Strands algebras and Ozsváth and Szabó's Kauffman-states functor (Q2664143)

This article studies certain differential graded algebras that arise from representing surfaces combinatorially in bordered Floer theory. In Lipshitz-Oszváth-Thurston's original formulation of bordered Floer theory for 3-manifolds with boundary [\textit{R. Lipshitz} et al., Bordered Heegaard Floer homology. Providence, RI: American Mathematical Society (AMS) (2018; Zbl 1422.57080)], surfaces are represented by pointed matched circles and assigned certain differential graded algebras over \(\mathbb{Z}_2\), commonly referred to as strands algebras. There is a generalization of this theory to the setting of sutured 3-manifolds, due to \textit{R. Zarev} in [``Bordered sutured Floer homology'', PhD-Thesis, Columbia University (2011)]. Here surfaces are thought of as arc diagrams and assigned other strands algebras. More recently, \textit{P. S. Ozsváth} and \textit{Z. Szabó} [Quantum Topol. 10, No. 3, 481--592 (2019; Zbl 1439.57032)] used ideas from bordered Floer theory to algorithmically compute the knot Floer homology of a knot by decomposing the knot into tangles and associating to each tangle a bimodule over an algebra \(\mathcal{B}\). In their construction, chord diagrams, a generalization of arc diagrams, play a prominent role. In this article, Manion, Marengon, and Willis define a reasonable candidate \(\mathcal{A}\) for the strands algebra of a chord diagram. They then relate the algebra \(\mathcal{A}\) to the algebra \(\mathcal{B}\). They also study gradings on \(\mathcal{A}\).