Rings of $SL_2({\mathbb C})$-Characters and the Kauffman Bracket Skein Module

We recover the family of non-semisimple quantum invariants of closed oriented 3-manifolds associated with the small quantum group of $\mathfrak{sl}_2$ using purely combinatorial methods based on Temperley-Lieb algebras and Kauffman bracket polynomials. These invariants can be understood as a first-order extension of Witten-Reshetikhin-Turaev invariants, which can be reformulated following our approach in the case of rational homology spheres.

In this paper we present recent results on the computation of skein modules of 3-manifolds using braids and appropriate knot algebras. Skein modules generalize knot polynomials in $S^3$ to knot polynomials in arbitrary 3-manifolds and they have become extremely essential algebraic tools in the study of 3-manifolds. In this paper we present the braid approach to the HOMFLYPT and the Kauffman bracket skein modules of the Solid Torus ST and the lens spaces $L(p,1)$ and $S^1\time...

We prove a uniqueness result for finite-dimensional representations of the Kauffman skein algebra $\mathcal{S}_A(S)$ of a surface $S$, when $A$ is a root of unity and when the surface $S$ is a sphere with at most four punctures or a torus with at most one puncture. We show that, if two irreducible representations of $\mathcal{S}_A(S)$ have the same classical shadow and the same puncture invariants, and if this classical shadow is sufficiently generic in the character variety ...

This note provides a counterexample to a conjecture by March\'e about the structure of the Kauffman bracket skein module for closed compact oriented 3-manifolds over the ring of Laurent polynomials.

The Kauffman bracket skein modules, S(M,A), have been calculated for A=+1,-1, for all 3-manifolds M by relating them to the SL(2,C)-character varieties. We extend this description to the case when A is a 4-th root of 1 and M is either a surface x [0,1] or a rational homology sphere (or its submanifold).

In earlier work, we constructed invariants of irreducible representations of the Kauffman skein algebra of a surface. We introduce here an inverse construction, which to a set of possible invariants associates an irreducible representation that realizes these invariants. The current article is restricted to surfaces with at least one puncture, a condition that will be lifted in subsequent work of the authors that relies on this one. A step in the proof is of independent inter...

Let $(M,\mathcal{N})$ be a marked 3-manifold. We use $S_n(M,\mathcal{N},v)$ to denote the stated $SL_n$-skein module of $(M,\mathcal{N})$ where $v$ is a nonzero complex number. We establish a surjective algebra homomorphism from $S_n(M,\mathcal{N},1)$ to the coordinate ring of some algebraic set, and prove its kernel consists of all nilpotents. We prove the universal representation algebra of $\pi_1(M)$ is isomorphic to $S_n(M,\mathcal{N},1)$ when $M$ is connected and $\mathc...

We study some basic properties of the variety of characters in PSL(2,C) of a finitely generated group. In particular we give an interpretation of its points as characters of representations. We construct 3-manifolds whose variety of characters has arbitrarily many components that do not lift to SL(2,C). We also study the singular locus of the variety of characters of a free group.

In this paper we present two new bases, $B^{\prime}_{H_2}$ and $\mathcal{B}_{H_2}$, for the Kauffman bracket skein module of the handlebody of genus 2 $H_2$, KBSM($H_2$). We start from the well-known Przytycki-basis of KBSM($H_2$), $B_{H_2}$, and using the technique of parting we present elements in $B_{H_2}$ in open braid form. We define an ordering relation on an augmented set $L$ consisting of monomials of all different "loopings" in $H_2$, that contains the sets $B_{H_2}$...

Let Sigma be a closed oriented surface of genus g. We show that the Kauffman bracket skein module of Sigma x S^1 over the field of rational functions in A has dimension at least 2^{2g+1}+2g-1.