Isomorphism of the Groups of Vassiliev Invariants of Legendrian and Pseudo-Legendrian Knots

The study of the Vassiliev invariants of Legendrian knots was started by D. Fuchs and S. Tabachnikov who showed that the groups of C-valued Vassiliev invariants of Legendrian and of framed knots in the standard contact R³ are canonically isomorphic. Recently we constructed the first examples of contact 3-manifolds where Vassiliev invariants of Legendrian and of framed knots are different. Moreover in these examples Vassiliev invariants of Legendrian knots distinguish Legendrian knots that are isotopic as framed knots and homotopic as Legendrian immersions. This raised the question what information about Legendrian knots can be captured using Vassiliev invariants. Here we answer this question by showing that for any contact 3-manifold with a cooriented contact structure the groups of Vassiliev invariants of Legendrian knots and of knots that are nowhere tangent to a vector field that coorients the contact structure are canonically isomorphic.     

For a fixed Turaev shadow Jones-Vassiliev invariants depend polynomially on the gleams

We use Turaev's technique of shadows and gleams to parametrize the set of all knots in S ³ with the same Hopf projection. We show that the Vassiliev invariants arising from the Jones polynomial J _t (K) are polynomials in the gleams, i.e., for , the n-th order Vassiliev invariant u _n , defined by , is a polynomial of degree 2n in the gleams. Received: April 30, 1996     

Vassiliev invariants of Legendrian, transverse, and framed knots in contact three-manifolds

We show that for a large class of contact three-manifolds the groups of Vassiliev invariants of Legendrian and of framed knots are canonically isomorphic. As a corollary, we obtain that the group of finite order Arnold's J⁺-type invariants of wave fronts on a surface F is isomorphic to the group of Vassiliev invariants of framed knots in the spherical cotangent bundle ST∗F of F.On the other hand, we construct the first examples of contact manifolds for which Vassiliev invariants of Legendrian knots can distinguish Legendrian knots that realize isotopic framed knots and are homotopic as Legendrian immersions.     

Les invariants rationnels de type fini ne distinguent pas les nœuds dans SS2×SS1

We introduce geometric sequences of knots and establish the following criterion: if v is a rational invariant of degree ≤m in the sense of Vassiliev, then v is a polynomial of degree ≤m on every geometric sequence of knots. The torsion in the braid group over the sphere induces torsion at the level of Vassiliev invariants: we construct knots in SS²×SS¹ which cannot be distinguished by rational invariants of finite type. They can, however, be distinguished by invariants of finite type with values in a finite abelian group.     

Topology of Maximally Writhed Real Algebraic Knots

Oleg Viro introduced an invariant of rigid isotopy for real algebraic knots in ??³ which can be viewed as a first order Vassiliev invariant. In this paper we look at real algebraic knots of degree d with the maximal possible value of this invariant. We show that for a given d all such knots are topologically isotopic and explicitly identify their knot type.     

Invariants de Vassiliev et conjecture de PoincaréVassiliev invariants and the Poincaré conjecture

We prove the following result: if Vassiliev invariants distinguish knots in each homotopy sphere, then the Poincaré conjecture is true, in other words every homotopy sphere is homeomorphic to the standard sphere. On the other hand, in every Whitehead manifold there exist knots that cannot be distinguished by Vassiliev invariants. To cite this article: M. Eisermann, C. R. Acad. Sci. Paris, Ser. I 334 (2002) 1005–1010.     

Grope cobordism of classical knots

Motivated by the lower central series of a group, we define the notion of a grope cobordism between two knots in a 3-manifold. Just like an iterated group commutator, each grope cobordism has a type that can be described by a rooted unitrivalent tree. By filtering these trees in different ways, we show how the Goussarov-Habiro approach to finite type invariants of knots is closely related to our notion of grope cobordism. Thus our results can be viewed as a geometric interpretation of finite type invariants.The derived commutator series of a group also has a three-dimensional analogy, namely knots modulo symmetric grope cobordism. On one hand this theory maps onto the usual Vassiliev theory and on the other hand it maps onto the Cochran-Orr-Teichner filtration of the knot concordance group, via symmetric grope cobordism in 4-space. In particular, the graded theory contains information on finite type invariants (with degree h terms mapping to Vassiliev degree 2^h), Blanchfield forms or S-equivalence at h=2, Casson-Gordon invariants at h=3, and for h=4 one finds the new von Neumann signatures of a knot.     

