A formula for the action of Dehn twists on HOMFLY-PT skein modules and its applications

Abstract

We introduce a formula for the action of Dehn twists on the HOMFLY-PT type skein module of a surface. As an application of the formula to mapping class group, we give an embedding from the Torelli group of a surface ${\Sigma }_{g,1}$ of genus $g$ with non-empty connected boundary into the completed HOMFLY-PT type skein algebra. As an application of the formula to integral homology $3$-spheres, we construct an invariant $z(M)\in \mathbb{Q}[\rho ][[h]]$ for an integral homology $3$-sphere $M$. The invariant $z(M)\mathrm{mod}(h^{n+1})$ is a finite type invariant of order $n$.

63 pages, 66 figures