We give a proof of the LMO conjecture which say that for any simply connectd simple Lie group $G$, the LMO invariant of rational homology 3-spheres recovers the perturvative invariant $τ^{PG}$. By Habiro-Le theorem, this implies that the LMO invariant is the universal quantum invariant of integral homology 3-spheres.
We show that the perturbative ${\frak g}$ invariant of rational homology 3-spheres can be recovered from the LMO invariant for any simple Lie algebra ${\frak g}$, i.e, the LMO invariant is universal among the perturbative invariants. This universality was conjectured in [25]. Since the perturbative invariants dominate the quantum invariants of integral homology 3-spheres [13,14,15], this implies that the LMO invariant dominates the quantum invariants of integral homology 3-spheres.
We prove a "splicing formula" for the LMO invariant, which is the universal finite-type invariant of rational homology $3$-spheres. Specifically, if a rational homology $3$-sphere $M$ is obtained by gluing the exteriors of two framed knots $K_1 \subset M_1$ and $K_2\subset M_2$ in rational homology $3$-spheres, our formula expresses the LMO invariant of $M$ in terms of the Kontsevich-LMO invariants of $(M_1,K_1)$ and $(M_2,K_2)$. The proof uses the techniques that Bar-Natan and Lawrence developed to obtain a rational surgery formula for the LMO invariant. In low degrees, we recover Fujita's fo…
Lagrangian cobordisms are three-dimensional compact oriented cobordisms between once-punctured surfaces, subject to some homological conditions. We extend the Le-Murakami-Ohtsuki invariant of homology three-spheres to a functor from the category of Lagrangian cobordisms to a certain category of Jacobi diagrams. We prove some properties of this functorial LMO invariant, including its universality among rational finite-type invariants of Lagrangian cobordisms. Finally, we apply the LMO functor to the study of homology cylinders from the point of view of their finite-type invariants.
For rational homology 3-spheres, there exist two universal finite-type invariants: the Le-Murakami-Ohtsuki invariant and the Kontsevich-Kuperberg-Thurston invariant. These invariants take values in the same space of "Jacobi diagrams", but it is not known whether they are equal. In 2004, Lescop proved that the KKT invariant satisfies some "splitting formulas" which relate the variations of KKT under replacement of embedded rational homology handlebodies by others in a "Lagrangian-preserving" way. We show that the LMO invariant satisfies exactly the same relations. The proof is based on the LMO …
We write a formula for the LMO invariant of a rational homology sphere presented as a rational surgery on a link in S^3. Our main tool is a careful use of the Aarhus integral and the (now proven) "Wheels" and "Wheeling" conjectures of B-N, Garoufalidis, Rozansky and Thurston. As steps, side benefits and asides we give explicit formulas for the values of the Kontsevich integral on the Hopf link and on Hopf chains, and for the LMO invariant of lens spaces and Seifert fibered spaces. We find that the LMO invariant does not separate lens spaces, is far from separating general Seifert fibered space…
We construct a series of homomorphisms from the $Y$-filtration on the monoid of homology cylinders to torsion modules via the mod $\mathbb{Z}$ reduction of the LMO functor. The restriction of our homomorphism to the lower central series of the Torelli group does not factor through Morita's refinement of the Johnson homomorphism. We use it to show that the abelianization of the Johnson kernel of a closed surface has torsion elements. We also determine the third graded quotient $Y_3\mathcal{IC}_{g,1}/Y_4$ of the $Y$-filtration.
