Biracks and biquandles, which are useful for studying the knot theory, are special families of solutions of the set-theoretic Yang-Baxter equation. A homology theory for the set-theoretic Yang-Baxter equation was developed by Carter, Elhamdadi, and Saito in order to construct knot invariants. In this paper, we construct a normalized (co)homology theory of a set-theoretic solution of the Yang-Baxter equation. We obtain some concrete examples of non-trivial $n$-cocycles for Alexander biquandles. For a biquandle $X,$ its geometric realization $BX$ is discussed, which has the potential to build invariants of links and knotted surfaces. In particular, we demonstrate that the second homotopy group of $BX$ is finitely generated if the biquandle $X$ is finite.
In this paper, we introduce the (co)homology group of a multiple conjugation biquandle. It is the (co)homology group of the prismatic chain complex, which is related to the homology of foams introduced by J. S. Carter, modulo a certain subchain complex. We construct invariants for $S^1$-oriented handlebody-links using $2$-cocycles. When a multiple conjugation biquandle $X\times\mathbb{Z}_{\operatorname{type}X_Y}$ is obtained from a biquandle $X$ using $n$-parallel operations, we provide a $2$-cocycle (or $3$-cocycle) of the multiple conjugation biquandle $X\times\mathbb{Z}_{\operatorname{type}…
We introduce a new algebraic structure called \textit{local biquandles} and show how colorings of oriented classical link diagrams and of broken surface diagrams are related to tribracket colorings. We define a (co)homology theory for local biquandles and show that it is isomorphic to Niebrzydowski's tribracket (co)homology. This implies that Niebrzydowski's (co)homology theory can be interpreted similary as biqandle (co)homology theory. Moreover through the isomorphism between two cohomology groups, we show that Niebrzydowski's cocycle invariants and local biquandle cocycle invariants are the…
In this paper, we discuss the (co)homology theory of biquandles, derived biquandle cocycle invariants for oriented surface-links using broken surface diagrams and how to compute the biquandle cocycle invariants from marked graph diagrams. We also develop the shadow (co)homology theory of biquandles and construct the shadow biquandle cocycle invariants for oriented surface-links.
Given a shadow biquandle $(B,X)$ composed of a biquandle $B$ and a strongly connected $B$-set $X$, we have a local biquandle structure on $X$. The (co)homology groups of such shadow biquandles are isomorphic to those of the corresponding local biquandles. Moreover, cocycle invariants, of oriented links and oriented surface-links, using such shadow biquandles coincide with those using the corresponding local biquandles. These results imply that for some cases, the Niebrzydowski's theory in [14, 15, 16] for knot-theoretic ternary quasigroups is the same as shadow biquandle theory. We also show t…
A method of computing a basis for the second Yang-Baxter cohomology of a finite biquandle with coefficients in Q and Z_p from a matrix presentation of the finite biquandle is described. We also describe a method for computing the Yang-Baxter cocycle invariants of an oriented knot or link represented as a signed Gauss code. We provide a URL for our Maple implementations of these algorithms.
Biquandles are algebraic objects with two binary operations whose axioms encode the generalized Reidemeister moves for virtual knots and links. These objects also provide set-theoretic solutions of the well-known Yang-Baxter equation. The first half of this paper proposes some natural constructions of biquandles from groups and from their simpler counterparts, namely, quandles. We completely determine all words in the free group on two generators that give rise to (bi)quandle structures on all groups. We give some novel constructions of biquandles on unions and products of quandles, including …
In their paper entitled "Quantum Enhancements and Biquandle Brackets," Nelson, Orrison, and Rivera introduced biquandle brackets, which are customized skein invariants for biquandle-colored links. These invariants generalize the Jones polynomial, which is categorified by Khovanov homology. At the end of their paper, Nelson, Orrison, and Rivera asked if the methods of Khovanov homology could be extended to obtain a categorification of biquandle brackets. We outline herein a Khovanov homology-style construction that is an attempt to obtain such a categorification of biquandle brackets. The resul…
A homology theory is developed for set-theoretic Yang-Baxter equations, and knot invariants are constructed by generalized colorings by biquandles and Yang-Baxter cocycles.
We extend the Yang-Baxter cocycle invariants for virtual knots by augmenting Yang-Baxter 2-cocycles with cocycles from a cohomology theory associated to a virtual biquandle structure. These invariants coincide with the classical Yang-Baxter cocycle invariants for classical knots but provide extra information about virtual knots and links. In particular, they provide a method for detecting non-classicality of virtual knots and links.
