Strong band sum and dichromatic invariants (Q1191448)

Recently, Hoste and Kidwell defined a new skein invariant for 1-trivial dichromatic (or 2-colored) links, i.e. oriented links of at least 2 components including a single distinguished unknotted circle, generalizing both the Homfly and the 2-variable Conway polynomial. Examples of such links can be obtained by adding a band \(b\) to an arbitrary link \(K\) together with the canonical circle linking the band. In the present paper, Hoste and Kidwell's dichromatic invariant of the resulting link is computed in terms of monochromatic invariants of the original link \(K\) and the band \(b\). It follows that the 2-variable (dichromatic) Conway polynomial of the band sum depends only on the 1- variable (monochromatic) Conway polynomial of \(K\) but not on the band. Cochran's series of concordance invariants is discussed in this framework.