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A bottom tangle is a tangle in a cube consisting only of arc components, each of
which has the two endpoints on the bottom line of the cube, placed next to each
other. We introduce a subcategory B of the category of framed, oriented
tangles, which acts on the set of bottom tangles. We give a finite set of
generators of B, which provides an especially convenient way to generate all the
bottom tangles, and hence all the framed, oriented links, via closure. We
also define a kind of “braided Hopf algebra action” on the set of bottom
tangles.
Using the universal invariant of bottom tangles associated to each ribbon Hopf
algebra H, we define a braided functor J from B to the category ModH of left
H–modules. The functor J, together with the set of generators of B, provides an
algebraic method to study the range of quantum invariants of links. The braided
Hopf algebra action on bottom tangles is mapped by J to the standard braided Hopf
algebra structure for H in ModH.
Several notions in knot theory, such as genus, unknotting number, ribbon knots,
boundary links, local moves, etc are given algebraic interpretations in the setting
involving the category B. The functor J provides a convenient way to study the
relationships between these notions and quantum invariants.
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