The Gram determinant of the type B Temperley-Lieb algebra (Q1030690)

The authors give a new proof of a result on the factorization of the Gram determinant of the type \(B\) Temperley-Lieb algebra. This proof is based on elementary combinatorics. An earlier proof, using representation theory, was given in 1993 by \textit{P. Martin} and \textit{H. Saleur} [Commun. Math. Phys. 158, No. 1, 155--190 (1993; Zbl 0784.05056)]. The authors of the paper under review present their result in the setting of Lickorish's work on the Witten-Reshetikhin-Turaev invariants of 3-manifolds. The result of this paper solves a problem posed by R. Simion regarding type \(B\) Gram determinants.