Related papers: Milnor numbers, Spanning Trees, and the Alexander-…
We investigate the coefficients of the polynomial \[ S_{m,r}^n(\ell)=r^n+(m+r)^n+(2m+r)^n+\cdots+((\ell-1)m+r)^n. \] We prove that these can be given in terms of Stirling numbers of the first kind and $r$-Whitney numbers of the second kind.…
The Levine-Tristram signature admits an n-variable extension for n-component links: it was first defined as an integer valued function on $(S^1\setminus\{1\})^n$, and recently extended to the full torus $T^n$. The aim of the present article…
Przytycki and Sokolov proved that a three-manifold admits a semi-free action of the finite cyclic group of order $p$ with a circle as the set of fixed points if and only if $M$ is obtained from the three-sphere by surgery along a strongly…
For every odd integer $c\ge 21$, we raise an example of a prime component-preservingly amphicheiral link with the minimal crossing number $c$. The link has two components, and consists of an unknot and a knot which is $(-)$-amphicheiral…
We use Polyak's skein relation to give a new proof that Milnor's string link homotopy invariants are finite type invariants, and to develop a recursive relation for their associated weight systems. We show that the obstruction to the…
Link homotopy has been an active area of research for knot theorists since its introduction by Milnor in the 1950s. We introduce a new equivalence relation on spatial graphs called component homotopy, which reduces to link homotopy in the…
A classical result states that the determinant of an alternating link is equal to the number of spanning trees in a checkerboard graph of an alternating connected projection of the link. We generalize this result to show that the…
Kontsevich conjectured that the number f(G,q) of zeros over the finite field with q elements of a certain polynomial connected with the spanning trees of a graph G is polynomial function of q. We have been unable to settle Kontsevich's…
We establish several new results about both the (n)-solvable filtration, F_n^m, of the set of link concordance classes and the (n)-solvable filtration of the string link concordance group. We first establish a relationship between Milnor's…
Let K be a field and let M_n(K) denote the space of n x n matrices with entries in K. Let M be a subspace of M_n(K) of dimension d with the property that there are elements in M with non-zero determinant. Given a basis of M, we define the…
Spanning trees of complete bipartite graphs exhibit a rich interaction between degree sequences and graph structure. In this paper, we obtain lower bounds on the number of isomorphism classes of spanning trees in $K_{a,b}, 2 \leq a \leq b$…
In this paper, we define a lassoing on a link, a local addition of a trivial knot to a link. Let K be an s-component link with the Conway polynomial non-zero. Let L be a link which is obtained from K by r-iterated lassoings. The complete…
This paper studies increasing trees on $n$ labeled vertices, in which labels increase from the root to the leaves. It is known that the number of binary increasing trees coincides with the number of alternating permutations (Euler numbers).…
This is a concise overview of the definitions and properties of the linking number and its higher-order generalization, Milnor invariants.
The universal sl_2 invariant of string links has a universality property for the colored Jones polynomial of links, and takes values in the h-adic completed tensor powers of the quantized enveloping algebra of sl_2. In this paper, we…
We study 3-dimensional BF theories and define observables related to knots and links. The quantum expectation values of these observables give the coefficients of the Alexander-Conway polynomial.
We generalize Milnor link invariants to all types of surface-links in $4$--space (possibly with boundary). This is achieved by using the notion of cut-diagram, which is a 2-dimensional generalization of Gauss diagrams, associated to…
This paper gives a connection between well chosen reductions of the Links-Gould invariants of oriented links and powers of the Alexander-Conway polynomial. We prove these formulas by showing the representations of the braid groups we derive…
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…
A link L in the 3-sphere is called Brunnian if every proper sublink of L is trivial. In a previous paper, the first author proved that the restriction to Brunnian links of any Goussarov-Vassiliev finite type invariant of (n+1)-component…