This book is an introduction to the remarkable work of Vaughan Jones and Victor Vassiliev on knot and link invariants and its recent modifications and generalizations, including a mathematical treatment of Jones-Witten invariants. The mathematical prerequisites are minimal compared to other monographs in this area. Numerous figures and problems make this book suitable as a graduate level course text or for self-study.

This book grew out of a graduate course on 3-manifolds and is intended for a mathematically experienced audience that is new to low-dimensional topology. The exposition begins with the definition of a manifold, explores possible additional structures on manifolds, discusses the classification of surfaces, introduces key foundational results for 3-manifolds, and provides an overview of knot theory. It then continues with more specialized topics by briefly considering triangulations of 3-manifolds, normal surface theory, and Heegaard splittings. The book finishes with a discussion of topics relevant to viewing 3-manifolds via the curve complex. With about 250 figures and more than 200 exercises, this book can serve as an excellent overview and starting point for the study of 3-manifolds.

Rolfsen's beautiful book on knots and links can be read by anyone, from beginner to expert, who wants to learn about knot theory. Beginners find an inviting introduction to the elements of topology, emphasizing the tools needed for understanding knots, the fundamental group and van Kampen's theorem, for example, which are then applied to concrete problems, such as computing knot groups. For experts, Rolfsen explains advanced topics, such as the connections between knot theory and surgery and how they are useful to understanding three-manifolds. Besides providing a guide to understanding knot theory, the book offers 'practical' training. After reading it, you will be able to do many things: compute presentations of knot groups, Alexander polynomials, and other invariants; perform surgery on three-manifolds; and visualize knots and their complements.It is characterized by its hands-on approach and emphasis on a visual, geometric understanding. Rolfsen offers invaluable insight and strikes a perfect balance between giving technical details and offering informal explanations. The illustrations are superb, and a wealth of examples are included. Now back in print by the AMS, the book is still a standard reference in knot theory. It is written in a remarkable style that makes it useful for both beginners and researchers. Particularly noteworthy is the table of knots and links at the end. This volume is an excellent introduction to the topic and is suitable as a textbook for a course in knot theory or 3-manifolds. Other key books of interest on this topic available from the AMS are ""The Shoelace Book: A Mathematical Guide to the Best (and Worst) Ways to Lace your Shoes"" and ""The Knot Book.""

This book provides an extensive and self-contained presentation of quantum and related invariants of knots and 3-manifolds. Polynomial invariants of knots, such as the Jones and Alexander polynomials, are constructed as quantum invariants, i.e. invariants derived from representations of quantum groups and from the monodromy of solutions to the Knizhnik-Zamolodchikov equation. With the introduction of the Kontsevich invariant and the theory of Vassiliev invariants, the quantum invariants become well-organized. Quantum and perturbative invariants, the LMO invariant, and finite type invariants of 3-manifolds are discussed. The ChernOCoSimons field theory and the WessOCoZuminoOCoWitten model are described as the physical background of the invariants. Contents: Knots and Polynomial Invariants; Braids and Representations of the Braid Groups; Operator Invariants of Tangles via Sliced Diagrams; Ribbon Hopf Algebras and Invariants of Links; Monodromy Representations of the Braid Groups Derived from the KnizhnikOCoZamolodchikov Equation; The Kontsevich Invariant; Vassiliev Invariants; Quantum Invariants of 3-Manifolds; Perturbative Invariants of Knots and 3-Manifolds; The LMO Invariant; Finite Type Invariants of Integral Homology 3-Spheres. Readership: Researchers, lecturers and graduate students in geometry, topology and mathematical physics."

Knots are familiar objects. Yet the mathematical theory of knots quickly leads to deep results in topology and geometry. This work offers an introduction to this theory, starting with our understanding of knots. It presents the applications of knot theory to modern chemistry, biology and physics.

There is a sympathy of ideas among the fields of knot theory, infinite discrete group theory, and the topology of 3-manifolds. This book contains fifteen papers in which new results are proved in all three of these fields. These papers are dedicated to the memory of Ralph H. Fox, one of the world's leading topologists, by colleagues, former students, and friends. In knot theory, papers have been contributed by Goldsmith, Levine, Lomonaco, Perko, Trotter, and Whitten. Of these several are devoted to the study of branched covering spaces over knots and links, while others utilize the braid groups of Artin. Cossey and Smythe, Stallings, and Strasser address themselves to group theory. In his contribution Stallings describes the calculation of the groups In/In+1 where I is the augmentation ideal in a group ring RG. As a consequence, one has for each k an example of a k-generator l-relator group with no free homomorphs. In the third part, papers by Birman, Cappell, Milnor, Montesinos, Papakyriakopoulos, and Shalen comprise the treatment of 3-manifolds. Milnor gives, besides important new results, an exposition of certain aspects of our current knowledge regarding the 3- dimensional Brieskorn manifolds.

Knot theory is a classical area of low-dimensional topology, directly connected with the theory of three-manifolds and smooth four-manifold topology. In recent years, the subject has undergone transformative changes thanks to its connections with a number of other mathematical disciplines, including gauge theory; representation theory and categorification; contact geometry; and the theory of pseudo-holomorphic curves. Starting from the combinatorial point of view on knots using their grid diagrams, this book serves as an introduction to knot theory, specifically as it relates to some of the above developments. After a brief overview of the background material in the subject, the book gives a self-contained treatment of knot Floer homology from the point of view of grid diagrams. Applications include computations of the unknotting number and slice genus of torus knots (asked first in the 1960s and settled in the 1990s), and tools to study variants of knot theory in the presence of a contact structure. Additional topics are presented to prepare readers for further study in holomorphic methods in low-dimensional topology, especially Heegaard Floer homology. The book could serve as a textbook for an advanced undergraduate or part of a graduate course in knot theory. Standard background material is sketched in the text and the appendices.