In 2004, Carter, Elhamdadi and Saito defined a homology theory for set-theoretic Yang-Baxter operators(we will call it the "algebraic" version in this article). In 2012, Przytycki defined another homology theory for pre-Yang-Baxter operators which has a nice graphic visualization(we will call it the "graphic" version in this article). We show that they are equivalent. The "graphic" homology is also defined for pre-Yang-Baxter operators, and we give some examples of it's one-term and two-term homologies. In the two-term case, we have found torsion in homology of Yang-Baxter operator that yields…
This paper is an extended account of my "Introductory Plenary talk at Knots in Hellas 2016" conference We start from the short introduction to Knot Theory from the historical perspective, starting from Heraclas text (the first century AD), mentioning R.Llull (1232-1315), A.Kircher (1602-1680), Leibniz idea of Geometria Situs (1679), and J.B.Listing (student of Gauss) work of 1847. We spend some space on Ralph H. Fox (1913-1973) elementary introduction to diagram colorings (1956). In the second section we describe how Fox work was generalized to distributive colorings (racks and quandles) and e…
We introduce skein theoretic techniques to compute the Yang-Baxter (YB) homology and cohomology groups of the R-matrix corresponding to the Jones polynomial. More specifically, we show that the YB operator $R$ for Jones, normalized for homology, admits a skein decomposition $R = I + βα$, where $α: V^{\otimes 2} \rightarrow k$ is a "cup" pairing map and $β: k \rightarrow V^{\otimes 2}$ is a "cap" copairing map, and differentials in the chain complex associated to $R$ can be decomposed into horizontal tensor concatenations of cups and caps. We apply our skein theoretic approach to determine the …
This paper is a sequel to my essay "Distributivity versus associativity in the homology theory of algebraic structures" Demonstratio Math., 44(4), 2011, 821-867 (arXiv:1109.4850 [math.GT]). We start from naive invariants of arc colorings and survey associative and distributive magmas and their homology with relation to knot theory. We outline potential relations to Khovanov homology and categorification, via Yang-Baxter operators. We use here the fact that Yang-Baxter equation can be thought of as a generalization of self-distributivity. We show how to define and visualize Yang-Baxter homology…
We introduce a modified homology and cohomology theory for involutory biquandles (also known as \textit{bikei}). We use bikei 2-cocycles to enhance the bikei counting invariant for unoriented knots and links as well as unoriented and non-orientable knotted surfaces in $\mathbb{R}^4$.
The classical trefoil is famous for having a three-colouring which distinguishes it from the unknot. The three-colouring is also notorious for not distinguishing the right handed from the left handed trefoil. However with a bit of tweaking the three colours can also be used for this task. What lies behind the method is a new operation on biracks called doubling which converts the 3-colour quandle into a biquandle. Colouring with this biquandle distinguishes the right handed from the left handed trefoil. Equivalently it defines an element of the homology of the quandle or biquandle classifying …
In this article, we adjust the Yang-Baxter operators constructed by Jones for the HOMFLYPT polynomal. Then we compute the second homology for this family of Yang-Baxter operators. It has the potential to yield 2-cocycle invariant for links.
W. Rump showed that there exists a one-to-one correspondence between involutive right non-degenerate solutions of the Yang-Baxter equation and Rump right quasigroups. J. S. Carter, M. Elhamdadi, and M. Saito, meanwhile, introduced a homology theory of set-theoretic solutions of the Yang-Baxter equation in order to define cocycle invariants of classical knots. In this paper, we introduce the normalized homology theory of an involutive right non-degenerate solution of the Yang-Baxter equation and prove that the set-theoretic Yang-Baxter homology of certain solutions can be split into the normali…
This is an extended abstract of the talk given at the Oberwolfach Workshop "Algebraic Structures in Low-Dimensional Topology", 25 May -- 31 May 2014. My goal was to describe progress in distributive homology from the previous Oberwolfach Workshop June 3 - June 9, 2012, in particular my work on Yang-Baxter homology; however I concentrated my talk on my recent discovery of q-polynomial of a rooted tree; the appropriate topic as my talk was on May 30, 2014, the 30 anniversary of the Jones polynomial, and the polynomial has its roots in the Kauffman bracket approach to the Jones polynomial.
