The topological biquandle of a link (Q2305394)

A biquandle is a set with two operations that satisfy certain axioms. Biquandles were studied by many mathematicians over the years, cf. [\textit{D. Hrencecin} and \textit{L. H. Kauffman}, J. Knot Theory Ramifications 16, No. 10, 1361--1382 (2007; Zbl 1161.57004)]. The main purpose of this paper is to introduce topological biquandles for oriented links: to every oriented link \(L\), associate a topologically defined biquandle \(\hat{\mathcal{B}}_L.\) The author shows that the topological biquandle \(\hat{\mathcal{B}}_L\) is a quotient of the fundamental biquandle, which has a simpler structure than a general biquandle. An important theorem is given in Section 4: Theorem 4.1. Let \(D\) be a diagram of a link \(L\) in \(S^3.\) Then \[ \langle A(D)\mid \text{crossing relations for each}\, c \in C(D), R_{a,b,c}\, \text{for each}\, a, b, c \in A(D) \rangle \] is a presentation of the topological biquandle \(\hat{\mathcal{B}}_L.\) The author provides a complete proof with illustrations. At the end she points out some reasons why we may be interested in this invariant when the fundamental quandle is already a complete invariant of knots up to inversion, cf. \textit{S. V. Matveev} [Math. USSR, Sb. 47, 73--83 (1984; Zbl 0523.57006); translation from Mat. Sb., Nov. Ser. 119(161), No. 1, 78--88 (1982)], and expresses her hope that the topological biquandle might lead to interesting new invariants by defining it for links in other 3-manifolds, virtual links, or higher-dimensional links.