Milnor-Orr invariants from the Kontsevich invariant (Q2302861)

In comparing the Milnor \(\mu\)-invariants, the Orr invariant and the Kontsevich invariant, the paper starts out by showing, for string links, the equivalence of the Milnor \(\mu\)-invariant of degree \(< \, 2k\) and the Orr invariant of degree \(k\), assuming a certain lifting property for the abelianization of the fundamental group of the link exterior. Next, for a based string link satisfying the lifting property above, the equivalence of the Orr invariant of degree \(k\) and the tree reduction of the Kontsevich invariant of degree \(< \, 2k\) is proved. A technical key role in all this is played by the kernel of a commuting operator in the context of abstract free groups whose generators correspond to meridians. Finally, an appendix displays a method to compute the Orr invariant from HOMFLYPT polynomials, a result based on work of \textit{J.-B. Meilhan} and \textit{A. Yasuhara} [Geom. Topol. 16, No. 2, 889--917 (2012; Zbl 1260.57026)].