Related papers: Milnor numbers, Spanning Trees, and the Alexander-…
J.P. Levine introduced a clover link to investigate the indeterminacy of the Milnor invariants of a link. It is shown that for a clover link, the Milnor numbers of length at most $2k+1$ are well-defined if those of length at most $k$…
We study a topological method to calculate the first Milnor fiber cohomology of a defining polynomial of a reduced projective hyperplane arrangement $X$ of degree $d$. We can show the vanishing of a monodromy eigenspace of the first Milnor…
The Alexander polynomial (1928) is the first polynomial invariant of links devised to help distinguish links up to isotopy. Fox's conjecture (1962) -- stating that the absolute values of the coefficients of the Alexander polynomial for any…
We give constructions to realize an odd number, which is representable as sum of two squares, as determinant of an achiral knot, thus proving that these are exactly the numbers occurring as such determinants. Later we study which numbers…
We define a sequence of integer-valued invariants $\gamma^k(L)$ for a $3$-component link $L$. We prove that the resulting $\gamma$-invariants are invariant under concordance, and more generally under weak cobordism, and that they lift…
Let $\ell$ and $p$ be two distinct primes. We study the $p$-adic valuation of the number of spanning trees in an abelian $\ell$-tower of connected multigraphs. This is analogous to the classical theorem of Washington--Sinnott on the growth…
We study the distribution of arithmetic invariants associated to Alexander polynomials for certain infinite families of links. The families of links we consider arise from braids on a fixed number of strings. We explore analogies with…
The leading coefficient of the Alexander polynomial of a knot is the most informative element in this invariant, and the growth of orders of the first homology of cyclic branched covering spaces is also a familiar subject. Accordingly,…
In this paper we define and present a simple combinatorial formula for a 3-variable Laurent polynomial invariant of conjugacy classes in Artin braid group $B_m$. We show that this Laurent polynomial satisfies the Conway skein relation and…
For a link $L$ in the 3-sphere and for a prime $p$, we express the $p$-primary information on the first homology group of $p^{m}$-fold branched covers of $L$ in terms of its $p$-adic Milnor higher linking invariants, using the completed…
Using the special value at $u=1$ of Artin-Ihara $L$-functions, we associate to every $\mathbb{Z}$-cover of a finite connected graph a polynomial which we call the \emph{Ihara polynomial}. We show that the number of spanning trees for the…
From the work of X. S. Lin and Z. Wang, it follows that degree two knot invariant admits a decomposition into the sum of a Gauss diagram count and a term involving Arnold invariants. In this paper we establish an analogous description for…
The complexity of a finite connected graph is its number of spanning trees; for a non-connected graph it is the product of complexities of its connected components. If $G$ is an infinite graph with cofinite free ${\mathbb Z}^d$-symmetry,…
In this paper we introduce an algebraic structure known as meta-monoids which is particularly suited for the study of knot theory. We define a meta-monoid called $\Gamma$-calculus that gives an Alexander invariant of tangles. We believe…
For any graph $G$, let $t(G)$ be the number of spanning trees of $G$, $L(G)$ be the line graph of $G$ and for any non-negative integer $r$, $S_r(G)$ be the graph obtained from $G$ by replacing each edge $e$ by a path of length $r+1$…
We reconfigure the Milnor invariant of links in terms of central group extensions and unipotent Magnus embeddings. We also develop a diagrammatic computation of the invariant and compute the first non-vanishing invariants of the Milnor link…
The chromatic polynomial of a graph G counts the number of proper colorings of G. We give an affirmative answer to the conjecture of Read and Rota-Heron-Welsh that the absolute values of the coefficients of the chromatic polynomial form a…
Polynomial invariants constitute a dynamic and essential area of study in the mathematical theory of knots. From the pioneer Alexander polynomial, the revolutionary Jones polynomial, to the collectively discovered HOMFLYPT polynomial, just…
The maximum length of the shortest path from a leaf to the root of a skein tree for knots and links gives a measure of the complexity of computing link polynomials by the skein relation (the Jones polynomial, the Alexander-Conway…
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…