Functorial Knot Theory: Categories Of Tangles, Coherence, Categorical Deformations And Topological Invariants (Hardcover)

Hardcover. Almost since the advent of skein-theoretic invariants of knots and links (the Jones, HOMFLY and Kauffman polynomials), the important role of categories of tangles in the connection between low-dimensional topology and quantum-group theory has been recognized. The rich categorical structure naturally arising from the considerations of cobordisms have suggested functorial views of topological field theory. This book begins with a detailed exposition of the key ideas in the discovery of monoidal categories of tangles as central objects of study in low-dimensional topology. The focus then turns to the deformation theory of monoidal categories and the related deformation theory of monoidal functors, which is a proper generalization of Gerstenhaber's deformation theory of associative algebras. These serve as the building blocks for a deformation theory of braided monoidal categories which gives rise to sequences of Vassiliev invariants of framed links, and clarify their interrelations. A study of functorial knot theory. It discusses the key ideas in the discovery of monoidal categories of tangles as central objects in low-dimensional topology. The focus then turns to the deformation theory of monoidal categories and the related deformation theory of monoidal functors. Shipping may be from multiple locations in the US or from the UK, depending on stock availability.…