The HOMFLY Braidor Algebra
From Drorbn
|
The information below is preliminary and cannot be trusted! (v)
This paperlet is about yet another construction of the HOMFLY polynomial, this time using "braidor equations". Though at the moment the term "braidor equations", the relationship with HOMFLY and the rationale for the whole plan is not yet described here. If you know what this is about, good. If not, bummer.
Contents |
The Algebra
Let
be the free associative (but non-commutative) algebra generated by the elements of the symmetric group Sn on
and by formal variables x and
, and let
be the quotient of
by the following "HOMFLY" relations:
- x commutes with everything else.
- The product of permutations is as in the symmetric group Sn.
- If σ is a permutation then tiσ = σtσi.
- [ti,tj] = xσij(ti − tj), where σij is the transposition of i and j.
Finally, declare that degx = degti = 1 while degσ = 0 for every
and every
, and let An be the graded completion of
.
We say that an element of An is "sorted" if it is written in the form
where σ is a permutation and k and the ki's are all non-negative integer. The HOMFLY relations imply that every element of An is a linear combinations of sorted elements. Thus as a vector space, An can be identified with the ring Bn of power series in the variables
tensored with the group ring of Sn. The product of An is of course very different than that of Bn.
Examples.
- The general element of A1 is (1)f(x,t1) where (1) denotes the identity permutation and f(x,t1) is a power series in two variables x and t1. A1 is commutative.
- The general element of A2 is (12)f(x,t1,t2) + (21)g(x,t1,t2) where f and g are power series in three variables and (12) and (21) are the two elements of S2. A2 is not commutative and its product is non-trivial to describe.
- The general element of A3 is described using 3! = 6 power series in 4 variables. The general element of An is described using n! power series in n + 1 variables.
The algebra An embeds in An + 1 in a trivial way by regarding
as a subset of
in the obvious manner; thus when given an element of An we are free to think of it also as an element of An + 1. There is also a non-trivial map
defined as follows:
- Δ(x) = x.
- Δ(ti) = ti + 1 + xσ1,i + 1.
- Δ acts on permutations by "shifting them one unit to the right", i.e., by identifying
with
.
The Equations
We seek to find a "braidor"; an element B of A2 satisfying:
- B = (21) + x(12) + (higher order terms).
- B(ΔB)B = (ΔB)B(ΔB) in A3.
With the vector space identification of An with Bn in mind, we are seeking two power series of three variables each, whose low order behaviour is specified and which are required to satisfy 6 functional equations written in terms of 4 variables.
The Equations in Functional Form
Lemma. The following identities hold in An:
-
and therefore
.
-
and therefore
(The right hand sides of these expressions should be interpreted as polynomials / power series in commuting variables x, ti and tj, and then the "true" x, ti and tj are to be substituted in, in "normal order" - in every monomial the variables are written so that every ti occurs before any tj). -
and therefore
. (The right hand sides of these expressions should be interpreted as polynomials / power series in commuting variables x, t1 and ti + 1, and then the "true" x, t1 and ti + 1 are to be substituted in, in "normal order" - in every monomial the variables are written so that their subscripts form a non-decreasing sequence).
A Solution
The first few terms of a solution can be computed using a computer, as shown below. But a true solution, written in a functional form, is still missing.
Computer Games
A primitive mathematica program to play with these objects is here.
Numerology Problems
Exponential Version
Question. Can you find nice formulas for the functions f12 and f21 of the variables t1, t2 and x, whose Taylor expansions begin with
and
?
(These Taylor expansions are also available within the mathematica notebook HOMFLY Braidor - Braidor Computations.nb).
Non-Exponential Version
Question. Can you find nice formulas for the functions f'12 and f'21 of the variables t1, t2 and x, whose Taylor expansions begin with
and
?
(These Taylor expansions are also available within the mathematica notebook HOMFLY Braidor - Braidor Computations.nb).
