Knot colouring polynomials (Q952973)

For a knot \(K\) in the 3-sphere, let \(\pi\) denote its knot group (the fundamental group of its complement), and let \(m,l\in \pi\) be represented by a meridian and longitude of the knot. The colouring number of the knot associated to a finite group \(G\) and a fixed element \(x\) in \(G\) is defined as the number of homomorphisms \(\rho:\pi \to G\) such that \(\rho(m) = x\); the author defines the colouring polynomial of the knot as \(P^x_G(K) = \Sigma_\rho \rho(l)\) where the sum is taken over all such homomorphisms \(\rho\). This is an element of the group ring \(\mathbb ZG\) but since \(l\) commutes with \(m\) and lies in the commutator subgroup of the knot group, \(\rho(l)\) lies in the intersection \(C(x) \cap G'\) of the centralizer of \(x\) and the commutator subgroup of \(G\); this intersection is often a cyclic group (of some order \(n\)), and then the the colouring polynomial \(P^x_G\) takes values in the truncated polynomial ring \(\mathbb Z[t]/(t^n)\). In the first part of the present, carefully written and motivated paper, various classical examples of knots are discussed showing that the colouring polynomial can distinguish knots from their mutants or their reflected, reversed or inversed versions where other invariants fail; the finite groups \(G\) employed are linear fractional groups \(\text{PSL}_2(\mathbb F_p)\), alternating groups \(\text{A}_n\) and the first Mathieu group \(M_{11}\), utilizing some group-theoretic software (such as GAP) to compute the set of homomorphisms of a knot group to a finite group. In the second part of the paper, the relationship of colouring polynomials to Yang-Baxter invariants and their deformations on one hand, to quandle cohomology and associated state-sum invariants on the other is investigated. It is shown that every quandle 2-cocycle state-sum invariant of knots is a specialization of some knot colouring polynomial, in particular providing a complete interpretation of these invariants in terms of the knot group and its peripheral system. Furthermore, it is shown that the colouring polynomial can be presented as a Yang-Baxter invariant, i.e. as the trace of some linear braid group representation; in particular, Yang-Baxter invariants can detect noninversible and nonreversible knots. Finally, the author asks how colouring polynomials can detect e.g. periodicity of a knot, and whether they can distinguish all knots.