore the application of automated reasoning techniques to unknot detection, a classical problem of computational topology. We adopt a two-pronged experimental approach, using a theorem prover to try to establish a positive result…
We describe a normal surface algorithm that decides whether a knot, with known degree of the colored Jones polynomial, satisfies the Strong Slope Conjecture. We also discuss possible simplifications of our algorithm and state related open…
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…
In this paper we present a sequence of link invariants, defined from twisted Alexander polynomials, and discuss their effectiveness in distinguish knots. In particular, we recast and extend by geometric means a recent result of Silver and…
In this article, we present some of the properties of the $L^2$-Alexander invariant of a knot defined by Li and Zhang, some of which are similar to those of the classical Alexander polynomial. Notably we prove that the $L^2$-Alexander…
The repertoire of problems theoretically solvable by a quantum computer recently expanded to include the approximate evaluation of knot invariants, specifically the Jones polynomial. The experimental implementation of this evaluation,…
This paper is an exploration of relationships between the Jones polynomial and quantum computing. We discuss the structure of the Jones polynomial in relation to representations of the Temperley Lieb algebra, and give an example of a…
We adapt Thistlethwaite's alternating tangle decomposition of a knot diagram to identify the potential extreme terms in its bracket polynomial, and give a simple combinatorial calculation for their coefficients, based on the intersection…
The topological underpinnings are presented for a new algorithm which answers the question: `Is a given knot the unknot?' The algorithm uses the braid foliation technology of Bennequin and of Birman and Menasco. The approach is to consider…
We point out that the strong slope conjecture implies that the degrees of the colored Jones knot polynomials detect the figure eight knot. Furthermore, we propose a characterization of alternating knots in terms of the Jones period and the…
We introduce a new algebraic topological technique to detect non-fibred knots in the three sphere using the twisted Alexander invariants. As an application, we show that for any Seifert matrix of a knot with a nontrivial Alexander…