Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2012 iii Paper 16 8 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-07
There are two common normalizations. I will define both explicitly, because the numerical conclusion in the question uses the unreduced one.
Set . The reduced Kauffman bracket of a nonempty link diagram iswhere runs over all bracket smoothings, count - and -smoothings, and is the number of resulting circles. Locally,Fix the usual Kauffman bracket convention in which the -smoothing at a positive braid crossing is its oriented smoothing; reflecting a crossing exchanges and . The unknot has reduced bracket , and adjoining another circle multiplies the bracket by . The unreduced Kauffman bracket uses instead and assigns the empty diagram . Thus for a nonempty diagram
For completeness, the bracket calculations for all three Reidemeister moves can be carried out in the Temperley-Lieb diagram algebra. Let be the identity two-strand tangle, and let be the cap-cup tangle. Composition gives . The two crossings correspond toConsequentlywhich proves invariance under the second Reidemeister move. On three strands, the cap-cup diagrams satisfy , , and . Expand the two sides of the third move. Their difference isThus the third Reidemeister move also preserves either bracket normalization. Reflected forms of these moves follow by replacing with .
A positive curl contributes , and a negative curl contributes . The writhe of a link diagram changes by or in exactly these cases. Therefore the corrected bracketis invariant under the first Reidemeister move as well; the second and third moves leave the writhe of a link diagram unchanged. Substituting defines a Jones polynomial. For multiple components half-integer powers of may occur. The reduced version has , and the Unreduced Jones polynomial is
At , switching a crossing does not change the bracket: both smoothing coefficients are . It changes the writhe of a link diagram by , so the correction factor is unchanged. Hence either Jones polynomial at is unchanged by a crossing change. By switching crossings, any -component link can be made an unlink. Its crossing-free diagram has circles and zero writhe of a link diagram, givingThus the printed conclusion holds for the unreduced normalization. For the reduced Jones polynomial, the correct conclusion is ; the unknot alone already rules out in that convention.