A closed formula for the evaluation of foams (Q2224467)

This article is mainly about an evaluation formula in the categorification of knot theory. In the introduction, it gives a brief review of various categorifications of knot invariants and then focuses on the link polynomials associated with exterior powers of the natural representation of \(\mathfrak{sl}_{N}\) or colored \(\mathfrak{sl}_{N}\) link polynomials. The definitions of web, decorated foams and its evaluation are presented and illustrated with examples in the following part. Then the main result is given by a combinatorial formula for evaluating closed decorated foams. The authors prove that this formula can derive the categorification of MOY graphs by using a universal construction of à la Blanchet, Habegger, Masbaum and Vogel [\textit{C. Blanchet} et al., Topology 34, No. 4, 883--927 (1995; Zbl 0887.57009)]. Finally, the authors point out several advantages and further possible developments of this work. The article is quite friendly for reading with self-contained content, concrete examples and colorful figures.