Abelian BF theories and knot invariants (Q1379677)

In the context of the Batalin-Vilkovisky formalism, a new observable for the Abelian BF theory is proposed whose vacuum expectation value is related to the Alexander-Conway polynomial. The three-dimensional case is analyzed explicitly, and it is proved to be anomaly free. Moreover, at the second order in perturbation theory, a new formula for the second coefficient of the Alexander-Conway polynomial is obtained. An account on the higher-dimensional generalizations is also given.