arXiv subjects
Publications and source records attributed to Jozef H. Przytycki.
We show that every alternating link of 2-components and 12 crossings can be reduced by 4-moves to the trivial link or the Hopf link. It answers the question asked in one of the last papers by Slavik Jablan.
We describe in this note a new invariant of rooted trees. We argue that the invariant is interesting on it own, and that it has connections to knot theory and homological algebra. However, the real reason that we propose this invariant to readers is that we deal here with an elementary, interesting, new mathematics, and after reading this essay readers can take part in developing the topic, inventing new results and connections to other disciplines of mathematics, and likely, statistical mechanics, and combinatorial biology. We also provide a (free) translation of the paper in Polish.
We prove that if Q is a finite quasigroup quandle, then |Q| annihilates the torsion of its homology. It is a classical result in reduced homology of finite groups that the order of a group annihilates its homology. From the very beginning of the rack homology (between 1990 and 1995) the analogous result was suspected. The first general results in this direction were obtained independently about 2001 by R.A.Litherland and S.Nelson, and P.Etingof and M.Grana. In Litherland-Nelson paper it is proven that if (Q;*) is a finite homogeneous rack (this includes quasigroup racks) then the torsion of homology is annihilated by |Q|^n. In Etingof-Grana paper it is proven that if (X;A) is a finite rack and N=|G^0_Q| is the order of a group of inner automorphisms of Q, then only primes which can appear in the torsion of homology are those dividing N (the case of connected Alexander quandles was proven before by T.Mochizuki). The result of Litherland-Nelson is generalized by Niebrzydowski and Przytycki and in particular, they prove that the torsion part of the homology of the dihedral quandle R_3 is annihilated by 3. In Niebrzydowski-Przytycki paper it is conjectured that for a finite quasigroup quandle, torsion of its homology is annihilated by the order of the quandle. The conjecture is proved by T.Nosaka for finite Alexander quasigroup quandles. In this paper we prove the conjecture in full generality. For this version, we rewrote the Section 3 totally and introduced the concept of the precubic homotopy. In Section 2, the main addition is Corollary 2.2 which summarizes identities observed in the proof of the main theorem as we use it later in Section 3.
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, in particular giving a simple description of homology of biquandles.
For a Lattice crossing $L\left( m,n\right) $ we show which Catalan connection between $2\left( m+n\right) $ points on boundary of $m\times n$ rectangle $P$ can be realized as a Kauffman state and we give an explicit formula for the number of such Catalan connections. For the case of a Catalan connection with no arc starting and ending on the same side of the tangle, we find a closed formula for its coefficient in the Relative Kauffman Bracket Skein Module of $P\times I$
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.
We consider the classical problem of a position of n-dimensional manifold M in R^{n+2}. We show that we can define the fundamental (n+1)-cycle and the shadow fundamental (n+2)-cycle for a fundamental quandle of a knotting M to R^{n+2}. In particular, we show that for any fixed quandle, quandle coloring, and shadow quandle coloring, of a diagram of M embedded in R^{n+2} we have (n+1)- and (n+2)-(co)cycle invariants (i.e. invariant under Roseman moves). We speculate on a similar construction for general Yang-Baxter operators.
The goal of this paper is to address A. Shumakovitch's conjecture about the existence of $\Z_2$-torsion in Khovanov link homology. We analyze torsion in Khovanov homology of semi-adequate links via chromatic cohomology for graphs which provides a link between the link homology and well-developed theory of Hochschild homology. In particular, we obtain explicit formulae for torsion and prove that Khovanov homology of semi-adequate links contains $Z_2$-torsion if the corresponding Tait-type graph has a cycle of length at least 3. Computations show that torsion of odd order exists but there is no general theory to support these observations. We conjecture that the existence of torsion is related to the braid index.
We develop a theory of sets with distributive products (called shelves and multi-shelves) and of their homology. We relate the shelf homology to the rack and quandle homology.
