Questions tagged [quantum-topology]

Finite-type (Vassiliev) invariants, quantum invariants, and perturbative invariants of knotted objects and of manifolds.

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Why hasn't anyone proved that the two standard approaches to quantizing Chern-Simons theory are equivalent?

The two standard approaches to the quantization of Chern-Simons theory are geometric quantization of character varieties, and quantum groups plus skein theory. These two approaches were both first ...
John Pardon's user avatar
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48 votes
5 answers
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Algebraic proof of 4-colour theorem?

4-colour Theorem. Every planar graph is 4-colourable. This theorem of course has a well-known history. It was first proven by Appel and Haken in 1976, but their proof was met with skepticism because ...
Tony Huynh's user avatar
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32 votes
2 answers
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The Jones polynomial at specific values of $t$

I've been calculating some Jones polynomials lately and I was just curious if there was a "physical" (or, rather, geometric) meaning to evaluating the Jones polynomial at a particular value of $t$. ...
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31 votes
4 answers
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Why do people study representations of 3-manifold groups into $SL(n,\mathbb{C})$?

Varieties of representations and characters of $3$-manifold groups in $SL(2,\mathbb{C})$ have been intensively studied. They have provided tools to identify geometric structures on manifolds, and are ...
Daniel Moskovich's user avatar
28 votes
2 answers
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Why is the Alexander polynomial a quantum invariant?

When we think of quantum invariants, we usually think of the Jones polynomial or of the coloured HOMFLYPT. But (arguably) the simplest example of a quantum invariant of a knot or link is its Alexander ...
Daniel Moskovich's user avatar
26 votes
2 answers
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Why is the volume conjecture important?

The volume conjecture, a formula relating hyperbolic volume of a knot complement with the semiclassical limit of a family of coloured Jones polynomials, is widely considered the biggest open problem ...
Daniel Moskovich's user avatar
21 votes
3 answers
12k views

Quantum mathematics?

"Quantum" as a term/prefix used to be genuinely physical: what was supposed to be physically continuous turned out to be physically quantized. What sense does this distinction make inside ...
21 votes
1 answer
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How are the Conway polynomial and the Alexander polynomial different?

Background story: I have just come out from a talk by Misha Polyak on generalizations of an arrow-diagram formula for coefficients of the Conway polynomial by Chmutov, Khoury, and Rossi. In it, he ...
Daniel Moskovich's user avatar
20 votes
4 answers
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Is there a volume conjecture for closed 3-manifolds?

A typical statement of the volume conjecture, for instance in Murakami's survey 1002.0126, is Conjecture: For $K$ a knot in $S^3$, the N-th colored Jones polynomials are related to the volume of ...
cdouglas's user avatar
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18 votes
2 answers
1k views

Hyperbolic Volume and Chern-Simons

In the paper ``Analytic Continuation Of Chern-Simons Theory'' (arXiv:1001.2933) Witten postulates that hyperbolic volume of 3-dimensional manifold coincides with the value of the Chern-Simons ...
d1-d5's user avatar
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17 votes
1 answer
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Is there an "arithmetic cobordism category"?

This question is a clumsy attempt to apply a certain analogy. I hope that if the answer is negative it comes with a clarification of the scope and limitations of the analogy. Arithmetic topology is ...
Qiaochu Yuan's user avatar
15 votes
1 answer
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Why are Witten-Reshetikhin-Turaev invariants expected to be integral?

A Witten-Reshetikhin-Turaev (WRT) Invariant $\tau_{M,L}^G(\xi)\in\mathbb{C}$ is an invariant of closed oriented 3-manifold $M$ containing a framed link $L$, where $G$ is a simple Lie group, and $\xi$ ...
Daniel Moskovich's user avatar
15 votes
1 answer
741 views

P-adic Volume Conjecture

Let $M$ be a closed hyperbolic 3-manifold. One can use hyperbolic structure on $M$ to define hyperbolic volume $Vol(M)$. Thanks to Mostow's rigidity theorem the volume depends only on the topology of ...
Daniil Rudenko's user avatar
15 votes
1 answer
520 views