Some applications of Tristram-Levine signatures and relation to Vassiliev invariants

Tristram and Levine introduced a continuous family of signature invariants for knots. We show that any possible value of such an invariant is realized by a knot with given Vassiliev invariants of bounded degree. We also show that one can make a knot prime preserving Alexander polynomial and Vassiliev invariants of bounded degree. Finally, the Tristram-Levine signatures are applied to obtain a condition on (signed) unknotting number.     

Clasp-pass move and Vassiliev invariants of type three for knots

Recently it has been proved that if and only if two knots and have the same value for the Vassiliev invariant of type two, then can be deformed into by a finite sequence of clasp-pass moves. In this paper, we determine the difference of the values of the Vassiliev invariant of type three between two knots which can be deformed into each other by a clasp-pass move.

     

Vassiliev invariants and the Poincaré conjecture

This article examines the relationship between 3-manifold topology and knot invariants of finite type. We prove that in every Whitehead manifold there exist knots that cannot be distinguished by Vassiliev invariants. If, on the other hand, Vassiliev invariants distinguish knots in each homotopy sphere, then the Poincaré conjecture is true (i.e. every homotopy 3-sphere is homeomorphic to the standard 3-sphere).     

The giant spiral

Cocycles ofZ ^m actions on compact metric spaces provide a means for constructingR ^m actions or flows, called suspension flows. It is known that allR ^m flows with a free dense orbit have an almost one-to-one extension which is a suspension flow. Whenm=1, examples of cocycles are easy to construct; there is a one-to-one correspondence between cocycles and real valued continuous functions. However, whenm>1 the construction of examples of cocycles becomes more problematic. The only existing class of examples, the close to linear cocycles, have strong linearity properties and are well understood. In fact, when theZ ^m action is uniquely ergodic, all cocycles are close to linear. We will show that in general this need not be the case. We present a method, suggested to us by Hillel Furstenberg, for constructing examples of cocycles whenm>1 and use this method to construct a non close to linear cocycle on a minimalZ ² action.     

The loop expansion of the Kontsevich integral, the null-move and S-equivalence

The Kontsevich integral of a knot is a graph-valued invariant which (when graded by the Vassiliev degree of graphs) is characterized by a universal property; namely it is a universal Vassiliev invariant of knots. We introduce a second grading of the Kontsevich integral, the Euler degree, and a geometric null-move on the set of knots. We explain the relation of the null-move to S-equivalence, and the relation to the Euler grading of the Kontsevich integral. The null-move leads in a natural way to the introduction of trivalent graphs with beads, and to a conjecture on a rational version of the Kontsevich integral, formulated by the second author and proven in Geom. Top 8 (2004) 115 (see also Kricker, preprint 2000, math/GT.0005284).     

Integrable cocycles and global deformations of Lie algebra of type G2 in characteristic 2

All classes of integrable cocycles in H²(L,L) are obtained for Lie algebra of type G₂ over an algebraically closed field of characteristic 2. It is proved that there exist only two orbits of classes of integrable cocycles with respect to automorphism group. The global deformation is shown to exist for any nontrivial class of integrable cocycles. These deformations are isomorphic to one of the two algebras of Cartan type, one of which being S(3:1,ω) while the other H(4:1,ω).     

