arXiv research

We introduce a "minimal" Kontsevich integral that generates the original Kontsevich integral while at the same time producing ribbons whose boundaries are the braids on which the minimal Kontsevich integral is evaluated. We generalize the definition of the Kontsevich integral to that of graphs in R^3 and study the beha…

Formula connects linking coefficients to Kontsevich integral coefficients.

In this paper, we shall give an explicit Gauss diagram formula for the Kontsevich integral of links up to degree four. This practical formula enables us to actually compute the Kontsevich integral in a combinatorial way.

This paper is an exposition of heuristics related to Witten's functional integral, relating it to Vassiliev invariants and to the Kontsevich integrals that can be used to produce Vassiliev invariants of knots and links.In particular, we give a simplified version of the appearance of the Kontsevich integrals in the pert…

We refine a Le and Murakami uniqueness theorem for the Kontsevich Integral in order to specify the relationship between the two (possibly equal) main universal link invariants: the Kontsevich Integral and the perturbative expression of the Chern-Simons theory. As a corollary, we prove that the Altschuler and Freidel an…

This paper is part expository and part presentation of calculational results. The target space of the Kontsevich integral for knots is a space of diagrams; this space has various algebraic structures which are described here. These are utilized with Le's theorem on the behaviour of the Kontsevich integral under cabling…

This is an overview article on the Kontsevich integral written for the Encyclopedia of Mathematical Physics, to be published by Elsevier.

This is a substantially revised version. The Kontsevich integral of a knot is a graph-valued invariant which (when graded by the Vassiliev degree of graphs) is characterized by a universal property; namely it is a universal Vassiliev invariant of knots. We introduce a second grading of the Kontsevich integral, the Eule…

This article is the continuation of our first article (math/9901028). It shows how the zero-anomaly result of Yang implies the equality between the configuration space integral and the Kontsevich integral.

The integrality of the Kontsevich integral and perturbative invariants is discussed. We show that the denominator of the degree $n$ part of the Kontsevich integral of any knot or link is a divisor of $(2!3!... n!)^4(n+1)!$. We also show that the denominator of of the degree $n$ part of the universal perturbative invari…

We review quantum field theory approach to the knot theory. Using holomorphic gauge we obtain the Kontsevich integral. It is explained how to calculate Vassiliev invariants and coefficients in Kontsevich integral in a combinatorial way which can be programmed on a computer. We discuss experimental results and temporal …

We study the 2-loop part of the rational Kontsevich integral of a knot in an integer homology sphere. We give a general formula which explains how the 2-loop part of the Kontsevich integral of a knot changes after surgery on a single clasper whose leaves are not linked to the knot. As an application, we relate this for…

We study the rational Kontsevich integral of torus knots. We construct explicitely a series of diagrams made of circles joined together in a tree-like fashion and colored by some special rational functions. We show that this series codes exactly the unwheeled rational Kontsevich integral of torus knots, and that it beh…

We construct an extension of the Kontsevich integral of knots to knotted trivalent graphs, which commutes with orientation switches, edge deletions, edge unzips, and connected sums. In 1997 Murakami and Ohtsuki [MO] first constructed such an extension, building on Drinfel'd's theory of associators. We construct a step …

The Kontsevich integral of a knot is a powerful invariant which takes values in an algebra of trivalent graphs with legs. Given a Lie algebra, the Kontsevich integral determines an invariant of knots (the so-called colored Jones function) with values in the symmetric algebra of the Lie algebra. Recently A. Kricker and …

We define a 1-cocycle in the space of long knots that is a natural generalization of the Kontsevich integral seen as a 0-cocycle. It involves a 2-form that generalizes the Knizhnik--Zamolodchikov connection. We show that the well-known close relationship between the Kontsevich integral and Vassiliev invariants (via the…

The study finds arithmetic groups often in square-tiled surface monodromies.

We introduce a matrix representation of a chord on a tangle which leads us to representing tangle chord diagrams as stacks of matrices that we call books. We show that band sum moves, Reidemeister moves as well as orientation changes are implemented on \widetilde{Z}_f - a framed link invariant constructed from the Kont…

We give an introductory survey on the universal Vassiliev invariant called the perturbative series expansion of the Chern-Simons theory of links in euclidean space, and on its relation with the Kontsevich integral. We also prove an original geometric property of the anomaly of Bott, Taubes, Altschuler, Freidel and D. T…

New formula for 3-manifold invariants using combinatorial methods.

We introduce an algebra bundle of chord diagrams over the configuration space of N points in the complex plane on which we put the Knizhnik-Zamolodchikov connection. For that particular connection, the holonomy along a loop in the base is shown to be generating the Kontsevich integral for that loop's associated braid.

We study the unwheeled rational Kontsevich integral of torus knots. We give a precise formula for these invariants up to loop degree 3 and show that they appear as colorings of simple diagrams. We show that they behave under cyclic branched coverings in a very simple way. Our proof is combinatorial: it uses the results…

We formulate a conjecture (already proven by A. Kricker) about the structure of Kontsevich integral of a knot. We describe its value in terms of the generating functions for the numbers of external edges attached to closed 3-valent diagrams. We conjecture that these functions are rational functions of the exponentials …

This work develops some technology for accessing the loop expansion of the Kontsevich integral of a knot. The setting is an application of the LMO invariant to certain surgery presentations of knots by framed links in the solid torus. A consequence of this technology is a certain recent conjecture of Rozansky's. Rozans…

M. Kontsevich proposed a topological construction for an invariant Z of rational homology 3-spheres using configuration space integrals. G. Kuperberg and D. Thurston proved that Z is a universal real finite type invariant for integral homology spheres in the sense of Ohtsuki, Habiro and Goussarov. We review the Kontsev…

Lectures on symplectic and Poisson geometry, quantization, and quantum field theory.

