Khovanov's Categorification of the Jones Polynomial

Dror Bar-Natan (Toronto)


Abstract: After quickly recalling what is the Euler characteristic and what is homology and after briefly describing the Jones polynomial, I will move on to describe in simple terms Khovanov's novel "Categorification of the Jones Polynomial", which is to the Jones polynomial as homology is to the Euler characteristic. Namely, it is much more interesting.

Handout