This book serves as a reference on links and on the invariants derived via algebraic topology from covering spaces of link exteriors. It emphasizes the features of the multicomponent case not normally considered by knot-theorists, such as longitudes, the homological complexity of many-variable Laurent polynomial rings, the fact that links are not usually boundary links, free coverings of homology boundary links, the lower central series as a source of invariants, nilpotent completion and algebraic closure of the link group, and disc links. Invariants of the types considered here play an essential role in many applications of knot theory to other areas of topology.This second edition introduces two new chapters — twisted polynomial invariants and singularities of plane curves. Each replaces brief sketches in the first edition. Chapter 2 has been reorganized, and new material has been added to four other chapters.

This book serves as a reference on links and on the invariants derived via algebraic topology from covering spaces of link exteriors. It emphasizes the features of the multicomponent case not normally considered by knot-theorists, such as longitudes, the homological complexity of many-variable Laurent polynomial rings, the fact that links are not usually boundary links, free coverings of homology boundary links, the lower central series as a source of invariants, nilpotent completion and algebraic closure of the link group, and disc links. Invariants of the types considered here play an essential role in many applications of knot theory to other areas of topology. This second edition introduces two new chapters OCo twisted polynomial invariants and singularities of plane curves. Each replaces brief sketches in the first edition. Chapter 2 has been reorganized, and new material has been added to four other chapters.

This volume contains the proceedings of the AMS Special Session on Algebraic and Combinatorial Structures in Knot Theory and the AMS Special Session on Spatial Graphs, both held from October 24–25, 2015, at California State University, Fullerton, CA. Included in this volume are articles that draw on techniques from geometry and algebra to address topological problems about knot theory and spatial graph theory, and their combinatorial generalizations to equivalence classes of diagrams that are preserved under a set of Reidemeister-type moves. The interconnections of these areas and their connections within the broader field of topology are illustrated by articles about knots and links in spatial graphs and symmetries of spatial graphs in and other 3-manifolds.

An $n$-dimensional $\mu$-component boundary link is a codimension $2$ embedding of spheres $L=\sqcup_{\mu}S DEGREESn \subset S DEGREES{n+2}$ such that there exist $\mu$ disjoint oriented embedded $(n+1)$-manifolds which span the components of $L$. This title proceeds to compute the isomorphism class of $C_{

This book surveys quandle theory, starting from basic motivations and going on to introduce recent developments of quandles with topological applications and related topics. The book is written from topological aspects, but it illustrates how esteemed quandle theory is in mathematics, and it constitutes a crash course for studying quandles.More precisely, this work emphasizes the fresh perspective that quandle theory can be useful for the study of low-dimensional topology (e.g., knot theory) and relative objects with symmetry. The direction of research is summarized as “We shall thoroughly (re)interpret the previous studies of relative symmetry in terms of the quandle”. The perspectives contained herein can be summarized by the following topics. The first is on relative objects G/H, where G and H are groups, e.g., polyhedrons, reflection, and symmetric spaces. Next, central extensions of groups are discussed, e.g., spin structures, K2 groups, and some geometric anomalies. The third topic is a method to study relative information on a 3-dimensional manifold with a boundary, e.g., knot theory, relative cup products, and relative group cohomology.For applications in topology, it is shown that from the perspective that some existing results in topology can be recovered from some quandles, a method is provided to diagrammatically compute some “relative homology”. (Such classes since have been considered to be uncomputable and speculative). Furthermore, the book provides a perspective that unifies some previous studies of quandles.The former part of the book explains motivations for studying quandles and discusses basic properties of quandles. The latter focuses on low-dimensional topology or knot theory. Finally, problems and possibilities for future developments of quandle theory are posed.

An introduction to knot and link invariants as generalised amplitudes for a quasi-physical process. The demands of knot theory, coupled with a quantum-statistical framework, create a context that naturally and powerfully includes an extraordinary range of interrelated topics in topology and mathematical physics.

One-Cocycles and Knot Invariants is about classical knots, i.e., smooth oriented knots in 3-space. It introduces discrete combinatorial analysis in knot theory in order to solve a global tetrahedron equation. This new technique is then used to construct combinatorial 1-cocycles in a certain moduli space of knot diagrams. The construction of the moduli space makes use of the meridian and the longitude of the knot. The combinatorial 1-cocycles are therefore lifts of the well-known Conway polynomial of knots, and they can be calculated in polynomial time. The 1-cocycles can distinguish loops consisting of knot diagrams in the moduli space up to homology. They give knot invariants when they are evaluated on canonical loops in the connected components of the moduli space. They are a first candidate for numerical knot invariants which can perhaps distinguish the orientation of knots.

This book is a Festschrift for the 90th birthday of the physicist Pierre Noyes. The book is a representative selection of papers on the topics that have been central to the meetings over the last three decades of ANPA, the Alternative Natural Philosophy Association. ANPA was founded by Pierre Noyes and his colleagues the philosopher-linguist-physicist Frederick Parker-Rhodes, the physicist Ted Bastin, and the mathematicians Clive Kilmister, John Amson.Many of the topics in the book center on the combinatorial hierarchy discovered by the originators of ANPA. Other topics explore geometrical, cosmological and biological aspects of those ideas, and foundational aspects related to discrete physics and emergent quantum mechanics.The book will be useful to readers interested in fundamental physics, and particularly to readers looking for new and important viewpoints in Science that contain the seeds of futurity.

This book is about “diamond”, a logic of paradox. In diamond, a statement can be true yet false; an “imaginary” state, midway between being and non-being. Diamond's imaginary values solve many logical paradoxes unsolvable in two-valued Boolean logic. In this volume, paradoxes by Russell, Cantor, Berry and Zeno are all resolved. This book has three sections: Paradox Logic, which covers the classic paradoxes of mathematical logic, shows how they can be resolved in this new system; The Second Paradox, which relates diamond to Boolean logic and the Spencer-Brown “modulator”; and Metamathematical Dilemma, which relates diamond to Gödelian metamathematics and dilemma games.

This book shows how the ADE Coxeter graphs unify at least 20 different types of mathematical structures. These mathematical structures are of great utility in unified field theory, string theory, and other areas of physics.