Milnor and finite type invariants of plat-closures (Q1271368)

The authors show that for an \(n\)-component, \(n\)-bridge link and a positive integer \(m\), the following is true: If the longitudes of \(L\) lie in the \((m+2)\)th term of the lower central series of the link group then all the finite type invariants of orders \(\leq m\) for \(L\) are the same as these of the \(n\)-component unlink. The proof uses the description of such a link as the closure of a pure \(2n\)-plat. This theorem shows that for an \(n\)-component, \(n\)-bridge link, Milnor's \(\overline \mu\)-invariants control all the finite type invariants. A challenging problem is to investigate the form of the Kontsevich integral in this case.