We show that Vassiliev invariants separate braids on a closed oriented surface, and we exhibit an universal Vassiliev invariant for these braids in terms of chord diagrams labeled by elements of the fundamental group of the considered surface.
We show that two knots have matching Vassiliev invariants of order less than n if and only if they are equivalent modulo the nth group of the lower central series of some pure braid group, thus characterizing Vassiliev's knot invariants in terms of the structure of the braid groups. We also prove some results about knots modulo the nth derived subgroups of the pure braid groups, and about knots modulo braid subgroups in general.
Let $M$ be a closed oriented surface of genus $g\ge 1$, let $B_n(M)$ be the braid group of $M$ on $n$ strings, and let $SB_n(M)$ be the corresponding singular braid monoid. Our purpose in this paper is to prove that the desingularization map $η: SB_n(M) \to \Z [B_n(M)]$, introduced in the definition of the Vassiliev invariants (for braids on surfaces), is injective.
The Vassiliev conjecture states that the Vassiliev invariants are dense in the space of all numerical link invariants in the sense that any link invariant is a pointwise limit of Vassiliev invariants. In this article, we prove that the Vassiliev conjecture holds in the case of the coefficients of the HOMFLY and the Kauffman polynomials.
For ordinary knots in R3, there are no degree one Vassiliev invariants. For virtual knots, however, the space of degree one Vassiliev invariants is infinite dimensional. We introduce a sequence of three degree one Vassiliev invariants of virtual knots of increasing strength. We demonstrate that the strongest invariant is a universal Vassiliev invariant of degree one for virtual knots in the sense that any other degree one Vassiliev invariant can be recovered from it by a certain natural construction. To prove these results, we extend the based matrix invariant introduced by Turaev for virtual …
In this paper we define and present a simple combinatorial formula for a 3-variable Laurent polynomial invariant of conjugacy classes in Artin braid group $B_m$. We show that this Laurent polynomial satisfies the Conway skein relation and its coefficients are Vassiliev invariants of braids.
Parity mappings from the chords of a Gauss diagram to the integers is defined. The parity of the chords is used to construct families of invariants of Gauss diagrams and virtual knots. One family consists of degree $n$ Vassiliev invariants.
We give a criterion to detect whether the derivatives of the HOMFLY polynomial at a point is a Vassiliev invariant or not. In particular, for a complex number b we show that the derivative P_K^{(m,n)}(b,0)=d^m/da^m d^n/dx^n P_K(a,x)|(a, x) = (b, 0) of the HOMFLY polynomial of a knot K at (b,0) is a Vassiliev invariant if and only if b= -+1. Also we analyze the space V_n of Vassiliev invariants of degree <=n for n = 1,2,3,4,5 by using the bar-operation and the star-operation in [M-J Jeong, C-Y Park, Vassiliev invariants and knot polynomials, to appear in Topology and Its Applications]. These tw…
We introduce new formulas that are Vassiliev invariants of flat vertex isotopy classes of spatial 2-bouquet graphs, which are equivalent to 2-string links. Although any Gauss diagram formula of Vassiliev invariants of spatial 2-bouquet graphs in a 3-space has been unknown, this paper gives the first and simple example.
K. Habiro gave a neccesary and sufficient condition for knots to have the same Vassiliev invariants in terms of $C_k$-move. In this paper we give another geometric condition in terms of Brunnian local move. The proof is simple and self-contained.
We find approximations by Vassiliev invariants for the coefficients of the Jones polynomial and all specializations of the HOMFLY and Kauffman polynomials. Consequently, we obtain approximations of some other link invariants arising from the homology of branched covers of links.
Finite type invariants (also known as Vassiliev invariants) of pure braids are considered from a group-theoretic point of view. New results include a construction of a universal invariant with integer coefficients based on the Magnus expansion of a free group and a calculation of numbers of independent invariants of each type for all pure braid groups.
