No label defined (Q4027124)

[For the entire collection see Zbl 0747.00039.] In this useful survey the authors illustrate skein theory in manifolds by a number of examples and results in special cases, after giving a short introduction to the basic ideas concerning skein modules. Besides some classical results, including the 2-variable polynomial for links, there are results on the structure of skein modules for \(M^ 3=F\times I\), \(F\) a compact oriented or a planar surface (Przytycki), results of Nakanishi- Murakami for \(M^ 3\) and a kind of ``unknotting'' skein relation as well as for coloured skein modules. Further topics are: skein modules corresponding to link homotopy (homotopy skein modules), skein modules for unoriented framed links, including Kauffman's approach to Jones polynomial. The structure of such modules can be determined for special manifolds (lens spaces, \(I\)-bundles over \(F\) and the Whitehead manifold).