Knot polynomials of open and closed curves

Abstract

In this manuscript we introduce a method to measure entanglement of curves in 3-space that extends the notion of knot and link polynomials to open curves. We define the bracket polynomial of curves in 3-space and show that it has real coefficients and is a continuous function of the chain coordinates. This is used to define the Jones polynomial in a way that it is applicable to both open and closed curves in 3-space. For open curves, it has real coefficients and it is a continuous function of the chain coordinates and as the endpoints of the curve tend to coincide, the Jones polynomial of the open curve tends to that of the resulting knot. For closed curves, it is a topological invariant, as the classical Jones polynomial. We show how these measures attain a simpler expression for polygonal chains and provide a finite form for their computation in the case of chains of 3 and 4 edges.