Mathematical Science Research Center Chongqing University of Technology(重庆理工大学数学科学研究中心);Department of Mathematics, University of Arizona(亚利桑那大学数学系);Department of Mathematics Zhejiang Normal University(浙江师范大学数学系)
Continuing the work started in Part I and II of this series (see q-alg/9706004 and math.QA/9801049), we prove the relationship between the Aarhus integral and the invariant $Ω$ (henceforth called LMO) defined by T.Q.T. Le, J. Murakami and T. Ohtsuki in q-alg/9512002. The basic reason for the relationship is that both constructions afford an interpretation as "integrated holonomies". In the case of the Aarhus integral, this interpretation was the basis for everything we did in Parts I and II. The main tool we used there was "formal Gaussian integration". For the case of the LMO invariant, we de…
Let S be a compact connected oriented surface with one boundary component, and let P be the fundamental group of S. The Johnson filtration is a decreasing sequence of subgroups of the Torelli group of S, whose k-th term consists of the self-homeomorphisms of S that act trivially at the level of the k-th nilpotent quotient of P. Morita defined a homomorphism from the k-th term of the Johnson filtration to the third homology group of the k-th nilpotent quotient of P. In this paper, we replace groups by their Malcev Lie algebras and we study the "infinitesimal" version of the k-th Morita homomorp…
We study the Chern-Simons partition function of orthogonal quantum group invariants, and propose a new orthogonal Labastida-Mariño-Ooguri-Vafa conjecture as well as degree conjecture for free energy associated to the orthogonal Chern-Simons partition function. We prove the degree conjecture and some interesting cases of orthogonal LMOV conjecture. In particular, We provide a formula of colored Kauffman polynomials for torus knots and links, and applied this formula to verify certain case of the conjecture at roots of unity except $1$. We also derive formulas of Lickorish-Millett type for Kauff…
The object of this paper is to define a subcategory of the category of 3-cobordisms to which invariants of rational homology 3-spheres should generalize. We specify the notion of Topological Quantum Field Theory (in the sense of Atiyah) to this case, and prove two interesting properties that these TQFTs always have. In the case of the LMO invariant these properties amount to saying that the TQFT is anomaly-free.
The contribution of reducible connections to the U(N) Chern-Simons invariant of a Seifert manifold $M$ can be expressed in some cases in terms of matrix integrals. We show that the U(N) evaluation of the LMO invariant of any rational homology sphere admits a matrix model representation which agrees with the Chern-Simons matrix integral for Seifert spheres and the trivial connection.
Our aim is to prove that two formal power series of importance to quantum topology are Gevrey. These series are the Kashaev invariant of a knot (reformulated by Huynh and the second author) and the Gromov norm of the LMO of an integral homology 3-sphere. It follows that the power series associated to a simple Lie algebra and a homology sphere is Gevrey. Contrary to the case of analysis, our formal power series are not solutions to differential equations with polynomial coefficients. The first author has conjectured (and in some cases proved, in joint work with Costin) that our formal power ser…
We first study superpolynomial associated to triply-graded reduced colored HOMFLY-PT homology. We propose conjectures of congruent relations and cyclotomic expansion for it. We prove conjecture of $N=1$ for torus knot case, through which we obtain the corresponding invariant $α(T(m,n))=-(m-1)(n-1)/2$. This is closely related to the Milnor conjecture. Many examples including homologically thick knots and higher representations are also tested. Based on these examples, we further propose a conjecture that invariant $α$ determined in cyclotomic expansion at $N=1$ is a lower bound for smooth 4-bal…
We construct complexes $P_{1^n}$ of Soergel bimodules which categorify the Young idempotents corresponding to one-column partitions. A beautiful recent conjecture of Gorsky-Rasmussen relates the Hochschild homology of categorified Young idempotents with the flag Hilbert scheme. We prove this conjecture for $P_{1^n}$ and its twisted variants. We also show that this homology is also a certain limit of Khovanov-Rozansky homologies of torus links. Along the way we obtain several combinatorial results which could be of independent interest.