In 1993 K. Habiro defined $C_k$-move of oriented links and around 1994 he proved that two oriented knots are transformed into each other by $C_k$-moves if and only if they have the same Vassiliev invariants of order $\leq k-1$. In this paper we define Vassiliev invariant of type $(k_1,...,k_l)$, and show that, for $k=k_1+...+k_l$, two oriented knots are transformed into each other by $C_k$-moves if and only if they have the same Vassiliev invariants of type $(k_1,...,k_l)$. We introduce a concept ` band description of knots' and give a diagram-oriented proof of this theorem. When $k_1=...=k_l=…
We collect some examples showing that some Vassiliev invariants are not obtainable from the HOMFLY and Kauffman polynomials in the real sense, namely, that they distinguish knots not distinguishable by the HOMFLY and/or Kauffman polynomial.
It has been known that any Alexander polynomial of a knot can be realized by a quasipositive knot. As a consequence, the Alexander polynomial cannot detect quasipositivity. In this paper we prove a similar result about Vassiliev invariants: for any oriented knot K and any natural number n there exists a quasipositive knot Q whose Vassiliev invariants of order less than or equal to n coincide with those of K.
We prove that if n\ge1, then an (n+1)-component Brunnian link L in a connected, oriented 3-manifold is C_n-equivalent to an unlink. We also prove that if n\ge2, then L can not be distinguished from an unlink by any Goussarov-Vassiliev finite type invariant of degree<2n.
We introduce a theory of virtual Legendrian knots. A virtual Legendrian knot is a cooriented wavefront on an oriented surface up to Legendrian isotopy of its lift to the unit cotangent bundle and stabilization and destablization of the surface away from the wavefront. We show that the groups of Vassiliev invariants of virtual Legendrian knots and of virtual framed knots are isomorphic. In particular, Vassiliev invariants cannot be used to distinguish virtual Legendrian knots that are isotopic as virtual framed knots and have equal virtual Maslov numbers.
We show that the Casson knot invariant, linking number and Milnor's triple linking number, together with a certain 2-string link invariant $V_2$, are necessary and sufficient to express any string link Vassiliev invariant of order two. Explicit combinatorial formulas are given for these invariants. This result is applied to the theory of claspers for string links.
We show that the Vassiliev invariants of orders $\leq n$ of a knot K, are obstructions to finding a regular Seifert surface, S, whose complement looks "simple" (e.g. like the complement of a disc) to the lower central series of its fundamental group. As a consequence of this, we obtain that the Vassiliev invariants of the knot $K=\partial S$ are null-concordance obstructions of certain links that can be obtained from regular spines of S. We also discuss various generalizations of these results, and we conjecture a geometric characterization of knots whose invariants of all orders vanish.
The Gordian distance between two knots measures how many crossing changes are needed to transform one knot into the other. It is known that there are always infinitely many non-equivalent knots `between' a pair of knots of Gordian distance two. In this paper we prove an extreme generalisation of this fact: there are knots with arbitrarily prescribed Vassiliev invariants between every pair of knots of Gordian distance two.
We refine the Polyak-Viro Gauss diagram formula for the Vassiliev invariant of order two in a very simple way for the 2-cable of a framed long knot. Surprisingly, the resulting isotopy invariant of framed knots can detect already the non-invertibility of knots. This makes the natural generalization of our invariant for all n-component string link satellites of a framed long knot to a candidate for distinguishing all classical knots.
It is an open question whether there are Vassiliev invariants that can distinguish an oriented knot from its inverse, i.e., the knot with the opposite orientation. In this article, an example is given for a first order Vassiliev invariant that takes different values on a virtual knot and its inverse. The Vassiliev invariant is derived from the Conway polynomial for virtual knots. Furthermore, it is shown that the zeroth order Vassiliev invariant coming from the Conway polynomial cannot distinguish a virtual link from its inverse and that it vanishes for virtual knots.
We construct a cubical CW-complex CK(M^3) whose rational cohomology algebra contains Vassiliev invariants of knots in the 3-manifold M^3. We construct \bar{CK}(R^3) by attaching cells to CK(R^3) for every degenerate 1-singular and 2-singular knot, and we show that π_1(\bar{CK}(R^3))=1 and π_2(\bar{CK}(R^3))=Z. We give conditions for Vassiliev invariants to be nontrivial in cohomology. In particular, for R^3 we show that v_2 uniquely generates H^2(CK,D), where D is the subcomplex of degenerate singular knots. More generally, we show that any Vassiliev invariant coming from the Conway polynomial…
The values that the first two Vassiliev invariants take on prime knots with up to fourteen crossings are considered. This leads to interesting fish-like graphs. Several results about the values taken on torus knots are proved.