In this chapter (Chapter III) we introduce the concept of Conway algebras (the notion related to entropic magmas) and describe invariants of links yielded by (partial) Conway algebras (including the Homflypt polynomial and signatures). We present, in detail, a proof (following the original Przytycki-Traczyk 1984 proof) of the existence of Conway type invariants. Then we describe Kauffman's method of constructing link invariants, in particular, giving the Kauffman polynomial of two variables. We develop a formalism, Kauffman algebras, analogous to that of Conway algebras. This chapter, along with chapters II, IV, and V of the book (already on arXiv), form the core of the first part of the book.
We use the idea of expressing a nonoriented link as a sum of all oriented links corresponding to the link to present a short proof of the Lickorish-Millett-Turaev formula for the Kauffman polynomial at $z= -a- a^{-1}$. Our approach explains the observation made by Lickorish and Millett that the formula is the generating function for the linking number of a sublink of the given link with its complementary sublink.
We outline the theory of sets with distributive operations: multishelves and multispindles, with examples provided by semi-lattices, lattices and skew lattices. For every such a structure we define multi-term distributive homology and show some of its properties. The main result is a complete formula for the homology of a finite distributive lattice. We also indicate the answer for unital spindles and conjecture the general formula for semi-lattices and some skew lattices. Then we propose a generalization of a lattice as a set with a number of idempotent operations satisfying the absorption law.
While homology theory of associative structures, such as groups and rings, has been extensively studied in the past beginning with the work of Hopf, Eilenberg, and Hochschild, homology of non-associative distributive structures, such as quandles, were neglected until recently. Distributive structures have been studied for a long time. In 1880, C.S. Peirce emphasized the importance of (right) self-distributivity in algebraic structures. However, homology for these universal algebras was introduced only sixteen years ago by Fenn, Rourke, and Sanderson. We develop this theory in the historical context and propose a general framework to study homology of distributive structures. We illustrate the theory by computing some examples of 1-term, 2-term, and 3-term homology, and then discussing 4-term homology for Boolean algebras and distributive lattices. We outline potential relations to Khovanov homology, via the Yang-Baxter operator.
This paper is base on talks which I gave in May, 2010 at Workshop in Trieste (ICTP). In the first part we present an introduction to knots and knot theory from an historical perspective, starting from Summerian knots and ending on Fox 3-coloring. We show also a relation between 3-colorings and the Jones polynomial. In the second part we develop the general theory of Fox colorings and show how to associate a symplectic structure to a tangle boundary so that tangles becomes Lagrangians (a proof of this result has not been published before). Chapter VI of the book "KNOTS: From combinatorics of knot diagrams to combinatorial topology based on knots will be based on this paper.
We consider various homological operations on homology of quandles. We introduce the notion of quandle partial derivatives, and extreme chains on which appropriate partial derivatives vanish. Extreme chains yield homological operations. We also consider the degree one homology operations created using elements of the quandle satisfying the so-called $k$-condition.
We prove that if G is an abelian group of odd order then there is an isomorphism from the second quandle homology of the Takasaki quandle of G to the exterior square of G. In particular, for G=Z_k^n, k odd, we obtain Z_k^{n(n-1)/2}. Nontrivial second homology allows us to use 2-cocycles to construct new quandles from T(G), and to construct link invariants.
Knot Theory is currently a very broad field. Even a long survey can only cover a narrow area. Here we concentrate on the path from Goeritz matrices to quasi-alternating links. On the way, we often stray from the main road and tell related stories, especially if they allow as to place the main topic in a historical context. For example, we mention that the Goeritz matrix was preceded by the Kirchhoff matrix of an electrical network. The network complexity extracted from the matrix corresponds to the determinant of a link. We assume basic knowledge of knot theory and graph theory, however, we offer a short introduction under the guise of a historical perspective. Chapter IV of the book "KNOTS: From combinatorics of knot diagrams to combinatorial topology based on knots will be based on this survey,
It was asked by J.Birman, Williams, and L.Rudolph whether nontrivial Lorentz knots have always positive signature. Lorentz knots are examples of positive braids (in our convention they have all crossings negative so they are negative links). It was shown by L.Rudolph that positive braids have positive signature (if they represent nontrivial links). K.Murasugi has shown that nontrivial, alternating, positive links have negative signature. Here we prove in general the old folklore conjecture that nontrivial positive links have negative signature.