Generalization of Braids and Homologies

In this paper, we give a survey of recent results devoted to the homology of generalizations of braids: the homological properties of virtual braids and the generalized homology of Artin groups studied by C. Broto and the author. Virtual braid groups VB _n correspond to virtual knots in the same way that classical braids correspond to usual knots. Virtual knots arise in the study of Gauss diagrams and Vassiliev invariants of usual knots. The Burau representation to GL _n ℤ[t, t ⁻¹] is extended from classical braids to virtual ones. Its homological properties are also studied. The following splitting of infinite loop spaces for the plus-construction of the classifying space of the virtual braid group on an infinite number of strings exists:

Smooth cocycles for an irrational rotation

Explicit examples of smooth cocycles not cohomologous to constants are constructed. Necessary and sufficient conditions on the irrational numberθ are given for the existence of such cocycles. It is shown that, depending onθ, the set ofC ^r cocycles whose skew-product is ergodic is either residual or empty.     

Vassiliev invariants for braids on surfaces

We show that Vassiliev invariants separate braids on a closed oriented surface, and we exhibit a universal Vassiliev invariant for these braids in terms of chord diagrams labeled by elements of the fundamental group of the surface.

     

Direct sums of balanced functions,perfect nonlinear functions,and orthogonal cocycles

Determining if a direct sum of functions inherits nonlinearity properties from its direct summands is a subtle problem. Here, we correct a statement by Nyberg on inheritance of balance and we use a connection between balanced derivatives and orthogonal cocycles to generalize Nyberg's result to orthogonal cocycles. We obtain a new search criterion for PN functions and orthogonal cocycles mapping to non‐cyclic abelian groups and use it to find all the orthogonal cocycles over Z ₂^t, 2 ≤ t ≤ 4. We conjecture that any orthogonal cocycle over Z ₂^t, t ≥ 2, must be multiplicative. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Combin Designs 16: 173–181, 2008     

Stable one-dimensional quasi-periodic cocycles on unitary group

In this paper, we study the stable one-dimensional quasi-periodic C ^∞ cocycles on U(N). We prove that any such cocycle on a generic irrational rotation is a limit point of reducible cocycles. The proof is based on Krikorian’s renormalization scheme and a local result of him.     

Integration of the lifting formulas and the cyclic homology of the algebras of differential operators

We integrate the Lifting cocycles Y_2n+1, Y_2n+3, Y_2n+5,? ([Sh1,2]) \Psi_{2n+1}, \Psi_{2n+3}, \Psi_{2n+5},\ldots\,([\rm Sh1,2]) on the Lie algebra Dif_n of holomorphic differential operators on an n-dimensional complex vector space to the cocycles on the Lie algebra of holomorphic differential operators on a holomorphic line bundle l \lambda on an n-dimensional complex manifold M in the sense of Gelfand--Fuks cohomology [GF] (more precisely, we integrate the cocycles on the sheaves of the Lie algebras of finite matrices over the corresponding associative algebras). The main result is the following explicit form of the Feigin--Tsygan theorem [FT1]:¶¶ H^·_Lie(\frak g\frak l^fin_￥(Dif_n);\Bbb C) = ù^·(Y_2n+1, Y_2n+3, Y_2n+5,? ) H^\bullet_{\rm Lie}({\frak g}{\frak l}^{\rm fin}_\infty({\rm Dif}_n);{\Bbb C}) = \wedge^\bullet(\Psi_{2n+1}, \Psi_{2n+3}, \Psi_{2n+5},\ldots\,) .     

Inhomogeneous Current States in a Gauged Two-Component Ginzburg-Landau Model

We consider the energy bounds of inhomogeneous current states in doped antiferromagnetic insulators in the framework of the two-component Ginzburg-Landau model. Using the formulation of this model in terms of the gauge-invariant order parameters (the unit vector n, spin stiffness field ρ², and particle momentum c), we show that this strongly correlated electron system involves a geometric small parameter that determines the degree of packing in the knots of filament manifolds of the order parameter distributions for the spin and charge degrees of freedom. We find that as the doping degree decreases, the filament density increases, resulting in a transition to an inhomogeneous current state with a free energy gain.__________Translated from Teoreticheskaya i Matematicheskaya Fizika, Vol. 144, No. 1, pp. 182–189, July, 2005.