On a new integral formula for an invariant of 3-component oriented links (Q556142): Difference between revisions

The author presents, using magnetohydrodynamics, a construction of an invariant of 3-component links. Similarly to the generalized Sato-Levine invariant (due to \textit{P. Kirk and C. Livingston}, [Topology 36, 1333--1353 (1997; Zbl 0880.57003)] and \textit{M. Polyak} and \textit{O. Viro}, [Int. Math. Res. Not. 1994, No. 11, 445--453 (1994; Zbl 0851.57010)]), the author's invariant appears to be some extension of Milnor invariants, lifting the restrictions on when they can be properly defined. The author investigates several properties of his invariant. He shows, for example, that it is not expressible by linking numbers. He asks if it is a finite type (Vassiliev) invariant (mentioning the possibility that it may be of degree 7), and whether it is determined by the Alexander polynomial.