We construct an action of a polynomial ring on the colored sl(2) link homology of Cooper-Krushkal, over which this homology is finitely generated. We define a new, related link homology which is finite dimensional, extends to tangles, and categorifies a scalar-multiple of the sl(2) Reshetikhin-Turaev invariant. We expect this homology to be functorial under 4-dimensional cobordisms. The polynomial action is related to a conjecture of Gorsky-Oblomkov-Rasmussen-Shende on the stable Khovanov homology of torus knots, and as an application we obtain a weak version of this conjecture. A key new ingr…
Based on the proof of Labastida-Mari{ñ}o-Ooguri-Vafa conjecture \cite{lmov}, we derive an infinite product formula for Chern-Simons partition functions, the generating function of quantum $\fsl_N$ invariants. Some symmetry properties of the infinite product will also be discussed.
The Knight Move Conjecture claims that the Khovanov homology of any knot decomposes as direct sums of some "knight move" pairs and a single "pawn move" pair. This is true for instance whenever the Lee spectral sequence from Khovanov homology to Q^2 converges on the second page, as it does for all alternating knots and knots with unknotting number at most 2. We present a counterexample to the Knight Move Conjecture. For this knot, the Lee spectral sequence admits a nontrivial differential of bidegree (1,8).
We use Lee's work on the Khovanov homology to define a knot invariant s. We show that s(K) is a concordance invariant and that it provides a lower bound for the slice genus of K. As a corollary, we give a purely combinatorial proof of the Milnor conjecture.
In [Duke Math. J. 101 (1999) 359-426], Mikhail Khovanov constructed a homology theory for oriented links, whose graded Euler characteristic is the Jones polynomial. He also explained how every link cobordism between two links induces a homomorphism between their homology groups, and he conjectured the invariance (up to sign) of this homomorphism under ambient isotopy of the link cobordism. In this paper we prove this conjecture, after having made a necessary improvement on its statement. We also introduce polynomial Lefschetz numbers of cobordisms from a link to itself such that the Lefschetz …
We develop the notion of the good pants homology and show that it agrees with the standard homology on closed surfaces (the good pants are pairs of pants whose cuffs have the length nearly equal to some large number R). Combined with our previous work on the Surface Subgroup Theorem, this yields a proof of the Ehrenpreis conjecture.
In his study of the group of homology cylinders, J. Levine made the conjecture that a certain homomorphism eta': T -> D' is an isomorphism. Here T is an abelian group on labeled oriented trees, and D' is the kernel of a bracketing map on a quasi-Lie algebra. Both T and D' have strong connections to a variety of topological settings, including the mapping class group, homology cylinders, finite type invariants, Whitney tower intersection theory, and the homology of the group of automorphisms of the free group. In this paper, we confirm Levine's conjecture. This is a central step in classifying …
Szabó recently introduced a combinatorially-defined spectral sequence in Khovanov homology. After reviewing its construction and explaining our methodology for computing it, we present results of computations of the spectral sequence. Based on these computations, we make a number of conjectures concerning the structure of the spectral sequence, and towards those conjectures, we prove some propositions.
For a ribbon knot, it is a folk conjecture that the rank of its knot Floer homology must be 1 modulo 8, and another folk conjecture says the same about reduced Khovanov homology. We give the first counter-examples to both of these folk conjectures, but at the same time present compelling evidence for new conjectures that either of these homologies must have rank congruent to 1 modulo 4 for any ribbon knot. We prove that each revised conjecture is equivalent to showing that taking the rank of the homology modulo 4 gives a homomorphism of the knot concordance group. We check the revised conjectu…
The (untwisted) oriented cube of resolutions for knot Floer homology assigns a complex $C_{F}(S)$ to a singular resolution $S$ of a knot $K$. Manolescu conjectured that when $S$ is in braid position, the homology $H_{*}(C_{F}(S))$ is isomorphic to the HOMFLY-PT homology of $S$. Together with a naturality condition on the induced edge maps, this conjecture would prove the spectral sequence from HOMFLY-PT homology to knot Floer homology. Using a basepoint filtration on $C_{F}(S)$, a recursion formula for HOMFLY-PT homology, and additional $sl_{n}$-like differentials on $C_{F}(S)$, we prove this …
A well-known conjecture of Rasmussen states that for any knot $K$ in $S^{3}$, the rank of the reduced Khovanov homology of $K$ is greater than or equal to the rank of the reduced knot Floer homology of $K$. This rank inequality is supposed to arise as the result of a spectral sequence from Khovanov homology to knot Floer homology. Using an oriented cube of resolutions construction for a homology theory related to knot Floer homology, we prove this conjecture.
