Mixed quantum skew Howe duality and link invariants of type A

We define a ribbon category $\mathsf{Sp}(\beta )$, depending on a parameter β, which encompasses Cautis, Kamnitzer and Morrison's spider category, and describes for $\beta =m?n$ the monoidal category of representations of $U_q({\mathfrak{gl}}_{m|n})$ generated by exterior powers of the vector representation and their duals. We identify this category $\mathsf{Sp}(\beta )$ with a direct limit of quotients of a dual idempotented quantum group ${\dot{\mathbf{U}}}_q({\mathfrak{gl}}_{r+s})$, proving a mixed version of skew Howe duality in which exterior powers and their duals appear at the same time. We show that the category $\mathsf{Sp}(\beta )$ gives a unified natural setting for defining the colored ${\mathfrak{gl}}_{m|n}$ link invariant (for $\beta =m?n$) and the colored HOMFLY-PT polynomial (for β generic).