Skein construction of idempotents in Birman-Murakami-Wenzl algebras

We give skein theoretic formulas for minimal idempotents in the Birman-Murakami-Wenzl algebras. These formulas are then applied to derive various known results needed in the construction of quantum invariants and modular categories. In particular, an elementary proof of the Wenzl formula for quantum dimensions is given. This proof does not use the representation theory of quantum groups and the character formulas.Comment: 26 pages, LaTeX with figures; Section 8 and details to the proof of Theorem 3.1 are adde

On the unification of quantum 3-manifold invariants

In 2006 Habiro initiated a construction of generating functions for Witten-Reshetikhin-Turaev (WRT) invariants known as unified WRT invariants. In a series of papers together with Irmgard Buehler and Christian Blanchet we extended his construction to a larger class of 3-manifolds. The unified invariants provide a strong tool to study properties of the whole collection of WRT invariants, e.g. their integrality, and hence, their categorification. In this paper we give a survey on ideas and techniques used in the construction of the unified invariants.Comment: 18 page

Modular categories of types B,C and D

We construct four series of modular categories from the two-variable Kauffman polynomial, without use of the representation theory of quantum groups at roots of unity. The specializations of this polynomial corresponding to quantum groups of types B, C and D produce series of pre-modular categories. One of them turns out to be modular and three others satisfy Brugui\`eres' modularization criterion. For these four series we compute the Verlinde formulas, and discuss spin and cohomological refinements.Comment: 32 pages, LaTeX with figures, Comment. Math. Helv. 200

Categorification of the colored Jones polynomial and Rasmussen invariant of links

We define a family of formal Khovanov brackets of a colored link depending on two parameters. The isomorphism classes of these brackets are invariants of framed colored links. The Bar-Natan functors applied to these brackets produce Khovanov and Lee homology theories categorifying the colored Jones polynomial. Further, we study conditions under which framed colored link cobordisms induce chain transformations between our formal brackets. We conjecture that, for special choice of parameters, Khovanov and Lee homology theories of colored links are functorial (up to sign). Finally, we extend the Rasmussen invariant to links and give examples, where this invariant is a stronger obstruction to sliceness than the multivariable Levine-Tristram signature.Comment: 26 pages with figures. Minor revisions. We weakened the statement of Lemma 6.1, whose original proof was incomplet

On Link Homology Theories from Extended Cobordisms

This paper is devoted to the study of algebraic structures leading to link homology theories. The originally used structures of Frobenius algebra and/or TQFT are modified in two directions. First, we refine 2-dimensional cobordisms by taking into account their embedding into the three space. Secondly, we extend the underlying cobordism category to a 2-category, where the usual relations hold up to 2-isomorphisms. The corresponding abelian 2-functor is called an extended quantum field theory (EQFT). We show that the Khovanov homology, the nested Khovanov homology, extracted by Stroppel and Webster from Seidel-Smith construction, and the odd Khovanov homology fit into this setting. Moreover, we prove that any EQFT based on a Z_2-extension of the embedded cobordism category which coincides with Khovanov after reducing the coefficients modulo 2, gives rise to a link invariant homology theory isomorphic to those of Khovanov.Comment: Lots of figure

A Simplification of Combinatorial Link Floer Homology

We define a new combinatorial complex computing the hat version of link Floer homology over Z/2Z, which turns out to be significantly smaller than the Manolescu-Ozsvath-Sarkar one.Comment: 20 pages with figures, final version printed in JKTR, v.3 of Oberwolfach Proceeding