Examples of n+1D TQFT with 1 dimensional Hilbert spaces on n-torus and n-sphere but higher dimensional Hilbert spaces on other n-manifolds

Are there simple examples of $n+1$D TQFT that assign 1-dimensional Hilbert spaces to both $n$-torus and $n$-sphere but higher dimensional Hilbert spaces to some other $n$-manifolds? Here I am assuming ...
Chao-Ming Jian's user avatar
15 votes
0 answers
1k views

Representations of quantum groups at roots of unity

I'm interested in the semisimplified category of representations of a quantum group at a root of unity. I've heard that simple objects in this category correspond to certain "integral" conjugacy ...
John Pardon's user avatar
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14 votes
2 answers
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Lagrangian of Reshetikhin-Turaev TFT's

One of the results from the Reshetikhin-Turaev package is that given a modular tensor category $\mathscr{C}$ one can construct a TFT $Z$. In the case where $\mathscr{C}$ is the category of positive ...
Alonso Perez Lona's user avatar
14 votes
1 answer
1k views

Kontsevich integral : state of the art

The Kontsevich integral is known to be a universal Vassiliev invariant. It is still an open question whether it is a complete knot invariant, i.e. whether it distinguishes a given knot from all other ...
Sinan Yalin's user avatar
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13 votes
1 answer
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Classification of unitary modular tensor categories (UMTCs)

Context/background: I'm approaching this topic from the perspective of anyonic systems. In the study of anyons, one works with fusion categories. Of course, for physicality, we demand that i) The ...
Sachin Valera's user avatar
13 votes
1 answer
693 views

Integer matrices with a strange divisibility property

Fix an integer $n$. What can you say about a (not necessarily square) matrix $A$ with integer entries that has the property that for any $k$, every $k\times k$ minor of $A$ is divisible by $n^{k-1}$? ...
Dror Bar-Natan's user avatar
13 votes
1 answer
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Why Lagrangian cobordism?

There are a good number of quantum topology papers in which a TQFT-like set-up is constructed as a functor to the category of vector spaces from some category of cobordisms which satisfy some "...
Daniel Moskovich's user avatar
12 votes
2 answers
1k views

Is there a canonical Hopf structure on the center of a universal enveloping algebra?

Let $\mathfrak g$ be a finite-dimensional Lie algebra over $\mathbb C$. Define $\mathcal Z(\mathfrak g)$ to be the center of the universal enveloping algebra $\mathcal U\mathfrak g$, and define $(\...
Theo Johnson-Freyd's user avatar
12 votes
2 answers
714 views

Relations between quantum groups at roots of unity, modular representation theory, and physics

I understand that quantum groups at roots of unity are related to physics because they are used in the construction of Reshetikhin-Turaev invariants, conjectured by Witten. Are there other relations ...
Yellow Pig's user avatar
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12 votes
1 answer
830 views

Are Turaev--Viro invariants secretly a discretized path integral?

Turaev--Viro http://www.ams.org/mathscinet-getitem?mr=1191386 defined an invariant of three-manifolds $M$ denoted $TV(M)$, which was subsequently shown by Kevin Walker to coincide with $\left|WRT(M)\...
John Pardon's user avatar
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12 votes
2 answers
537 views

S-matrix for the HOMFLY/Hecke category

This question concerns the HOMFLY-PT category, closely related to Hecke algebras. (See here for example.) The minimal idempotents of this category are indexed by pairs $(\lambda_+, \lambda_-)$ of ...
Kevin Walker's user avatar
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11 votes
0 answers
336 views

Provide a citation for the "spine lemma"?

I'm looking for a citable reference for the following (perhaps folkloric?) result on topological field theories. (There are obviously generalizations to other dimensions; I'm happy with just the 2-...
Scott Morrison's user avatar
10 votes
3 answers
550 views

Is a knotted trivalent graph determined by its set of unzips?

