Generalized (co)homology of symmetric quandles over homogeneous Beck modules

Abstract

A quandle equipped with a good involution is referred to as symmetric. It is known that the cohomology of symmetric quandles gives rise to strong cocycle invariants for classical and surface links, even when they are not necessarily oriented. In this paper, we introduce the category of symmetric quandle modules and prove that these modules completely determine the Beck modules in the category of symmetric quandles. Consequently, this establishes suitable coefficient objects for constructing appropriate (co)homology theories. We develop an extension theory of modules over symmetric quandles and propose a generalized (co)homology theory for symmetric quandles with coefficients in a homogeneous Beck module, which also recovers the symmetric quandle (co)homology developed by Kamada and Oshiro [Trans. Amer. Math. Soc. (2010)]. Our constructions also apply to symmetric racks. We conclude by establishing an explicit isomorphism between the second cohomology of a symmetric quandle and the first cohomology of its associated group.