The present volume is an updated version of the book edited by C N Yang and M L Ge on the topics of braid groups and knot theory, which are related to statistical mechanics. This book is based on the 1989 volume but has new material included and new contributors.
Contents:Notes on Subfactors and Statistical Mechanics (V F R Jones)Polynomial Invariants in Knot Theory (L H Kauffman)Algebras of Loops on Surfaces, Algebras of Knots, and Quantization (V G Turaev)Quantum Groups (L Faddeev et al.)Introduction to the Yang-Baxter Equation (M Jimbo)Integrable Systems Related to Braid Groups and Yang-Baxter Equation (T Kohno)The Yang-Baxter Relation: A New Tool for Knot Theory (Y Akutsu et al.)Akutsu-Wadati Link Polynomials from Feynman-Kauffman Diagrams (M-L Ge et al.)Quantum Field Theory and the Jones Polynomial (E Witten) Readership: Mathematical physicists.
Chapter 1 The algebraic prerequisites for the book are covered here and in the appendix. This chapter should be used as reference material and should be consulted as needed. A systematic treatment of algebras, coalgebras, bialgebras, Hopf algebras, and represen tations of these objects to the extent needed for the book is given. The material here not specifically cited can be found for the most part in [Sweedler, 1969] in one form or another, with a few exceptions. A great deal of emphasis is placed on the coalgebra which is the dual of n x n matrices over a field. This is the most basic example of a coalgebra for our purposes and is at the heart of most algebraic constructions described in this book. We have found pointed bialgebras useful in connection with solving the quantum Yang-Baxter equation. For this reason we develop their theory in some detail. The class of examples described in Chapter 6 in connection with the quantum double consists of pointed Hopf algebras. We note the quantized enveloping algebras described Hopf algebras. Thus for many reasons pointed bialgebras are elsewhere are pointed of fundamental interest in the study of the quantum Yang-Baxter equation and objects quantum groups.
The book provides a detailed account of basic coalgebra and Hopf algebra theory with emphasis on Hopf algebras which are pointed, semisimple, quasitriangular, or are of certain other quantum groups. It is intended to be a graduate text as well as a research monograph.
This is the proceedings of an international conference on knot theory held in July 1996 at Waseda University Conference Center. It was organised by the International Research Institute of Mathematical Society of Japan. The conference was attended by nearly 180 mathematicians from Japan and 14 other countries. Most of them were specialists in knot theory. The volume contains 43 papers, which deal with significant current research in knot theory, low-dimensional topology and related topics.The volume includes papers by the following invited speakers: G Burde, R Fenn, L H Kauffman, J Levine, J M Montesinos(-A), H R Morton, K Murasugi, T Soma, and D W Sumners.
This invaluable book is an introduction to knot and link invariants as generalized amplitudes for a quasi-physical process. The demands of knot theory, coupled with a quantum-statistical framework, create a context that naturally and powerfully includes an extraordinary range of interrelated topics in topology and mathematical physics. The author takes a primarily combinatorial stance toward knot theory and its relations with these subjects. This stance has the advantage of providing direct access to the algebra and to the combinatorial topology, as well as physical ideas.The book is divided into two parts: Part I is a systematic course on knots and physics starting from the ground up, and Part II is a set of lectures on various topics related to Part I. Part II includes topics such as frictional properties of knots, relations with combinatorics, and knots in dynamical systems.In this new edition, an article on Virtual Knot Theory and Khovanov Homology has beed added.
There have been exciting developments in the area of knot theory in recent years. They include Thurston's work on geometric structures on 3-manifolds (e.g. knot complements), Gordon–Luecke work on surgeries on knots, Jones' work on invariants of links in S3, and advances in the theory of invariants of 3-manifolds based on Jones- and Vassiliev-type invariants of links. Jones ideas and Thurston's idea are connected by the following path: hyperbolic structures, PSL(2, C) representations, character varieties, quantization of the coordinate ring of the variety to skein modules (i.e. Kauffman, bracket skein module), and finally quantum invariants of 3-manifolds. This proceedings volume covers all those exciting topics.
This invaluable book is an introduction to knot and link invariants as generalised amplitudes for a quasi-physical process. The demands of knot theory, coupled with a quantum-statistical framework, create a context that naturally and powerfully includes a extraordinary range of interrelated topics in topology and mathematical physics. The author takes a primarily combinatorial stance toward knot theory and its relations with these subjects. This stance has the advantage of providing direct access to the algebra and to the combinatorial topology, as well as physical ideas. The book is divided into two parts: Part I is a systematic course on knots and physics starting from the ground up, and Part II is a set of lectures on various topics related to Part I. Part II includes topics such as frictional properties of knots, relations with combinatorics, and knots in dynamical systems. In this third edition, a paper by the author entitled "Functional Integration and Vassiliev invariants" has been added. This paper shows how the Kontsevich integral approach to the Vassiliev invariants is directly related to the perturbative expansion of Witten's functional integral. While the book supplies the background, this paper can be read independently as an introduction to quantum field theory and knot invariants and their relation to quantum gravity. As in the second edition, there is a selection of papers by the author at the end of the book. Numerous clarifying remarks have been added to the text.