We investigate two algebra of curves on a topological surface with punctures - the cluster algebra of surfaces defined by Fomin, Shapiro, and Thurston, and the generalized skein algebra constructed by Roger and Yang. By establishing their compatibility, we resolve Roger-Yang's conjecture on the deformation quantization of the decorated Teichmuller space. We also obtain several structural results on the cluster algebra of surfaces. The cluster algebra of a positive genus surface is not finitely generated, and it differs from its upper cluster algebra.
Based on hyperbolic geometric considerations, Roger and Yang introduced an extension of the Kauffman bracket skein algebra that includes arcs. In particular, their skein algebra is a deformation quantization of a certain commutative curve algebra, and there is a Poisson algebra homomorphism between the curve algebra and the algebra of smooth functions on decorated Teichmuller space. In this paper, we consider surfaces with punctures which is not the 3-holed sphere and which have an ideal triangulation without self-folded edges or triangles. For those surfaces, we prove that Roger and Yang's Po…
We give an explicit correspondence between stated skein algebras, which are defined via explicit relations on stated tangles in [Costantino F., Lê T.T.Q., arXiv:1907.11400], and internal skein algebras, which are defined as internal endomorphism algebras in free cocompletions of skein categories in [Ben-Zvi D., Brochier A., Jordan D., J. Topol. 11 (2018), 874-917, arXiv:1501.04652] or in [Gunningham S., Jordan D., Safronov P., arXiv:1908.05233]. Stated skein algebras are defined on surfaces with multiple boundary edges and we generalise internal skein algebras in this context. Now, one needs t…
We give an explicit formula for the action of the Dehn twist along a simple closed curve in a compact connected oriented surface on the completion of the filtered skein modules. To do this, we introduce filtrations of the Kauffman bracket skein algebra and the Kauffman bracket skein modules on the surface.
We show that the action of the Kauffman bracket skein algebra of a surface $Σ$ on the skein module of the handlebody bounded by $Σ$ is faithful if and only if the quantum parameter is not a root of 1.
We give an $SL_3$ analogue of the triangular decomposition of the Kauffman bracket stated skein algebras described by Le. To any punctured bordered surface, we associate an $SL_3$ stated skein algebra which contains the $SL_3$ skein algebra of closed webs. These algebras admit natural algebra morphisms associated to the splitting of surfaces along ideal arcs. We give an explicit basis for the $SL_3$ stated skein algebra and show that the splitting morphisms are injective and describe their images. By splitting a surface along the edges of an ideal triangulation, we see that the $SL_3$ stated s…
The skein algebra of an oriented $3$-manifold is a classical limit of the Kauffman bracket skein module and gives the coordinate ring of the $SL_2(\mathbb{C})$-character variety. In this paper we determine the quotient of a polynomial ring which is isomorphic to the skein algebra of a group with three generators and two relators. As an application, we give an explicit formula for the skein algebra of the Borromean rings complement in $S^3$.
By introducing a finer version of the Kauffman bracket skein algebra, we show how to decompose the Kauffman bracket skein algebra of a surface into elementary blocks corresponding to the triangles in an ideal triangulation of the surface. The new skein algebra of an ideal triangle has a simple presentation. This gives an easy proof of the existence of the quantum trace map of Bonahon and Wong. We also explain the relation between our skein algebra and the one defined by Muller, and use it to show that the quantum trace map can be extended to the Muller skein algebra.
We use the topological invariant of spatial graphs introduced by S. Yamada to find necessary conditions for a spatial graph to be periodic with a prime period. The proof of the main result is based on computing the Yamada skein algebra of the solid torus then proving that this algebra injects into the Kauffman bracket skein algebra of the solid torus.
We prove that the Kauffman bracket skein algebra of a cylinder over a surface with boundary, defined over complex numbers, is isomorphic to the observables of an appropriate lattice gauge field theory.
We give a survey of some old and new results about the stated skein modules/algebras of 3-manifolds/surfaces. For generic quantum parameter, we discuss the splitting homomorphism for the 3-manifold case, general structures of the stated skein algebras of marked surfaces (or bordered punctured surfaces) and their embeddings into quantum tori. For roots of 1 quantum parameter, we discuss the Frobenius homomorphism (for both marked 3-manifolds and marked surfaces), describe the center of the skein algebra of marked surfaces, the dimension of the skein algebra over the center, and the representati…
We describe presentations of the Roger-Yang generalized skein algebras for punctured spheres with an arbitrary number of punctures. This skein algebra is a quantization of the decorated Teichmuller space and generalizes the construction of the Kauffman bracket skein algebra. In this paper, we also obtain a new interpretation of the homogeneous coordinate ring of the Grassmannian of planes in terms of skein theory.
