On Vassiliev invariants of order two for string links

Abstract

We show that the Casson knot invariant, linking number and Milnor's triple linking number, together with a certain 2-string link invariant $V_2$, are necessary and sufficient to express any string link Vassiliev invariant of order two. Explicit combinatorial formulas are given for these invariants. This result is applied to the theory of claspers for string links.

18 pages. Typos and mistakes corrected. To appear in J. Knot Th. Ramifications