A well-known conjecture states that for any $l$-component link $L$ in $S^3$, the rank of the knot Floer homology of $L$ (over any field) is less than or equal to $2^{l-1}$ times the rank of the reduced Khovanov homology of $L$. In this paper, we describe a framework that might be used to prove this conjecture. We construct a modified version of Khovanov homology for links with multiple basepoints and show that it mimics the behavior of knot Floer homology. We also introduce a new spectral sequence converging to knot Floer homology whose $E_1$ page is conjecturally isomorphic to our new version…
In the present work we generalize the construction of monopole Floer homology due to Kronheimer and Mrowka to the case of a gradient flow with Morse-Bott singularities. Focusing then on the special case of a three-manifold equipped with a spin$^c$ structure isomorphic to its conjugate, we define the counterpart in this context of Manolescu's recent $\mathrm{Pin}(2)$-equivariant Seiberg-Witten-Floer homology. In particular, we provide an alternative approach to his disproof of the celebrated Triangulation conjecture.
We define Pin(2)-equivariant Seiberg-Witten Floer homology for rational homology 3-spheres equipped with a spin structure. The analogue of Froyshov's correction term in this setting is an integer-valued invariant of homology cobordism whose mod 2 reduction is the Rokhlin invariant. As an application, we show that there are no homology 3-spheres Y of Rokhlin invariant one such that Y # Y bounds an acyclic smooth 4-manifold. By previous work of Galewski-Stern and Matumoto, this implies the existence of non-triangulable high-dimensional manifolds.
We define and study a family of link invariants $\mathit{HFK}_{n}(L)$. Although these homology theories are defined using holomorphic disc counts, they share many properties with $sl_{n}$ homology. Using these theories, we give a framework that generalizes the conjectured spectral sequence from Khovanov homology to $δ$-graded knot Floer homology. In particular, we conjecture that for all links $L$ in $S^3$ and all $n\ge 1$, there is a spectral sequence from the $sl_{n}$ homology of $L$ to $\mathit{HFK}_{n}(L)$.
Ozsvath and Szabo gave a combinatorial description of knot Floer homology based on a cube of resolutions, which uses maps with twisted coefficients. We study the t=1 specialization of their construction. The associated spectral sequence converges to knot Floer homology, and we conjecture that its E_1 page is isomorphic to the HOMFLY-PT chain complex of Khovanov and Rozansky. At the level of each E_1 summand, this conjecture can be stated in terms of an isomorphism between certain Tor groups. As evidence for the conjecture, we prove that such an isomorphism exists in degree zero.
There is a one-to-one correspondence between strong inversions on knots in the three-sphere and a special class of four-ended tangles. We compute the reduced Khovanov homology of such tangles for all strong inversions on knots with up to 9 crossings, and discuss these computations in the context of earlier work by the second author. In particular, we provide a counterexample to [Conjecture 29, arXiv:1311.1085] as well as a refinement of and additional evidence for [Conjecture 28, arXiv:1311.1085].
In this article we study the Heegaard Floer link homology of $(n, n)$-torus links. The Alexander multigradings which support non-trivial homology form a string of $n-1$ unit hypercubes in $\mathbb{R}^{n}$, and we compute the ranks and gradings of the homology in nearly all Alexander gradings. We also conjecture a complete description of the link homology and provide some support for this conjecture. This article is taken from the author's 2007 Ph.D. thesis and contains several open questions.
