Orientations of Chord Diagrams and Khovanov Homology

In the present paper, we construct the Khovanov homology theory for virtual links. Besides the direct approach with Z_{2} coefficients we also describe the Khovanov homology for framed links and the Khovanov homology using ``double cover''. The latter two approaches are based on the notion of ``atom''.

This paper is an introduction to virtual knot theory and an exposition of new ideas and constructions, including the parity bracket polynomial, the arrow polynomial, the parity arrow polynomial and categorifications of the arrow polynomial. The paper is relatively self-contained and it describes virtual knot theory both combinatorially and in terms of the knot theory in thickened surfaces. The arrow polynomial (of Dye and Kauffman) is a natural generalization of the Jones pol...

We define additional gradings on two generalisations of Khovanov homology (one due to the first author, the other due to the second), and use them to define invariants of various kinds of embeddings. These include invariants of links in thickened surfaces and of surfaces embedded in thickened $3$-manifolds. In particular, the invariants of embedded surfaces are expressed in terms of certain diagrams related to the thickened $3$-manifold, so that we refer to them as picture-va...

Given any diagram of a link, we define on the cube of Kauffman's states a "2-complex" whose homology is an invariant of the associated framed links, and such that the graded Euler characteristic reproduces the unnormalized Kauffman bracket. This includes a categorification of brackets skein relation. Then we incorporate the orientation information and get a further complex on the same cube that gives rise to a new invariant homology for oriented links, so that the graded Eule...

This paper is an introduction to Khovanov homology, starting with the Kauffman bracket state summation, emphasizing the Bar-Natan Canopoloy and tangle cobordism approach. The paper discusses a simplicial approach to Khovanov homology and a quantum model for it so that the graded Euler characteristic that produces the Jones polynomial from Khovanov homology becomes the trace of a unitary transformation on a Hilbert space associated with the Khovanov Homology.

We give a fresh introduction to the Khovanov Homology theory for knots and links, with special emphasis on its extension to tangles, cobordisms and 2-knots. By staying within a world of topological pictures a little longer than in other articles on the subject, the required extension becomes essentially tautological. And then a simple application of an appropriate functor (a `TQFT') to our pictures takes them to the familiar realm of complexes of (graded) vector spaces and or...

In this paper, we discuss a proof of the isotopy invariance of a parametrized Khovanov link homology including categorifications of the Jones polynomial and the Kauffman bracket polynomial though it is a known fact. In order to present a proof easy-to-follow, we give an explicit description of retractions and chain homotopies between complexes to induce the invariance under isotopy of links. This is a refined version of arXiv: 0907.2104.

We construct explicitly the Khovanov homology theory for virtual links with arbitrary coefficients by using the twisted coefficients method. This method also works for constructing Khovanov homology for ``non-oriented virtual knots'' in the sense of Viro, in particular, for knots in ${\bf R}P^{3}$.

Khovanov homology, an invariant of links in $\mathbb{R}^3$, is a graded homology theory that categorifies the Jones polynomial in the sense that the graded Euler characteristic of the homology is the Jones polynomial. Asaeda, Przytycki and Sikora generalized this construction by defining a double graded homology theory that categorifies the Kauffman bracket skein module of links in $I$-bundles over surfaces, except for the surface $\mathbb{R}P^2$, where the construction fails...

The purpose of this paper is to interpret polynomial invariants of strongly invertible links in terms of Khovanov homology theory. To a divide, that is a proper generic immersion of a finite number of copies of the unit interval and circles in a 2-disc, one can associate a strongly invertible link in the 3-sphere. This can be generalized to signed divides : divides with + or - sign assignment to each crossing point. Conversely, to any link $L$ that is strongly invertible for ...