Study Hochschild cohomology of dg manifolds linked to integrable distributions.

The purpose of the paper is twofold. First, we give a short proof using the Kontsevich integral for the fact that the restriction of an invariant of degree 2n to (n+1)-component Brunnian links can be expressed as a quadratic form on the Milnor mu-bar link-homotopy invariants of length n+1. Second, we describe the struc…

Kricker defined an invariant of knots in homology 3-spheres which is a rational lift of the Kontsevich integral, and proved with Garoufalidis that this invariant satisfies splitting formulas with respect to a surgery move called null-move. We define a functorial extension of the Kricker invariant and prove splitting fo…

We use the 2-loop term of the Kontsevich integral to show that there are (many) knots with trivial Alexander polynomial which don't have a Seifert surface whose genus equals the rank of the Seifert form. This is one of the first applications of the Kontsevich integral to intrinsically 3-dimensional questions in topolog…

In a previous article, we constructed an invariant Z for null-homologous knots in rational homology spheres, from equivariant intersections in configuration spaces. Here we present an equivalent definition of Z in terms of configuration space integrals, we prove that Z is multiplicative under connected sum, and we prov…

This note describes an invariant of rational homology 3-spheres in terms of configuration space integrals which in some sense lies between the invariants of Axelrod and Singer and those of Kontsevich.

In this note, we calculate the leading term of the rational lift of the Kontsevich integral, introduced by Garoufalidis and Kricker, on the boundary of an embedded grope of class 2n. We observe that it lies in the subspace spanned by connected diagrams of Euler degree 2n-2 which have a bead t-1 on a single edge. This p…

Defines a new invariant from graph configurations in three-manifolds.

M. Kontsevich proposed a topological construction for an invariant Z of rational homology 3-spheres using configuration space integrals. G. Kuperberg and D. Thurston proved that Z is a universal real finite type invariant for integral homology spheres in the sense of Ohtsuki, Habiro and Goussarov. We discuss the behavi…

The elliptic associator of Enriquez can be used to define an invariant of tangles embedded in the thickened torus, which extends the Kontsevich integral. This construction by Humbert uses the formulation of categories with elliptic structures. In this work we show that an extension of the LMO functor also leads to an e…

A `total Chern class' invariant of knots is defined. This is a universal Vassiliev invariant which is integral `on the level of Lie algebras' but it is not expressible as an integer sum of diagrams. The construction is motivated by similarities between the Kontsevich integral and the topological Chern character.

M. Kontsevich constructed universal characteristic classes of smooth bundles with fiber a framed odd-dimensional integral homology sphere. In dimension 3, they are known to give a universal finite type invariants of homology 3-spheres. However, they have not been well understood for higher fiber dimensions. The purpose…

Given a Lie algebra with a scalar product, one may consider the latter as a symplectic structure on a $dg$-scheme, which is the spectrum of the Chevalley--Eilenberg algebra. In the first section we explicitly calculate the first order deformation of the differential on the Hochschild complex of the Chevalley--Eilenberg…

In a previous paper, we generalized the definition of the framed Kontsevich integral initially presented by Le and Murakami. We also defined an isotopy invariant $\widetilde{Z}_f$ that is well-behaved under band sum moves. Using this invariant we study the construction of the LMO invariant, the Wheeling Theorem, and th…

We continue to develop an obstruction theory for embedding 2-spheres into 4-manifolds in terms of Whitney towers. The proposed intersection invariants take values in certain graded abelian groups generated by labelled trivalent trees, and with relations well known from the 3-dimensional theory of finite type invariants…

New invariant fully describes finite type invariants of knots in homology 3-spheres.

We introduce families of decorations of a same topological space, as well as a family of sheaves over such decorated spaces. Making those families a directed system leads to the concept of emerald over a space. For the configuration space X_N of N points in the plane, connecting points of the plane with chords is a dec…

In 1999, Rozansky conjectured the existence of a rational presentation of the Kontsevich integral of a knot. Roughly speaking, this rational presentation of the Kontsevich integral would sum formal power series into rational functions with prescribed denominators. Rozansky's conjecture was soon proven by the second aut…

We generalize the definition of the framed Kontsevich integral initially presented by T.Q.T.Le and J.Murakami. We define an isotopy invariant $\widetilde{Z}_f$ that behaves well under band sum moves.

We show that the coefficients of the re-normalized link invariants of the paper "Multivariable link invariants arising from Lie superalgebras of type I" are Vassiliev invariants which give rise to a canonical family of weight systems.

The perturbative expression of Chern-Simons theory for links in Euclidean 3-space is a linear combination of integrals on configuration spaces. This has successively been studied by Guadagnini, Martellini and Mintchev, Bar-Natan, Kontsevich, Bott and Taubes, D. Thurston, Altschuler and Freidel, Yang and others. We give…

The operation of (untwisted) Whitehead doubling trivializes the Alexander module of a knot (and consequently, all known abelian invariants), and converts knots to topologically slice ones. In this note we show that Whitehead doubling does not trivialize the rational function that equals to the 2-loop part of the Kontse…