A small state sum for knots (Q2367227)

This paper is concerned principally with knots in \(F \times \mathbb{R}\) where \(F\) is an orientable surface, although the theory is constructed so as to handle line bundles over non-orientable surfaces also. The main tool is the construction from a given diagram of a knot \(K\) in \(F \times \mathbb{R}\) of an element \(W_ K\) in \(\mathbb{Z}[H_ t(F)]\) which is shown to depend only on the knot, and not on the chosen diagram. The `small state sum' of the title refers to the fact that \(W_ k\) is the sum of at most \(c\) terms where the knot has a diagram with \(c\) crossings. This is applied to the case of a fibred knot \(L\) with a curve \(K\) in its complement having non-zero linking number with \(L\) to give an invariant of \(K\cup L\) in terms of the fibre surface \(F\) for \(L\). It is also applied to closed braids, regarded as curves lying in \((\mathbb{R}^ 2- \{0\})\times \mathbb{R}\), with \(F\simeq S^ 1\), to give a simple conjugacy invariant of the braid in \(\mathbb{Z}[H_ 1(S^ 1)]\cong \mathbb{Z}[x^{\pm 1}]\). The author studies the effect of Birman's exchange move on this invariant, and finds conditions under which all the braids constructed by repeated applications of the exchange move are non-conjugate. Examples are then given of an infinite sequence of 4-string braids representing the knot which are all irreducible but non-conjugate.