In this note we present a combinatorial link invariant that underlies some recent stable homotopy refinements of Khovanov homology of links. The invariant takes the form of a functor between two combinatorial 2-categories, modulo a notion of stable equivalence. We also develop some general properties of such functors.
In this paper, we give a new construction of a Khovanov homotopy type. We show that this construction gives a space stably homotopy equivalent to the Khovanov homotopy types constructed in [LS14a] and [HKK] and, as a corollary, that those two constructions give equivalent spaces. We show that the construction behaves well with respect to disjoint unions, connected sums and mirrors, verifying several conjectures from [LS14a]. Finally, combining these results with computations from [LS14c] and the refined s-invariant from [LS14b] we obtain new results about the slice genera of certain knots.
Let $n$ be a positive integer. M. K. Dabkowski and J. H. Przytycki introduced the $n$th Burnside group of links which is preserved by $n$-moves, and proved that for any odd prime $p$ there exist links which are not equivalent to trivial links up to $p$-moves by using their $p$th Burnside groups. This gives counterexamples for the Montesinos-Nakanishi $3$-move conjecture. In general, it is hard to distinguish $p$th Burnside groups of a given link and a trivial link. We give a necessary condition for which $p$th Burnside groups are isomorphic to those of trivial links. The necessary condition gives us an efficient way to distinguish $p$th Burnside groups of a given link and a trivial link. As an application, we show that there exist links, each of which is not equivalent to a trivial link up to $p$-moves for any odd prime $p$.
We construct a CW decomposition $C_n$ of the $n$-dimensional half cube in a manner compatible with its structure as a polytope. For each $3 leq k leq n$, the complex $C_n$ has a subcomplex $C_{n, k}$, which coincides with the clique complex of the half cube graph if $k = 4$. The homology of $C_{n, k}$ is concentrated in degree $k-1$ and furthermore, the $(k-1)$-st Betti number of $C_{n, k}$ is equal to the $(k-2)$-nd Betti number of the complement of the $k$-equal real hyperplane arrangement. These Betti numbers, which also appear in theoretical computer science, numerical analysis and engineering, are the coefficients of a certain Pascal-like triangle (Sloanes sequence A119258). The Coxeter groups of type $D_n$ act naturally on the complexes $C_{n, k}$, and thus on the associated homology groups.
The purpose of this paper is to discuss the categorical structure for a method of defining quantum invariants of knots, links and three-manifolds. These invariants can be defined in terms of right integrals on certain Hopf algebras. We call such an invariant of 3-manifolds a Hennings invariant. The work reported in this paper has its background in previous work of the authors. The present paper gives an abstract description of these structures and shows how the Hopf algebraic image of a knot lies in the center of the corresponding Hopf algebra. The paper also shows how all the axiomatic properties of a quasi-triangular Hopf algebra are involved in the topology via a functor from the Tangle Category to the Diagrammatic Category of a Hopf Algebra. The invariants described in this paper generalize to invariants of rotational virtual knots. The contents of this paper are an update of the original 1998 version published in JKTR.
We consider a finite-dimensional, locally finite CAT(0) cube complex X admitting a co-compact properly discontinuous countable group of automorphisms G. We construct a natural compact metric space B(X) on which G acts by homeomorphisms, the action being minimal and strongly proximal. Furthermore, for any generating probability measure on G, B(X) admits a unique stationary measure, and when the measure has finite logarithmic moment, it constitutes a compact metric model of the Poisson boundary. We identify a dense G-delta subset of B(X) on which the action of G is Borel-amenable, and describe the relation of these two spaces to the Roller boundary. Our construction can be used to give a simple geometric proof of Property A for the complex. Our methods are based on direct geometric arguments regarding the asymptotic behavior of half-spaces and their limiting ultrafilters, which are of considerable independent interest. In particular we analyze the notions of median and interval in the complex, and use the latter in the proof that B(X) is the Poisson boundary via the strip criterion developed by V. Kaimanovich.