Chern-Simons factorization algebras and knot polynomials
Quantum Algebra
2026-02-18 v1 Mathematical Physics
Algebraic Topology
Geometric Topology
math.MP
Abstract
This work identifies the Reshetikhin-Turaev invariant of links in terms of a trace map on factorization homology. In particular, to recover the knot invariants associated to Chern-Simons theories, we construct a filtered -algebra by BV quantization of Chern-Simons theory for a semi-simple Lie algebra with invariant pairing~, and we prove that a finite-dimensional representation of the Drinfeld-Jimbo quantum group defines a perfect module~. For any framed link in , we then prove that there is an equality between the factorization homology trace for and the Reshetikhin-Turaev link invariant determined by~.
Cite
@article{arxiv.2602.12412,
title = {Chern-Simons factorization algebras and knot polynomials},
author = {Kevin Costello and John Francis and Owen Gwilliam},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2602.12412},
year = {2026}
}
Comments
75 pages; preliminary version, comments welcome