Combinatorial approach to Milnor invariants of welded links (Q6158012)

In this paper, the authors seek to give a combinatorial proof of results first demonstrated by \textit{M. Chrisman} [Algebr. Geom. Topol. 22, No. 5, 2293--2353 (2022; Zbl 1511.57003)] using topological methods based on Satoh's correspondence [\textit{S. Satoh}, ``Virtual knot presentation of ribbon torus-knots'', WSPC Proc. (2018), \url{http://msp.warwick.ac.uk/~cpr/ftp/zrourke.pdf}]. between welded link diagrams and knotted tori in four dimensions. In particular, the authors are able to give a combinatorial extension of Milnor's concordance invariants to welded links, and show that these numbers are invariant modulo a factor determined by the links themselves. It is interesting to see this done in an explicitly combinatorial way, but this approach particularly helps when considering the results in Section 6. In this section, the authors show the following theorem: Theorem. Given two welded link diagrams \(D, D'\) which are related by a finite sequence of self-crossing virtualizations and welded isotopies, the Milnor invariants of the two diagrams will be equal. A self-crossing virtualization consists of replacing a classical crossing involving over and under arcs from the same link component with a virtual crossing. Such a change is rather simple combinatorially, but more complicated when considered geometrically. It would, however, be very interesting to see if the corresponding geometric interpretation of this result would yield any interesting information about knotted tori in four dimensions. Finally, the authors apply their approach to the study of welded string links, links with endpoints fixed on a boundary, and show that for these, the Milnor numbers are an invariant.