We show that the Kauffman bracket skein algebra of any oriented surface F (possibly with marked points in its boundary) has no zero divisors and that its center is generated by knots parallel to the unmarked components of the boundary of F. Furthermore, we show that skein algebras are Noetherian and Ore. Our proofs rely on certain filtrations of skein algebras induced by pants decompositions of surfaces. We prove some basic algebraic properties of the associated graded algebras along the way.
We determine the action of the Kauffman bracket skein algebra of the torus on the Kauffman bracket skein module of the complement of the 3-twist knot. The point is to study the relationship between knot complements and their boundary tori, an idea that has proved very fruitful in knot theory. We place this idea in the context of Chern-Simons theory, where such actions arose in connection with the computation of the noncommutative version of the A-polynomial that was defined by Frohman, Gelca and Lofaro, but they can also be interpreted as quantum mechanical systems. Our goal is to exhibit a de…
These lecture notes concern the algebraic geometry of the character variety of a finitely generated group in SL(2,C) from the point of view of skein modules. We focus on the case of surface and 3-manifolds groups and construct the Reidemeister torsion as a rational volume form on the character variety.
For each Frobenius algebra there is defined a skein module of surfaces embedded in a given 3-manifold and bounding a prescribed curve system in the boundary. The skein relations are local and generate the kernel of a certain natural extension of the corresponding topological quantum field theory. In particular the skein module of the 3-ball is isomorphic to the ground ring of the Frobenius algebra. We prove a presentation theorem for the skein module with generators incompressible surfaces colored by elements of a generating set of the Frobenius algebra, and with relations determined by tubing…
This paper is focused on the structure of the Kauffman bracket skein algebra of a punctured surface at roots of unity. A criterion that determines when a collection of skeins forms a basis of the skein algebra as an extension over the $SL(2,{\mathbb C})$ characters of the fundamental group of the surface, with appropriate localization is given. This is used to prove that when the algebra is localized so that every nonzero element of the center has a multiplicative inverse, that it is a division algebra. Finally, it is proved that the localized skein algebra can be split over its center as a te…
A homology cylinder of a surface induces an automorphism of the completed group ring of the fundamental group of the surface. We introduce a new method of computing the automorphism by using the Goldman Lie algebra of the surface or some skein algebra. In particular, we give a refinement of a formula by Kuno and Massuyeau.
We study the algebraic and geometric properties of stated skein algebras of surfaces with punctured boundary. We prove that the skein algebra of the bigon is isomorphic to the quantum group ${\mathcal O}_{q^2}(\mathrm{SL}(2))$ providing a topological interpretation for its structure morphisms. We also show that its stated skein algebra lifts in a suitable sense the Reshetikhin-Turaev functor and in particular we recover the dual $R$-matrix for ${\mathcal O}_{q^2}(\mathrm{SL}(2))$ in a topological way. We deduce that the skein algebra of a surface with $n$ boundary components is an algebra-como…
The Hecke algebra H_n contains well known idempotents E_λ which are indexed by Young diagrams with n cells. They were originally described by Gyoja. A skein theoretical description of E_λ was given by Aiston and Morton. The closure of E_λ becomes an element Q_λ of the skein of the annulus. In this skein, they are known to obey the same multiplication rule as the symmetric Schur functions s_λ. But previous proofs of this fact used results about quantum groups which were far beyond the scope of skein theory. Our elementary proof uses only skein theory and basic algebra.
This paper resolves the unicity conjecture of Bonahon and Wong for the Kauffman bracket skein algebras of all oriented finite type surfaces at all roots of unity. The proof is a consequence of a general unicity theorem that says that the irreducible representations of a prime affine $k$-algebra over an algebraically closed field $k$, that is finitely generated as a module over its center, are generically classified by their central characters. The center of the Kauffman bracket skein algebra of any orientable surface at any root of unity is characterized, and it is proved that the skein algebr…
For A a primitive 2N-root of unity with N odd, the Witten-Reshetikhin-Turaev topological quantum field theory provides a representation of the Kauffman skein algebra of a closed surface. We show that this representation is irreducible and we compute its classical shadow, in the sense of earlier work of the authors (arXiv:1206.1638).
We give an explicit basis $\mathcal{B}$ of the quotient of the Kauffman bracket skein algebra $\mathcal{S} (Σ)$ on a surface $Σ$ by the square of an augmentation ideal. As an application, it induces two kinds of finite type invariants of links in a handle body in the sense of Le. Moreover, we construct an embedding of the mapping class group of a compact connected surface of genus $0$ into the Kauffman bracket skein algebra on the surface completed with respect to a filtration coming from the augmentation ideal.
We show that the if a sequence of normalized polynomials gives rise to a positive basis of the skein algebra of a surface, then it is sandwiched between the two types of Chebyshev polynomials. For the closed torus, we show that the normalized sequence of Chebyshev polynomials of type one $(\hat{T}_n)$ is the only one which gives a positive basis.
