A cabling formula for the 2-loop polynomial of knots (Q1769596)

The Kontsevich invariant of a knot \(K\) is known to decompose into the \(n\)-loop parts for integers \(n\geq1\). For each \(n\), the \(n\)-loop part is a linear combination of \(n\)-loop graphs with edges labeled by rational functions with powers of the Alexander polynomial of \(K\) as denominators. The \(1\)-loop part is determined by the Alexander polynomial. Thus the \(2\)-loop part is considered as the ``first non-classical'' part of the Kontsevich integral. The \(2\)-loop polynomial \(\Theta_K\) of \(K\) is a two-variable polynomial extracted from the \(2\)-loop part of the Kontsevich invariant of \(K\), which completely determines the \(2\)-loop part. The paper under review gives a formula for \(\Theta_{T(p,q)}\) of the torus knot \(T(p,q)\), and also a formula for the \(\Theta_{K(p,q)}\), of the \((p,q)\)-cable knot \(K(p,q)\) of \(K\) expressed by \(\Theta_K\), \(\Theta_{T(p,q)}\), and the Alexander polynomial of \(K\). These two formulas have been independently obtained by \textit{J. Marché} [Topology Appl. 143, No.1-3, 15-26 (2004; Zbl 1055.57013)]. The paper also gives a formula for the third order Vassiliev invariant using the \(2\)-loop polynomial, and also gives a relation between a reduced version of the \(2\)-loop polynomial with the \(2\)-loop part of the Melvin-Morton expansion of the colored Jones polynomial.