The Alexander polynomial and finite type 3-manifold invariants

Using elementary counting methods, we calculate a universal perturbative invariant (also known as the LMO invariant) of a 3-manifold M, satisfying , in terms of the Alexander polynomial of M. We show that +1 surgery on a knot in the 3-sphere induces an injective map from finite type invariants of integral homology 3-spheres to finite type invariants of knots. We also show that weight systems of degree 2m on knots, obtained by applying finite type 3m invariants of integral homology 3-spheres, lie in the algebra of Alexander-Conway weight systems, thus answering the questions raised in [Ga]. Received: 27 April 1998 / in final form: 8 August 1999     

Milnor link invariants and quantum 3-manifold invariants

Let be the 3-manifold invariant of Le, Murakami and Ohtsuki. We show that , where denotes terms of degree , if M is a homology 3-sphere obtained from by surgery on an n-component Brunnian link whose Milnor -invariants of length vanish.?We prove a realization theorem which is a partial converse to the above theorem.?Using the Milnor filtration on links, we define a new bifiltration on the vector space with basis the set of oriented diffeomorphism classes of homology 3-spheres. This includes the Milnor level 2 filtration defined by Ohtsuki. We show that the Milnor level 2 and level 3 filtrations coincide after reindexing. Received: October 23, 1998.     

Vassiliev invariants of type two for a link

We show that any type two Vassiliev invariant of a link can be expressed as a linear combination of the second coefficients of the Conway polynomials of its components and a quadratic expression of linking numbers.

     

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.

     

Finite type 3-manifold invariants and the structure of the Torelli group. I

Using the recently developed theory of finite type invariants of integral homology 3-spheres we study the structure of the Torelli group of a closed surface. Explicitly, we construct (a) natural cocycles of the Torelli group (with coefficients in a space of trivalent graphs) and cohomology classes of the abelianized Torelli group; (b) group homomorphisms that detect (rationally) the nontriviality of the lower central series of the Torelli group. Our results are motivated by the appearance of trivalent graphs in topology and in representation theory and the dual role played by the Casson invariant in the theory of finite type invariants of integral homology 3-spheres and in Morita's study [Mo2, Mo3] of the structure of the Torelli group. Our results generalize those of S. Morita [Mo2, Mo3] and complement the recent calculation, due to R. Hain [Ha2], of the I-adic completion of the rational group ring of the Torelli group. We also give analogous results for two other subgroups of the mapping class group. Oblatum 19-IX-1996 & 13-V-1997     

Vassiliev invariants of type one for links in the solid torus

In Bataineh (2003) [2] we studied the type one invariants for knots in the solid torus. In this research we study the type one invariants for n-component links in the solid torus by generalizing Aicardi's invariant for knots in the solid torus to n-component links in the solid torus. We show that the generalized Aicardi's invariant is the universal type one invariant, and we show that the generalized Aicardi's invariant restricted to n-component links in the solid torus with zero winding number for each component is equal to an invariant we define using the universal cover of the solid torus. We also define and study a geometric invariant for n-component links in the solid torus. We give a lower bound on this invariant using the type one invariants, which are easy to calculate, which helps in computing this geometric invariant, which is usually hard to calculate.     

On diagram formulas for knot invariants

Several years ago, combinatorial-diagram formulas for two basis Vassiliev invariants of the fourth order were announced. In this paper, it is shown that these formulas do not determine knot invariants.     

Modified 6j-symbols and 3-manifold invariants

We show that the renormalized quantum invariants of links and graphs in the 3-sphere, derived from tensor categories in Geer et al. (2009) [14], lead to modified 6j-symbols and to new state sum 3-manifold invariants. We give examples of categories such that the associated standard Turaev–Viro 3-manifold invariants vanish but the secondary invariants may be non-zero. The categories in these examples are pivotal categories which are neither ribbon nor semi-simple and have an infinite number of simple objects.     

On diagrammatic bounds of knot volumes and spectral invariants

In recent years, several families of hyperbolic knots have been shown to have both volume and λ₁ (first eigenvalue of the Laplacian) bounded in terms of the twist number of a diagram, while other families of knots have volume bounded by a generalized twist number. We show that for general knots, neither the twist number nor the generalized twist number of a diagram can provide two-sided bounds on either the volume or λ₁. We do so by studying the geometry of a family of hyperbolic knots that we call double coil knots, and finding two-sided bounds in terms of the knot diagrams on both the volume and on λ₁. We also extend a result of Lackenby to show that a collection of double coil knot complements forms an expanding family iff their volume is bounded.     

Braids on surfaces and finite type invariants

We prove that there is no functorial universal finite type invariant for braids in Σ×I if the genus of Σ is positive. To cite this article: P. Bellingeri, L. Funar, C. R. Acad. Sci. Paris, Ser. I 338 (2004).     

Detecting the orientation of string links by finite type invariants

We prove the existence of a degree 7 Vassiliev invariant of long (string) links with two numbered components which is not preserved under orientation reversal. The proof is based on the study of a weight system with values in the tensor square of the universal enveloping algebra for the Lie algebra \(\mathfrak{g}\mathfrak{l}_N \).