The study of the Vassiliev invariants of Legendrian knots was started by D. Fuchs and S. Tabachnikov who showed that the groups of complex-valued Vassiliev invariants of Legendrian and of framed knots in the standard contact $R^3$ are canonically isomorphic. Recently we constructed the first examples where Vassiliev invariants of Legendrian and of framed knots are different, and Vassiliev invariants of Legendrian knots distinguish Legendrian knots that are isotopic as framed knots and homotopic as Legendrian immersions. This raised the question what information about Legendrian knots can be ca…
We analyse the asymptotical growth of Vassiliev invariants on non-periodic flow lines of ergodic vector fields on domains of $\R^3$. More precisely, we show that the asymptotics of Vassiliev invariants is completely determined by the helicity of the vector field. As an application, we determine the asymptotic Alexander and Jones polynomials and give a formula for the asymptotic Kontsevich integral.
In this paper we prove that the $r$-th ADO polynomial of a knot, for $r$ a power of prime number, can be expanded as Vassiliev invariants with values in $\mathbb{Z}$. Nevertheless this expansion is not unique and not easily computable. We can obtain a unique computable expansion, but we only get $r$ adic topological Vassiliev invariants as coefficients. To do so, we exploit the fact that the colored Jones polynomials can be decomposed as Vassiliev invariants and we tranpose it to ADO using the unified knot invariant recovering both ADO and colored Jones defined in arXiv:2003.09854. Finally we …
The theory of Gauss diagrams and Gauss diagram formulas provides convenient ways to compute knot invariants, such as coefficients of the HOMFLYPT polynomial. In \cite{4,5}, the author uses Gauss diagram formulas to find combinatorial 1-cocycles in the moduli space of knots in the solid torus. Evaluated on canonical loops, one can then obtain new, non trivial knot invariants. In those books, the author conjectures that a new formula, based on the Vassiliev invariant $v_3$ also gives a 1-cocycle. We prove that it is in fact true by using the same methods developed by the author in those books.
We show that for a large class of contact 3-manifolds the groups of Vassiliev invariants of Legendrian and of framed knots are canonically isomorphic. As a corollary, we obtain that the group of finite order Arnold's $J^+$-type invariants of wave fronts on a surface $F$ is isomorphic to the group of Vassiliev invariants of framed knots in the spherical cotangent bundle $ST^*F$ of $F$. On the other hand we construct the first examples of contact manifolds for which Vassiliev invariants of Legendrian knots can distinguish Legendrian knots that realize isotopic framed knots and are homotopic as L…
A `total Chern class' invariant of knots is defined. This is a universal Vassiliev invariant which is integral `on the level of Lie algebras' but it is not expressible as an integer sum of diagrams. The construction is motivated by similarities between the Kontsevich integral and the topological Chern character.
We discuss Vassiliev invariants for virtual knots, expanding upon the theory of quantum virtual knot invariants developed in arXiv:1509.00578. In particular, following the theory of quantum invariants we work with 'rotational' virtual knots. We define chord diagrams, weight systems, and give examples of Lie algebra weight systems of rotational virtual knots. We end with a discussion of extended quantum invariants, which capture information that standard quantum invariants of rotational virtuals cannot.
We compute Vassiliev invariants up to order six for arbitrary pretzel knots, which depend on $g+1$ parameters $n_1,\ldots,n_{g+1}$. These invariants are symmetric polynomials in $n_1,\ldots,n_{g+1}$ whose degree coincide with their order. We also discuss their topological and integer-valued properties.
Using the recent Gauss diagram formulas for Vassiliev invariants of Polyak-Viro-Fiedler and combining these formulas with the Bennequin inequality, we prove several inequalities for positive knots relating their Vassiliev invariants, genus and degrees of the Jones polynomial. As a consequence, we prove that for any of the polynomials of Alexander/Conway, Jones, HOMFLY, Brandt-Lickorish-Millett-Ho and Kauffman there are only finitely many positive knots with the same polynomial and no positive knot with trivial polynomial. We also discuss an extension of the Bennequin inequality, showing that t…
We review quantum field theory approach to the knot theory. Using holomorphic gauge we obtain the Kontsevich integral. It is explained how to calculate Vassiliev invariants and coefficients in Kontsevich integral in a combinatorial way which can be programmed on a computer. We discuss experimental results and temporal gauge considerations which lead to representation of Vassiliev invariants in terms of arrow diagrams. Explicit examples and computational results are presented.
