Temperley-Lieb algebras and the four-color theorem (Q2567395)

The Temperley-Lieb algebra \(T_n\) with parameter \(2\) was introduced by \textit{H. N. V. Temperley} and \textit{E.~H.~Lieb} [Proc. R. Soc. Lond., Ser. A 322, 251--280 (1971; Zbl 0211.56703)] as the associative algebra over \(\mathbb{Q}\) with generators \(1,e_0,e_1,\dots,e_n\) satisfying the relations \(e_i^2=2e_i\), \(e_ie_je_i=e_i\) if \(| i-j| =1\) and \(e_ie_j=e_je_i\) if \(| i-j| \geq2\) for \(i,j=0,1,\dots,n\). The main result of the paper under review is a necessary and sufficient condition characterizing finite words over the alphabet \({\mathcal A}\) which represent nonzero elements of \(T_n\), where \({\mathcal A}=\{e_0,e_1,\dots,e_n,r_0,r_1,\dots,r_n\}\) and \(r_i\) is defined as \(1-\frac12e_i\) if \(i\) is odd and \(2e_i-1\) otherwise. The authors prove that this characterization is equivalent to the celebrated four-color theorem (see \textit{K. Appel} and \textit{W. Haken} [Ill. J. Math. 21, 429--490 (1977; Zbl 0387.05009)] and \textit{K. Appel, W.~Haken} and \textit{J.~Koch} [Ill. J. Math. 21, 491--567 (1977; Zbl 0387.05010)]) which says that vertices of every loopless planar graph may be colored with at most four colors so that colors assigned to adjacent vertices are distinct.