State models for link polynomials (Q923427)

The paper gives a conversational account of state models for the Homfly and Kauffman polynomials for a link. A state in this context is a locally altered and decorated version of the link diagram, and contributes a product of terms determined solely by the local features of the state to a global sum over states which produces the polynomial. Such models are inspired by the techniques of vertex models in statistical mechanics. In this paper the methods of systematically evaluating the polynomials by recursion over simpler diagrams, using the appropriate skein relations, is recast to present the polynomial as a sum over states. \textit{F. Jaeger}'s results of this type [Composition products and models for the Homfly polynomial, Enseign. Math., II. Sér. 35, No.3/4, 323-361 (1989; Zbl 0705.57004)] are discussed, as are other state models connected with Yang-Baxter equations. The paper ends with a discussion of the possible 3-dimensional interpretations of state models in terms of limits of more global interactions between local pieces of knot diagram, on the lines of the Gauss integral formula for linking number.