More recently, Khovanov introduced link homology as a generalization of the Jones polynomial to homology of chain complexes and Ozsvath and Szabo developed Heegaard-Floer homology, that lifts the Alexander polynomial. These two significantly different theories are closely related and the dependencies are the object of intensive study. These ideas mark the beginning of a new era in knot theory that includes relationships with four-dimensional problems and the creation of new forms of algebraic topology relevant to knot theory. The theory of skein modules is an older development also having its roots in Jones discovery. Another significant and related development is the theory of virtual knots originated independently by Kauffman and by Goussarov Polyak and Viro in the '90s. All these topics and their relationships are the subject of the survey papers in this book.

Well-written and engaging, this hands-on approach features many exercises to be completed by readers. Topics include knot definition and equivalence, combinatorial and algebraic invariants, unknotting operations, and virtual knots. 2016 edition.

The Only Undergraduate Textbook to Teach Both Classical and Virtual Knot Theory An Invitation to Knot Theory: Virtual and Classical gives advanced undergraduate students a gentle introduction to the field of virtual knot theory and mathematical research. It provides the foundation for students to research knot theory and read journal articles on their own. Each chapter includes numerous examples, problems, projects, and suggested readings from research papers. The proofs are written as simply as possible using combinatorial approaches, equivalence classes, and linear algebra. The text begins with an introduction to virtual knots and counted invariants. It then covers the normalized f-polynomial (Jones polynomial) and other skein invariants before discussing algebraic invariants, such as the quandle and biquandle. The book concludes with two applications of virtual knots: textiles and quantum computation.

This book consists of a selection of articles devoted to new ideas and developments in low dimensional topology. Low dimensions refer to dimensions three and four for the topology of manifolds and their submanifolds. Thus we have papers related to both manifolds and to knotted submanifolds of dimension one in three (classical knot theory) and two in four (surfaces in four dimensional spaces). Some of the work involves virtual knot theory where the knots are abstractions of classical knots but can be represented by knots embedded in surfaces. This leads both to new interactions with classical topology and to new interactions with essential combinatorics.

Over the last fifteen years, the face of knot theory has changed due to various new theories and invariants coming from physics, topology, combinatorics and alge-bra. It suffices to mention the great progress in knot homology theory (Khovanov homology and Ozsvath-Szabo Heegaard-Floer homology), the A-polynomial which give rise to strong invariants of knots and 3-manifolds, in particular, many new unknot detectors. New to this Edition is a discussion of Heegaard-Floer homology theory and A-polynomial of classical links, as well as updates throughout the text. Knot Theory, Second Edition is notable not only for its expert presentation of knot theory’s state of the art but also for its accessibility. It is valuable as a profes-sional reference and will serve equally well as a text for a course on knot theory.

"Knot theory is a fascinating mathematical subject, with multiple links to theoretical physics. This enyclopedia is filled with valuable information on a rich and fascinating subject." – Ed Witten, Recipient of the Fields Medal "I spent a pleasant afternoon perusing the Encyclopedia of Knot Theory. It’s a comprehensive compilation of clear introductions to both classical and very modern developments in the field. It will be a terrific resource for the accomplished researcher, and will also be an excellent way to lure students, both graduate and undergraduate, into the field." – Abigail Thompson, Distinguished Professor of Mathematics at University of California, Davis Knot theory has proven to be a fascinating area of mathematical research, dating back about 150 years. Encyclopedia of Knot Theory provides short, interconnected articles on a variety of active areas in knot theory, and includes beautiful pictures, deep mathematical connections, and critical applications. Many of the articles in this book are accessible to undergraduates who are working on research or taking an advanced undergraduate course in knot theory. More advanced articles will be useful to graduate students working on a related thesis topic, to researchers in another area of topology who are interested in current results in knot theory, and to scientists who study the topology and geometry of biopolymers. Features Provides material that is useful and accessible to undergraduates, postgraduates, and full-time researchers Topics discussed provide an excellent catalyst for students to explore meaningful research and gain confidence and commitment to pursuing advanced degrees Edited and contributed by top researchers in the field of knot theory

This volume contains the proceedings of the ICTS program Knot Theory and Its Applications (KTH-2013), held from December 10–20, 2013, at IISER Mohali, India. The meeting focused on the broad area of knot theory and its interaction with other disciplines of theoretical science. The program was divided into two parts. The first part was a week-long advanced school which consisted of minicourses. The second part was a discussion meeting that was meant to connect the school to the modern research areas. This volume consists of lecture notes on the topics of the advanced school, as well as surveys and research papers on current topics that connect the lecture notes with cutting-edge research in the broad area of knot theory.

More recently, Khovanov introduced link homology as a generalization of the Jones polynomial to homology of chain complexes and Ozsvath and Szabo developed Heegaard-Floer homology, that lifts the Alexander polynomial. These two significantly different theories are closely related and the dependencies are the object of intensive study. These ideas mark the beginning of a new era in knot theory that includes relationships with four-dimensional problems and the creation of new forms of algebraic topology relevant to knot theory. The theory of skein modules is an older development also having its roots in Jones discovery. Another significant and related development is the theory of virtual knots originated independently by Kauffman and by Goussarov Polyak and Viro in the '90s. All these topics and their relationships are the subject of the survey papers in this book.

The book is the first systematic research completely devoted to a comprehensive study of virtual knots and classical knots as its integral part. The book is self-contained and contains up-to-date exposition of the key aspects of virtual (and classical) knot theory. Virtual knots were discovered by Louis Kauffman in 1996. When virtual knot theory arose, it became clear that classical knot theory was a small integral part of a larger theory, and studying properties of virtual knots helped one understand better some aspects of classical knot theory and encouraged the study of further problems. Virtual knot theory finds its applications in classical knot theory. Virtual knot theory occupies an intermediate position between the theory of knots in arbitrary three-manifold and classical knot theory. In this book we present the latest achievements in virtual knot theory including Khovanov homology theory and parity theory due to V O Manturov and graph-link theory due to both authors. By means of parity, one can construct functorial mappings from knots to knots, filtrations on the space of knots, refine many invariants and prove minimality of many series of knot diagrams. Graph-links can be treated as "diagramless knot theory": such "links" have crossings, but they do not have arcs connecting these crossings. It turns out, however, that to graph-links one can extend many methods of classical and virtual knot theories, in particular, the Khovanov homology and the parity theory.