Generalizing the relation between the Kauffman bracket and Jones polynomial (Q7004651)

The author in this paper generalizes Kauffman's famous approach in defining the Jones polynomial of an oriented link in 3-space from its Kauffman bracket and the writhe of the given oriented diagram. This generalization is an epimorphism between skein modules of tangles in compact connected oriented 3-manifolds with markings in the boundary. Besides the usual Jones polynomial of oriented tangles the author considers graded quotients of the bracket skein module and Przytycki's \(q\)-analog of the first homology group of a 3-manifold. In certain cases, e.g., for links in submanifolds of rational homology 3-spheres, the author is able to define an epimorphism from the Jones module onto the Kauffman bracket module. For the general case the author defines suitably graded quotients of the bracket module, which are graded by homology. The kernels define new skein modules measuring the difference between Jones and bracket skein modules. The author also discusses the compatibility with gluing in this setting.