Combinatorics and topology - François Jaeger's work in knot theory (Q1296152)

The author gives a nice elementary introduction to the beautiful results of François Jaeger related to knot theory. These results demonstrate a number of interesting connections between combinatorics and the topology of knots and links. Starting from the bracket polynomial the author explains Jaeger's discovery of a combinatorial state model for the Homfly polynomial. Using a spin model in terms of the checkerboard graph of a knot or link, the author gives an introduction to the connection of spin models with association schemes. The Bose-Mesner matrix algebra corresponding to the association scheme is discussed. The bibliography contains the list of Jaeger's papers related to knot theory.