A knotted trivalent graph (KTG) is a framed embedding of a trivalent graph in $\mathbb{R}^3$, modulo ambient isotopy. I believe they were first considered (in the quantum topological context, at least)...
Daniel Moskovich's user avatar
9 votes
2 answers
2k views

How to find Colin Day's PhD Thesis

A week or so ago, I was saddened to read Jim Stasheff's post on the AlgTop mailing list, announcing the passing of Colin Day, after a long bout with cancer. I was thinking of reading Colin Day's PhD ...
Daniel Moskovich's user avatar
9 votes
1 answer
717 views

Inverse Kirby knot

Given an (oriented framed) knot $K$ in the 3-sphere $S^3$, we can perform a surgery along $K$ to get another 3-manifold $M$. From $M$, we can perform the inverse surgery back to $S^3$. However, the ...
Student's user avatar
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9 votes
1 answer
389 views

Generators and relations for the 2-dimensional unoriented cobordism category

It is very well known in the field of TQFT that the 2-dimensional oriented cobordism category is generated by the disk and the pair of pants (each going in both directions), subject to a finite set of ...
Andi Bauer's user avatar
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9 votes
2 answers
824 views

Torus knots in Euclidean space -- a symmetry argument

Consider a $(p,q)$ torus knot $K$ in 3-dimensional Euclidean space $\mathbb R^3$ where $p,q \geq 2$ and $\operatorname{GCD}(p,q)=1$. Let $\operatorname{Isom}(\mathbb R^3,K)$ be the isometries of $\...
Ryan Budney's user avatar
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9 votes
1 answer
1k views

Diagrammatic proof of unique prime decomposition of knots

Consider a knot to be a diagram in a plane--- i.e. a drawing of a finite connected planar graph (loops and multiple edges allowed) whose vertices are 4-valent with cyclic ordering for the incident ...
Daniel Moskovich's user avatar
9 votes
1 answer
1k views

Casson's invariant and the trivial connection contribution to witten's 3-manifold invariant

This question might turn out not to make any sense, but here it is: Witten's (and Reshetikhin and Turaev's) 3-manifold invariant can be "defined" as an integral over the space of connections on the ...
Sam Lewallen's user avatar
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9 votes
0 answers
202 views

Algebraic context for Mednykh's formula?

Let $S$ be a closed orientable surface and let $G$ be a finite group, then Mednykh's formula says that $$ \sum_{V}d(V)^{\chi(S)} = |G|^{\chi(S) - 1} |\text{Hom}(\pi_1 S, G)| $$ where the sum is over ...
user101010's user avatar
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9 votes
0 answers
223 views

What is the "classical limit" of Khovanov homology?

Let me first explain what I mean by the "classical limit". For quantum group invariants of links and webs (such as colored Jones polynomials), the "classical limit" means the limit $k\rightarrow +\...
Henry's user avatar
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8 votes
1 answer
665 views

Proving that the Jones polynomial is q-holonomic

The Jones polynomial is known to have many different interpretations or definitions, by now. There are connections with QFT, quantum groups, Hilbert schemes, Cherednik algebras, etc. My question is ...
Gjergji Zaimi's user avatar
8 votes
1 answer
397 views

Brauer-Picard for a fusion category coming from a quantum group

In Fusion Categories and Homotopy Theory, ENO attatch a 3-groupoid to a fusion category. In the case of A graded vector spaces they further compute it's truncation as an orthogonal group $O(A \...
AHusain's user avatar
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8 votes
1 answer
405 views

Does the limit in the Volume conjecture converge?

The Volume conjecture says that if $J_n(q)$ are the colored Jones polynomials of a knot $K \subset S^3$, then $$\lim_{N \to \infty} \frac{ 2 \pi}N \left\vert J_N(e^{2\pi i / N})\right\vert = vol(K)$$ ...
Peter Samuelson's user avatar
8 votes
0 answers
374 views

Which presentations of (non)planar algebras give rise to knots?

