Abstract

We use three different kinds of statistical mechanical models to construct link invariants. The vertex models emerge as the most general. Our treatment of them is essentially the same as Turaev's. Using the work of Goldschmidt we are able to define models whose invariants are homology invariants for branched covers. Thus the statistical mechanical framework embraces both the "classical" and the "new" link invariants.

Description

This is a beautiful and fundamental paper, showing how solutions to the Yang-Baxter equation can be used to create topological invariants of knots and links. The paper also marks the remarkable connections among these solutions to the Yang-Baxter equation, the theory of quantum groups (in the context of Lie algebra deformations) and the properties of link polynomial invariants. Numerous connections are made with ideas and methods of statistical mechanics. - by Kauffman

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