Room P3.10, Mathematics Building

J. Scott Carter, Univ. South Alabama
Quandle homology theories and cocycle invariants of knots

Cohomology theories have been developed for certain self-distributive groupoids called quandles. Variations of invariants of knots and knotted surfaces have been defined using quandle cocycles and the state-sum form. We review these developments, and also discuss quandle modules and their relation to generalizations of Alexander modules, and topological applications of these invariants.