Reidermeister's theorem states that the set of knots, modulo ambient isotopy, is isomorphic to the planar algebra generated by crossings, modulo Reidemeister moves. This planar algebra presentation is ...
Daniel Moskovich's user avatar
7 votes
2 answers
402 views

Vassilliev invariants of knots and their cables

The following is perhaps a standard question, but i could not find a plain enough answer by simply searching online. Q: Given a knot $K$ and its $(p,q)$-cable $K_{p,q}$ what is a relation between ...
Roddy Bad's user avatar
7 votes
1 answer
482 views

Reference request: the "Kauffman bracket skein category"?

There should be a category $3\text{CobTang}$ whose objects are some kind of surfaces with a finite set of marked points morphisms $M : S \to T$ are some kind of $3$-dimensional cobordisms $...
Qiaochu Yuan's user avatar
7 votes
1 answer
537 views

Quantum coordinate ring at root of unity

Noah Snyder gave a great answer to this question about different versions of a quantum group $U_q(\mathfrak g)$ when $q$ is a root of unity. I want to ask about forms of the deformed coordinate ring $...
John Pardon's user avatar
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7 votes
2 answers
687 views

Quantum E6/E7 knot polynomials

Has anybody seen seen quantum knot invariants associated to (E6, 27) or (E7, 56) worked out in the literature? Even for just simple knots like the trefoil or figure-8? I suspect these haven't been ...
Ross Elliot's user avatar
7 votes
1 answer
173 views

Quantum homology of $(S^2 \times S^2,\omega_{FS}\oplus \omega_{FS})$ and Poincare duality

I am having some issues computing Poincare duality for the quantum homology $QH(M)$ when $(M,\omega)=(S^2 \times S^2,\omega_{FS}\oplus \omega_{FS})$. I am using the simple novikov ring $\Lambda$ ...
MBIS's user avatar
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7 votes
1 answer
1k views

Closed formula for colored Jones polynomial of the trefoil? (reference request)

(EDIT: Powers of $q$ in the formula corrected.) I've been doing some computations with skein modules, and I found the following formula for the N-th colored Jones polynomial of the trefoil: $\frac{1}...
Peter Samuelson's user avatar
7 votes
0 answers
206 views

IH-moves on trivalent graphs, and a complex that might be known to low-dimensional topologists

Here is a combinatorial problem which is hard to Google but seems like it might have a solution well known to people who study finite type invariants etc. Let $G_{g,b}$ denote the set of finite ...
Dan Petersen's user avatar
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6 votes
3 answers
618 views

Polynomial invariants for unoriented links

I have seen that usually one finds polynomial invariants for oriented links (for example the Jones polynomial, the Hompfly polynomial). Does anyone know what polynomial invariants exist for non-...
John N.'s user avatar
  • 723
6 votes
1 answer
393 views

What vector space does the Kauffman bracket skein algebra of FxI act on?

The Kauffman bracket skein module $K_t(F\times I)$ (where $t$ is an indeterminant and $F$ is a closed surface) is an associative algebra (the operation being "stacking" links in the $I$ direction). ...
John Pardon's user avatar
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6 votes
2 answers
318 views

On trivalent spines of surfaces

Let $\Sigma$ be a surface with non-empty boundary labelled by finitely many points $x_i$. For our purposes a spine $s$ for $\Sigma$ is a uni-trivalent graph embedded in $\Sigma$ whose 1-vertices are ...
Josh's user avatar
  • 365
6 votes
1 answer
163 views

Does $U_q (\mathfrak{sl}_2)$ have a universal $R$-matrix?

Consider the standard quantum group $U_q (\mathfrak{sl}_2)$ over the field $\mathbb{C}(q)$ of rational functions (or over $\mathbb{C}$ if $q \in \mathbb{C}$ is not a root of unity), with the usual ...
Minkowski's user avatar
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6 votes
1 answer
184 views

Applications of quantum representations of the mapping class group to quantum computers

Quantum representations of the mapping class group of a surface are certain representations constructed from the data of a TQFT and described, for example, in and 1 and 2. The following sources 3 ...
Yellow Pig's user avatar
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