arXiv subjects
Publications and source records attributed to M. Polyak.
This is a list of open problems on invariants of knots and 3-manifolds with expositions of their history, background, significance, or importance. This list was made by editing open problems given in problem sessions in the workshop and seminars on `Invariants of Knots and 3-Manifolds' held at Kyoto in 2001.
We observe that any knot invariant extends to virtual knots. The isotopy classification problem for virtual knots is reduced to an algebraic problem formulated in terms of an algebra of arrow diagrams. We introduce a new notion of finite type invariant and show that the restriction of any such invariant of degree n to classical knots is an invariant of degree at most n in the classical sense. A universal invariant of degree at most n is defined via a Gauss diagram formula. This machinery is used to obtain explicit formulas for invariants of low degrees. The same technique is also used to prove that any finite type invariant of classical knots is given by a Gauss diagram formula. We introduce the notion of n-equivalence of Gauss diagrams and announce virtual counter-parts of results concerning classical n-equivalence.