We show that the twisted SL(2) skein algebra of a surface has a natural basis (the bracelets basis) that is positive, in the sense that the structure constants for multiplication are positive integers.
Algebra Situs is a branch of mathematics which has its roots in Jones' construction of his polynomial invariant of links and Drinfeld's work on quantum groups. It encompasses the theory of quantum invariants of knots and 3-manifolds, algebraic topology based on knots, operads, planar algebras, q-deformations, quantum groups, and overlaps with algebraic geometry, non-commutative geometry and statistical mechanics. Algebraic topology based on knots may be characterized as a study of properties of manifolds by considering links (submanifolds) in a manifold and their algebraic structure. The main …
This paper is a presentation, where we compute the HOMFLYPT Skein module of singular links in the 3-sphere. This calculation is based on some results previously proved by Rabenda and the author on Markov traces on singular Hecke algebras, as well as on classical techniques that allow to pass from the framework of Markov traces on Hecke algebras to the framework of HOMFLYPT Skein modules. Some open problems on singular Hecke algebras are also presented.
We discuss and develop a systematic method to compute the Poisson center (Casimir) of various Poisson algebras associated to loops on orientable surfaces (possibly with boundary and punctures) introduced by Goldman and Wolpert in 80's while studying Thurston's earthquakes deformations. Our computation extends a result of Etingof to all finite type hyperbolic surfaces. We use these methods to compute the center of various skein algebras introduced by Turaev for the quantization of these Poisson algebras. As another application of our results we compute the center of homotopy skein algebra intro…
The stated skein algebra of a punctured bordered surface (or equivalently, a marked surface) is a generalization of the well-known Kauffman bracket skein algebra of unmarked surfaces and can be considered as an extension of the quantum special linear group $\mathcal{O}_{q^2}(SL_2)$ from a bigon to general surfaces. We show that the stated skein algebra of a punctured bordered surface with non-empty boundary can be embedded into quantum tori in two different ways. The first embedding can be considered as a quantization of the map expressing the trace of a closed curve in terms of the shear coor…
In this paper we study the skein algebras of marked surfaces and the skein modules of marked 3-manifolds. Muller showed that skein algebras of totally marked surfaces may be embedded in easy to study algebras known as quantum tori. We first extend Muller's result to permit marked surfaces with unmarked boundary components. The addition of unmarked components allows us to develop a surgery theory which enables us to extend the Chebyshev homomorphism of Bonahon and Wong between skein algebras of unmarked surfaces to a "Chebyshev-Frobenius homomorphism" between skein modules of marked 3-manifolds…
Let $F$ be a finite type surface and $ζ$ a complex root of unity. The Kauffman bracket skein algebra $K_ζ(F)$ is an important object in both classical and quantum topology as it has relations to the character variety, the Teichmüller space, the Jones polynomial, and the Witten-Reshetikhin-Turaev Topological Quantum Field Theories. We compute the rank and trace of $K_ζ(F)$ over its center, and we extend a theorem of Frohman and Kania-Bartoszynska which says the skein algebra has a splitting coming from two pants decompositions of $F$.
Given a Heegaard splitting of a closed 3-manifold, the skein modules of the two handlebodies are modules over the skein algebra of their common boundary surface. The zeroth Hochschild homology of the skein algebra of a surface with coefficients in the tensor product of the skein modules of two handlebodies is interpreted as the skein module of the 3-manifold obtained by gluing the two handlebodies together along this surface. A spectral sequence associated to the Hochschild complex is constructed and conditions are given for the existence of algebraic torsion in the skein module of this 3-mani…
For a surface $F$, the Kauffman bracket skein module of $F \times [0,1]$, denoted $K(F)$, admits a natural multiplication which makes it an algebra. When specialized at a complex number $t$, nonzero and not a root of unity, we have $K_t(F)$, a vector space over $\mathbb{C}$. In this paper, we will use the product-to-sum formula of Frohman and Gelca to show that the vector space $K_t(T^2)$ has five distinct traces. One trace, the Yang-Mills measure, is obtained by picking off the coefficient of the empty skein. The other four traces on $K_t(T^2)$ correspond to each of the four $\mathbb{Z}_2$ ho…
This is the third article in the series begun with [BonWon3, BonWon4], devoted to finite-dimensional representations of the Kauffman bracket skein algebra of an oriented surface $S$. In [BonWon3] we associated a classical shadow to an irreducible representation $ρ$ of the skein algebra, which is a character $r_ρ\in \mathcal R_{\mathrm{SL}_2(\mathbb C)}(S)$ represented by a group homomorphism $π_1(S) \to \mathrm{SL}_2(\mathbb C)$. The main result of the current article is that, when the surface $S$ is closed, every character $r\in \mathcal R_{\mathrm{SL}_2(\mathbb C)}(S)$ occurs as the classica…
