Two filtrations of ribbon 2-knots (Q1612201): Difference between revisions

In an earlier paper [Contemp. Math. 233, 187-196 (1999; Zbl 0929.57014)], the authors (with \textit{K. Habiro}) gave two families of of ``finite type'' invariants for ribbon 2-knots, providing analogues of the Vassiliev invariants for classical knots. Here they show that these invariants are determined by filtrations on the free abelian group generated by the set of all ribbon 2-knots in \(\mathbb{R}^4\). Their main result is that the filtrations coincide, and therefore the two sets of finite type invariants for ribbon 2-knots agree. In fact the finite type invariants of ribbon 2-knots are all determined by the Alexander polynomial [\textit{K. Habiro} and \textit{A. Shima}, Topology Appl. 111, No. 3, 265-287 (2001; Zbl 0977.57031)]. (For example, if the Alexander polynomial \(\Delta_K(t)\) is normalized so that \(\Delta_K(1)=1\) and \(\delta_K'(1)=0\) then the \(n\)th derivative \(\Delta_K^{(n)}(1)\) is a finite type invariant of level \(n\)).