Quasi-tree expansion for the Bollob\'as-Riordan-Tutte polynomial

Oriented ribbon graphs (dessins d'enfant) are graphs embedded in oriented surfaces. The Bollob\'as-Riordan-Tutte polynomial is a three-variable polynomial that extends the Tutte polynomial to oriented ribbon graphs. A quasi-tree of a ribbon graph is a spanning subgraph with one face, which is described by an ordered chord diagram. We generalize the spanning tree expansion of the Tutte polynomial to a quasi-tree expansion of the Bollob\'as-Riordan-Tutte polynomial.Comment: This version to be published in the Bulletin of the London Mathematical Society. 17 pages, 4 figure

Graphs on surfaces and Khovanov homology

Oriented ribbon graphs (dessins d'enfant) are graphs embedded in oriented surfaces. A quasi-tree of a ribbon graph is a spanning subgraph with one face, which is described by an ordered chord diagram. We show that for any link diagram $L$, there is an associated ribbon graph whose quasi-trees correspond bijectively to spanning trees of the graph obtained by checkerboard coloring $L$. This correspondence preserves the bigrading used for the spanning tree model of Khovanov homology, whose Euler characteristic is the Jones polynomial of $L$. Thus, Khovanov homology can be expressed in terms of ribbon graphs, with generators given by ordered chord diagrams.Comment: 8 pages, 5 figure

Indecomposable knots and concordance

R. C. Kirby and W. B. R. Lickorish have proved (cf. (4)) that any classical knot is concordant to an indecomposable knot. In the present note we show that this statement is also true for higher dimensional knots: more precisely, for any higher-dimensional knot K there exist infinitely many non-isotopic indecomposable simple knots which are concordant to K. This, together with the result of Kirby and Lickorish, gives a complete solution of problem 13 of (1

A reduced set of moves on one-vertex ribbon graphs coming from links

Every link in R^3 can be represented by a one-vertex ribbon graph. We prove a Markov type theorem on this subset of link diagrams.Comment: 14 pages, 15 figure

A Reduced Set of Moves on One-Vertex Ribbon Graphs Coming from Links

Every link in R3 can be represented by a one-vertex ribbon graph. We prove a Markov type theorem on this subset of link diagrams

The Jones polynomial and graphs on surfaces

The Jones polynomial of an alternating link is a certain specialization of the Tutte polynomial of the (planar) checkerboard graph associated to an alternating projection of the link. The Bollobas-Riordan-Tutte polynomial generalizes the Tutte polynomial of planar graphs to graphs that are embedded in closed oriented surfaces of higher genus. In this paper we show that the Jones polynomial of any link can be obtained from the Bollobas-Riordan-Tutte polynomial of a certain oriented ribbon graph associated to a link projection. We give some applications of this approach.Comment: 19 pages, 9 figures, minor change