We prove that the length of any gap in the differential grading of the Khovanov homology of any quasi-alternating link is one. As a consequence, we obtain that the length of any gap in the Jones polynomial of any such link is one. This establishes a weaker version of Conjecture 2.3 in [5]. Moreover, we obtain a lower bound for the determinant of any such link in terms of the breadth of its Jones polynomial. This establishes a weaker version of Conjecture 3.8 in [17]. The main tool in obtaining this result is establishing the Knight Move Conjecture [2,Conjecture 1] for the class of quasi-altern…
The cosmetic surgery conjecture is a longstanding conjecture in 3-manifold theory. We present a theorem about exceptional cosmetic surgery for homology spheres. Along the way we prove that if the surgery is not a small seifert $\mathbb{Z}/2\mathbb{Z}$-homology sphere or a toroidal irreducible non-Seifert surgery then there is at most one pair of exceptional truly cosmetic slope. We also prove that toroidal truly cosmetic surgeries on integer homology spheres must be integer homology spheres.
Khovanov-Floer theories are a class of homological link invariants which admit spectral sequences from Khovanov homology. They include Khovanov homology, Szab{ó}'s geometric link homology, singular instanton homology, and various Floer theories applied to branched double covers. In this short note we show that certain strong Khovanov-Floer theories, including Szab{ó} homology and singular instanton homology, are invariant under Conway mutation. This confirms conjectures of Seed and Lambert-Cole. Along the way we prove two other conjectures about the structure of Szab{ó} homology.
We solve the conjecture by R. Fenn, C. Rourke and B. Sanderson that the rack homology of dihedral quandles satisfies H_3^R(R_p) = Z \oplus Z_p for p odd prime. We also show that H_n^R(R_p) contains Z_p for n>2. Furthermore, we show that the torsion of H_n^R(R_3) is annihilated by 3. We also prove that the quandle homology H_4^Q(R_p) contains Z_p for p odd prime. We conjecture that for n>1 quandle homology satisfies: H_n^Q(R_p) = Z_p^{f_n}, where f_n are "delayed" Fibonacci numbers, that is, f_n = f_{n-1} + f_{n-3} and f(1)=f(2)=0, f(3)=1. Our paper is the first step in approaching this conject…
For every oriented surface of finite type, we construct a functorial Khovanov homology for links in a thickening of the surface, which takes values in a categorification of the corresponding gl(2) skein module. The latter is a mild refinement of the Kauffman bracket skein algebra, and its categorification is constructed using a category of gl(2) foams that admits an interesting non-negative grading. We expect that the natural algebra structure on the gl(2) skein module can be categorified by a tensor product that makes the surface link homology functor monoidal. We construct a candidate bifunc…
We complete the first step in a two-part program proposed by Baker, Grigsby, and the author to prove that Berge's construction of knots in the three-sphere which admit lens space surgeries is complete. The first step, which we prove here, is to show that a knot in a lens space with a three-sphere surgery has simple (in the sense of rank) knot Floer homology. The second (conjectured) step involves showing that, for a fixed lens space, the only knots with simple Floer homology belong to a simple finite family. Using results of Baker, we provide evidence for the conjectural part of the program by…
We present computational results about quasi-alternating knots and links and odd homology obtained by looking at link families in the Conway notation. More precisely, we list quasi-alternating links up to 12 crossings and the first examples of quasi-alternating knots and links with at least two different minimal diagrams, where one is quasi-alternating and the other is not. We provide examples of knots and links with $n\le 12$ crossings which are homologically thin and have no minimal quasi-alternating diagrams. These links are candidates for homologically thin links that are not quasi-alterna…
Using the unbounded picture of analytical K-homology, we associate a well-defined K-homology class to an unbounded symmetric operator satisfying certain mild technical conditions. We also establish an ``addition formula'' for the Dirac operator on the circle and for the Dolbeault operator on closed surfaces. Two proofs are provided, one using topology and the other one, surprisingly involved, sticking to analysis, on the basis of the previous result. As a second application, we construct, in a purely analytical language, various homomorphisms linking the homology of a group in low degree, the …
Given a band sum of a split two-component link along a nontrivial band, we obtain a family of knots indexed by the integers by adding any number of full twists to the band. We show that the knots in this family have the same Heegaard knot Floer homology and the same instanton knot Floer homology. In contrast, a generalization of the cosmetic crossing conjecture predicts that the knots in this family are all distinct. We verify this prediction by showing that any two knots in this family have distinct Khovanov homology. Along the way, we prove that each of the three knot homologies detects the …
Let M be an arithmetic hyperbolic 3-manifold, such as a Bianchi manifold. We conjecture that there is a basis for the second homology of M, where each basis element is represented by a surface of `low' genus, and give evidence for this. We explain the relationship between this conjecture and the study of torsion homology growth.