We show that the Vassiliev invariants of a knot K, are obstructions to finding a regular Seifert surface, S, whose complement looks "simple" (e.g. like the complement of a disc) to the lower central series of its fundamental group.
The $C_k$-equivalence is an equivalence relation generated by $C_k$-moves defined by Habiro. Habiro showed that the set of $C_k$-equivalence classes of the knots forms an abelian group under the connected sum and it can be classified by the additive Vassiliev invariant of order $\leq k-1$. We see that the set of $C_k$-equivalence classes of the spatial $θ$-curves forms a group under the vertex connected sum and that if the group is abelian, then it can be classified by the additive Vassiliev invariant of order $\leq k-1$. However the group is not necessarily abelian. In fact, we show that it i…
It has been known that, the coefficients of the series expansion of the Jones polynomial evaluated at $e^x$ are rational valued Vassiliev invariants . In this article, we calculate minimal multiplying factor, λ, needed for these rational valued invariants to become integer valued Vassiliev invariants. By doing that we obtain a set of integer-valued Vassiliev invariants.
Khovanov homology is a categorification of the Jones polynomial, so it may be seen as a kind of quantum invariant of knots and links. Although polynomial quantum invariants are deeply involved with Vassiliev (aka. finite type) invariants, the relation remains unclear in case of Khovanov homology. Aiming at it, in this paper, we discuss a categorified version of Vassiliev skein relation on Khovanov homology. More precisely, we will show that the "genus-one" operation gives rise to a crossing change on Khovanov complexes. Invariance under Reidemeister moves turns out, and it enables us to extend…
This paper is an exposition of the relationship between Witten's Chern-Simons functional integral and the theory of Vassiliev Invariants of knots and links in three dimensional space. We conceptualize the functional integral in terms of equivalence classes of functionals of gauge fields and we do not use measure theory. This approach makes it possible to discuss the mathematics intrinsic to the functional integral rigorously and without functional integration. Applications to loop quantum gravity are discussed. We thank the organizers of the Conference on 60 Years of Yang-Mills Gauge Field The…
We prove that the dimension of the space of primitive Vassiliev invariants of degree n grows - as n tends to infinity - faster than Exp(c Sqrt(n)) for any c < Pi Sqrt (2/3). The proof relies on the use of the weight systems coming from the Lie algebra gl(N). In fact, we show that our bound is - up to multiplication with a rational function in n - the best possible that one can get with gl(N)-weight systems.
We construct a natural framed weight system on chord diagrams from the curvature tensor of any pseudo-Riemannian symmetric space. These weight systems are of Lie algebra type and realized by the action of the holonomy Lie algebra on a tangent space. Among the Lie algebra weight systems, they are exactly characterized by having the symmetries of the Riemann curvature tensor.
A Gauss diagram is a simple, combinatorial way to present a link. It is known that any Vassiliev invariant may be obtained from a Gauss diagram formula that involves counting subdiagrams of certain combinatorial types. In this paper we present simple formulas for an infinite family of invariants in terms of counting surfaces of a certain genus and number of boundary components in a Gauss diagram associated with a closed braid. We then identify the resulting invariants with partial derivatives of the HOMFLY-PT polynomial.
A formula for the difference of Vassiliev invariants of degree k+1 of two knots all of whose Vassiliev invariants of degree k agree is proven. The proof uses K. Habiro's C-moves and his theorem which relates them to Vassiliev invariants.
Introducing a way to modify knots using $n$-trivial rational tangles, we show that knots with given values of Vassiliev invariants of bounded degree can have arbitrary unknotting number (extending a recent result of Ohyama, Taniyama and Yamada). The same result is shown for 4-genera and finite reductions of the homology group of the double branched cover. Closer consideration is given to rational knots, where it is shown that the number of $n$-trivial rational knots of at most $k$ crossings is for any $n$ asymptotically at least $C^{(\ln k)^2}$ for any $C<\sqrt[2\ln 2]{e}$.
