We show a de Rham theory for cubical manifolds, and study rational homotopy type of the classifying spaces of smooth quandles. We also show that secondary characteristic classes in cite{Dup2,DK} produce cocycles of quandles.
A quandle is a set that has a binary operation satisfying three conditions corresponding to the Reidemeister moves. Homology theories of quandles have been developed in a way similar to group homology, and have been applied to knots and knotted surfaces. In this paper, a homology theory is defined that unifies group and quandle homology theories. A quandle that is a union of groups with the operation restricting to conjugation on each group component is called a multiple conjugation quandle (MCQ, defined rigorously within). In this definition, compatibilities between the group and quandle operations are imposed which are motivated by considerations on colorings of handlebody-links. A homology theory defined here for MCQs take into consideration both group and quandle operations, as well as their compatibility. The first homology group is characterized, and the notion of extensions by $2$-cocycles is provided. Degenerate subcomplexes are defined in relation to simplicial decompositions of prismatic (products of simplices) complexes and group inverses. Cocycle invariants are also defined for handlebody-links.
A homology theory is developed for set-theoretic Yang-Baxter equations, and knot invariants are constructed by generalized colorings by biquandles and Yang-Baxter cocycles.
These lecture notes in the De Rham-Hodge theory are designed for a 1-semester undergraduate course (in mathematics, physics, engineering, chemistry or biology). This landmark theory of the 20th Century mathematics gives a rigorous foundation to modern field and gauge theories in physics, engineering and physiology. The only necessary background for comprehensive reading of these notes is Greens theorem from multivariable calculus.
The fundamental quandle is a powerful invariant of knots and links, but it is difficult to describe in detail. It is often useful to look at quotients of the quandle, especially finite quotients. One natural quotient introduced by Joyce is the $n$-quandle. Hoste and Shanahan gave a complete list of the knots and links which have finite $n$-quandles for some $n$. We introduce a generalization of $n$-quandles, denoted $N$-quandles (for a quandle with $k$ algebraic components, $N$ is a $k$-tuple of positive integers). We conjecture a classification of the links with finite $N$-quandles for some $N$, and we prove one direction of the classification.
The paper develops a general theory of orderability of quandles with a focus on link quandles of tame links and gives some general constructions of orderable quandles. We prove that knot quandles of many fibered prime knots are right-orderable, whereas link quandles of most non-trivial torus links are not right-orderable. As a consequence, we deduce that the knot quandle of the trefoil is neither left nor right orderable. Further, it is proved that link quandles of certain non-trivial positive (or negative) links are not bi-orderable, which includes some alternating knots of prime determinant and alternating Montesinos links. The paper also explores interconnections between orderability of quandles and that of their enveloping groups. The results establish that orderability of link quandles behave quite differently than that of corresponding link groups.