Three-manifold invariants from Chern-Simons field theory with arbitrary semi-simple gauge groups (Q5940452)

The authors use invariants for framed links in \(S^3\) obtained from Chern-Simons field theory based on an arbitrary gauge group to construct a three-manifold invariant. They generalize a similar construction known for SU(2) Chern-Simons theory. The procedure exploits a theorem of Lickorish and Wallace and also those of Kirby, Fenn and Rourke which relate three-manifolds to surgeries on framed unoriented links. The invariant is an appropriate linear combination of framed link invariants which does not change under Kirby calculus. The invariant is related to the partition function of Chern-Simons theory, and thus it provides an efficient method of evaluating the partition function for these field theories. Exlicit computations of these manifold invariants for some three-manifolds are presented.