Distinguishing Mutant Knots

Abstract

Knot theory is actively studied both by physicists and mathematicians as it provides a connecting centerpiece for many physical and mathematical theories. One of the challenging problems in knot theory is distinguishing mutant knots. Mutant knots are not distinguished by colored HOMFLY-PT polynomials for knots colored by either symmetric and or antisymmetric representations of $SU(N)$. Some of the mutant knots can be distinguished by the simplest non-symmetric representation $[2,1]$. However there is a class of mutant knots which require more complex representations like $[4,2]$. In this paper we calculate polynomials and differences for the mutant knot polynomials in representations $[3,1]$ and $[4,2]$ and study their properties.

22 pages + 3 Appendices