A refinement of Rasmussen's \({s}\)-invariant (Q2450256)

As suggested in its title, this paper provides us with a refinement of the Rasmussen invariant \(s\) defined in [\textit{J. Rasmussen}, Invent. Math. 182, No. 2, 419--447 (2010; Zbl 1211.57009)] which provides a lower bound for the slice genus of a knot \(K\). The paper is based on previous work by the authors [J. Am. Math. Soc. 27, No. 4, 983--1042 (2014; Zbl 1345.57014)], in which they constructed a space-level refinement of Khovanov homology. This refinement induces stable cohomology operations on Khovanov homology. The paper starts with a review of the Bar-Natan complex and the \(s\)-invariant. Then, it reviews the construction of the Khovanov homotopy type and provides a proof that the cohomology operations induced by the refinement commute with cobordism maps on Khovanov homology. As a consequence, the refinement of \(s\) for each stable cohomology operation is obtained. It is also shown in the paper that in the case of the Steenrod square \(\mathrm{Sq}^2\) the refinement provides a lower bound that is strictly greater than \(s\). The paper ends with some remarks and questions.