It is conjectured that the Khovanov homology of a knot is invariant under mutation. In this paper, we review the spanning tree complex for Khovanov homology, and reformulate this conjecture using a matroid obtained from the Tait graph (checkerboard graph) G of a knot diagram K. The spanning trees of G provide a filtration and a spectral sequence that converges to the reduced Khovanov homology of K. We show that the E_2-term of this spectral sequence is a matroid invariant and hence invariant under mutation.
Around 1988, Floer introduced two important theories: instanton Floer homology as invariants of 3-manifolds and Lagrangian Floer homology as invariants of pairs of Lagrangians in symplectic manifolds. Soon after that, Atiyah conjectured that the two theories should be related to each other and Lagrangian Floer homology of certain Lagrangians in the moduli space of flat connections on Riemann surfaces should recover instanton Floer homology. However, the space of flat connections on a Riemann surface is singular and the first step to address this conjecture is to make sense of Lagrangian Floer …
This short note resolves the most important part of the PS braid conjecture while introducing the first known examples of knots and links with odd torsion of order 9, 27, 81, and 25 in their even Khovanov homology.
We conjecture two generalisations of Elkies' theorem on unimodular quadratic forms to non-unimodular forms. We give some evidence for these conjectures including a result for determinant 3. These conjectures, when combined with results of Froyshov and of Ozsvath and Szabo, would give a simple test of whether a rational homology 3-sphere may bound a negative-definite four-manifold. We verify some predictions using Donaldson's theorem. Based on this we compute the four-ball genus of some Montesinos knots.
We generalize the methods in previous work to provide a program for proving Singer's Conjecture for Coxeter systems. Specifically, we consider even Coxeter systems with nerves that are flag triangulations of $\BS^{n-1}$, $n=2k$. We prove that Singer's Conjecture in dimensions $n-2$ and $n-1$, along with the vanishing of the $\ltwo$-homology of certain subspaces called "two-letter" ruins above dimension $k+1$, imply Singer's Conjecture in dimension $n$. This is, so far, an incomplete program. The author intends this paper to serve as a reference for those inquiring about Singer's Conjecture and…
We give a complete calculation of the infinity flavor of Heegaard Floer homology with mod 2 coefficients for all three-manifolds and torsion Spin^c structures. The computation agrees with the conjectured calculation of Ozsvath and Szabo. This therefore establishes an isomorphism with Mark's cup homology mod 2.
We describe necessary and sufficient conditions for a knot in an L-space to have an L-space homology sphere surgery. We use these conditions to reformulate a conjecture of Berge about which knots in S^3 admit lens space surgeries.
Using the method of Elias-Hogancamp and combinatorics of toric braids we give an explicit formula for the triply graded Khovanov-Rozansky homology of an arbitrary torus knot, thereby proving some of the conjectures of Aganagic-Shakirov, Cherednik, Gorsky-Negut and Oblomkov-Rasmussen-Shende.