The affine index polynomial and the Sawollek polynomial

DOI10.4171/IRMA/33-1/6MaRDI QIDQ2055076zbMATH OpenFDO

Authors Louis Kauffman

Publication date 3 December 2021

Full work available at URL https://arxiv.org/abs/2012.01738

zbMATH Keywords

affine index polynomialAlexander moduleSawollek polynomialvirtual knots

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Generalized knots (virtual knots, welded knots, quandles, etc.) (57K12) Knot polynomials (57K14)

Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to give a new basis for examining the relationships of the Affine Index Polynomial and the Sawollek Polynomial. Blake Mellor has written a pioneering paper showing how the Affine Index Polynomial may be extracted from the Sawollek Polynomial. The Affine Index Polynomial is an elementary combinatorial invariant of virtual knots. The Sawollek polynomial is a relative of the classical Alexander polynomial and is defined in terms of a generalization of the Alexander module to virtual knots that derives from the so-called Alexander Biquandle. The present paper constructs the groundwork for a new approach to this relationship, and gives a concise proof of the basic Theorem of Mellor extracting the Affine Index Polynomial from the Sawollek Polynomial.

Review text

Motivated by the Alexander module of a classical knot, \textit{J. Sawollek} introduced a virtual version of the Alexander polynomial [``On Alexander-Conway polynomials for virtual knots and links, Preprint, \url{arXiv:math/9912173}]. On the other hand, the author introduced the affine index polynomial by using a Cheng coloring of a virtual knot diagram [J. Knot Theory Ramifications 22, No. 4, Article ID 1340007, 30 p. (2013; Zbl 1271.57040)]. \textit{B. Mellor} gave a relationship between these two polynomials in [ibid. 25, No. 8, Article ID 1650050, 30 p. (2016; Zbl 1376.57009)]. The affine index polynomial of an oriented virtual knot diagram \(K\) is defined as \(P_K(t)=\sum\limits _c \operatorname{sgn}(c)\left(t^{W_K(c)}-1\right)\), where the sum runs over all crossings \(c\) of \(K\). Here, \(\operatorname{sgn}(c)\) is the sign of \(c\) and \(W_K(c)\) is the weight of \(c\) obtained from a Cheng coloring of \(K\). Let \(M(K)\) be the relation matrix defined by the Alexander biquandle labeling of \(K\). The Sawollek polynomial \(S_K(s, t)\) is defined by the equation \(S_K(s, t) = \operatorname{Det}(M(K)),\) up to a multiplication by \(\pm t^n s^m\) where \(n\) and \(m\) are integers. Mellor in [loc. cit.] showed that \(S_K(s, t)\) is divisible by \(G=1- st\) and that the quotient of this polynomial by \(G\) gives the affine index polynomial, if \(st=1\). In this paper the author simplifies the proof and gives codes to calculate \(S_K(s, t)\) by using the program Mathematica\(^\circledR\). For the entire collection see [Zbl 1466.57001].

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