We introduce a Poincaré polynomial with two-variable $t$ and $x$ for knots, derived from Khovanov homology, where the specialization $(t, x)$ $=$ $(1, -1)$ is a Vassiliev invariant of order $n$. Since for every $n$, there exist non-trivial knots with the same value of the Vassiliev invariant of order $n$ as that of the unknot, there has been no explicit formulation of a perturbative knot invariant which is a coefficient of $y^n$ by the replacement $q=e^y$ for the quantum parameter $q$ of a quantum knot invariant, and which distinguishes the above knots together with the unknot. The first formu…
In this paper, we discuss degree 0 crossing change on Khovanov homology in terms of cobordisms. Namely, using Bar-Natan's formalism of Khovanov homology, we introduce a sum of cobordisms that yields a morphism on complexes of two diagrams of crossing change, which we call the "genus-one morphism." It is proved that the morphism is invariant under the moves of double points in tangle diagrams. As a consequence, in the spirit of Vassiliev theory, taking iterated mapping cones, we obtain an invariant for singular tangles that extending sl(2) tangle homology; examples include Lee homology, Bar-Nat…
We extend the theory of Vassiliev (or finite type) invariants for knots to knotoids using two different approaches. Firstly, we take closures on knotoids to obtain knots and we use the Vassiliev invariants for knots, proving that these are knotoid isotopy invariant. Secondly, we define finite type invariants directly on knotoids, by extending knotoid invariants to singular knotoid invariants via the Vassiliev skein relation. Then, for spherical knotoids we show that there are non-trivial type-1 invariants, in contrast with classical knot theory where type-1 invariants vanish. We give a complet…
As it is well-known, all Vassiliev invariants of degree one of a knot $K\subset R^3$ are trivial. There are nontrivial Vassiliev invariants of degree one, when the ambient space is not $R^3$. Recently, T. Fiedler introduced such invariants of a knot in an $R^1$-fibration over a surface $F$. They take values in the free $Z$-module generated by all the free homotopy classes of loops in $F$. Here, we generalize them to the most refined Vassiliev invariant of degree one. The ranges of values of all these invariants are explicitly described. We also construct a similar invariant of a two-component …
The universal Vassiliev-Kontsevich invariant is a functor from the category of tangles to a certain graded category of chord diagrams, compatible with the Vassiliev filtration and whose associated graded is an isomorphism. The Vassiliev filtration has a natural extension to tangles in any thickened surface $M\times I$ but the corresponding category of diagrams lacks some finiteness properties which are essential to the above construction. We suggest to overcome this obstruction by studying families of Vassiliev invariants which, roughly, are associated to finite coverings of $M$. In the case $…
In this manuscript we define Vassiliev measures of complexity for open curves in 3-space. These are related to the coefficients of the enhanced Jones polynomial of open curves in 3-space. These Vassiliev measures are continuous functions of the curve coordinates and as the ends of the curve tend to coincide, they converge to the corresponding Vassiliev invariants of the resulting knot. We focus on the second Vassiliev measure from the enhanced Jones polynomial for closed and open curves in 3-space. For closed curves, this second Vassiliev measure can be computed by a Gauss code diagram and it …
A singular knot is an immersed circle in $\mathbb R^{3}$ with finitely many transverse double points. The study of singular knots was initially motivated by the study of Vassiliev invariants. Namely, singular knots give rise to a decreasing filtration on the infinite dimensional vector space spanned by isotopy classes of knots: this is called the Vassiliev filtration, and the study of the corresponding associated graded space has lead to many insights in knot theory. The Vassiliev filtration has an alternative, more algebraic definition for many flavours of knot theory, for example braids and …
This book is a detailed introduction to the theory of finite type (Vassiliev) knot invariants, with a stress on its combinatorial aspects. It is intended to serve both as a textbook for readers with no or little background in this area, and as a guide to some of the more advanced material. Our aim is to lead the reader to understanding by means of pictures and calculations, and for this reason we often prefer to convey the idea of the proof on an instructive example rather than give a complete argument. While we have made an effort to make the text reasonably self-contained, an advanced reader…