We give a new, algebraically computable formula for skein modules of closed 3-manifolds via Heegaard splittings. As an application, we prove that skein modules of closed 3-manifolds are finite-dimensional, resolving in the affirmative a conjecture of Witten.
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…
I introduce new Langlands duality conjectures concerning skein modules of 3-manifolds, which we have made recently with David Ben-Zvi, Sam Gunningham, and Pavel Safronov. I recount some historical motivation and some recent special cases where the conjecture is confirmed. The proofs in these cases combine the representation theory of double affine Hecke algebras and a new 1-form symmetry structure on skein modules related to electric-magnetic duality. This note is an expansion of my talk given at String Math 2022 in Warsaw, and is submitted to the String Math 2022 Proceedings publication.
We give a skein-theoretic realization of the $\mathfrak{gl}_n$ double affine Hecke algebra of Cherednik using braids and tangles in the punctured torus. We use this to provide evidence of a relationship we conjecture between the classical skein algebra of the punctured torus and the elliptic Hall algebra of Burban and Schiffmann.
We investigate aspects of Kauffman bracket skein algebras of surfaces and modules of 3-manifolds using quantum torus methods. These methods come in two flavors: embedding the skein algebra into a quantum torus related to quantum Teichmuller space, or filtering the algebra and obtaining an associated graded algebra that is a monomial subalgebra of a quantum torus. We utilize the former method to generalize the Chebyshev homomorphism of Bonahon and Wong between skein algebras of surfaces to a Chebyshev-Frobenius homomorphism between skein modules of marked 3-manifolds, in the course of which we …
In this paper, we propose and discuss implications of a general conjecture that there is a canonical action of a rank 1 double affine Hecke algebra on the Kauffman bracket skein module of the complement of a knot $K \subset S^3$. We prove this in a number of nontrivial cases, including all $(2,2p+1)$ torus knots, the figure eight knot, and all 2-bridge knots (when $q=\pm 1$). As the main application of the conjecture, we construct 3-variable polynomial knot invariants that specialize to the classical colored Jones polynomials introduced by Reshetikhin and Turaev in \cite{RT90}. We also deduce …
We give a generators and relations presentation of the HOMFLYPT skein algebra $H$ of the torus $T^2$, and we give an explicit description of the module corresponding to the solid torus. Using this presentation, we show that $H$ is isomorphic to the $t=q$ specialization of the elliptic Hall algebra of Burban and Schiffmann [BS12]. As an application, for an iterated cable $K$ of the unknot, we use the elliptic Hall algebra to construct a 3-variable polynomial that specializes to the $λ$-colored Homflypt polynomial of $K$. We show that this polynomial also specializes to one constructed by Chered…
Based on the presentation of the Kauffman bracket skein module of the torus given by the third author in previous work, Charles D. Frohman and Răzvan Gelca established a complete description of the multiplicative operation leading to a famous product-to-sum formula. In this paper, we study the multiplicative structure of the Kauffman bracket skein algebra of the thickened four-holed sphere. We present an algorithm to compute the product of any two elements of the algebra, and give an explicit formula for some families of curves. We surmise that the algorithm has quasi-polynomial growth with re…
We study the AJ conjecture for $(r,2)$-cables of a knot, where $r$ is an odd integer. Using skein theory, we show that the AJ conjecture holds true for most $(r,2)$-cables of some classes of two-bridge knots and pretzel knots.
We introduce a finiteness property for braided fusion categories, describe a conjecture that would characterize categories possessing this, and verify the conjecture in a number of important cases. In particular we say a category has F if the associated braid group representations factor over a finite group, and suggest that categories of integral Frobenius-Perron dimension are precisely those with property F.
We develop an explicit skein theoretical algorithm to compute the Alexander polynomial of a 3-manifold from a surgery presentation employing the methods used in the construction of quantum invariants of 3-manifolds. As a prerequisite we establish and prove a rather unexpected equivalence between the topological quantum field theory constructed by Frohman and Nicas using the intersection homology of U(1)-representation varieties on the one side and the combinatorially constructed Hennings-TQFT based on the quasitriangular Hopf algebra ${\cal N}=\Z/2\ltimes \ext *\R^2$ on the other side. We find…
We prove a rank-finiteness conjecture for modular categories: up to equivalence, there are only finitely many modular categories of any fixed rank. Our technical advance is a generalization of the Cauchy theorem in group theory to the context of spherical fusion categories. For a modular category $\mathcal{C}$ with $N=ord(T)$, the order of the modular $T$-matrix, the Cauchy theorem says that the set of primes dividing the global quantum dimension $D^2$ in the Dedekind domain $\mathbb{Z}[e^{\frac{2πi}{N}}]$ is identical to that of $N$.