knot inv comparison
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Knot Invariant Comparison

This webpage contains various interactive plots and comparison tools that supplement the papers [arXiv; GitHub] and [arXiv; GitHub]. Relevant knot invariant data, scripts and more details on data collection are available on the corresponding GitHub pages. Most data displayed on this webpage considers all prime knots (not distinguishing mirrors) up to 16 crossings. More computable invariants have data up to 19 crossings, while harder invariants have lower values.

Notice! While the website probably works on phones, less care has been put into polishing the mobile experience.

Warning! The Ballmapper page and old versions of the website fetch large files (~30-50MB per figure). So beware if you have bandwidth limits or slow internet.

Website Map

The analogous webpage for Kazhdan--Lusztig polnomials can be found here.

References and acknowledgements
Papers (submitted after 2019) detailing invariants and techniques we used
  • P. DÅ‚otko, Ball mapper: a shape summary for topological data analysis, 2019 [arXiv]
  • S. Garoufalidis, R. Kashaev, Multivariable knot polynomials from braided Hopf algebras with automorphisms, 2023 [arXiv]
  • S. Garoufalidis, S.Y. Li, Patterns of the V_2-polynomial of knots, 2024 [arXiv]
  • D. Bar-Natan, R. van der Veen, A Fast, Strong, Topologically Meaningful and Fun Knot Invariant, 2025 [arXiv]
The list of knots we used come from
  • KnotInfo (C. Livingston, A.H. Moore) [website]
  • Regina: Software for low-dimensional topology (B.A. Burton, R. Budney, W. Pettersson) [website]

Short descriptions of the invariants and their abbreviations used in some plots.

NameAbbreivationDescription
A2A2SL3 polynomial
AlexanderAAlexander polynomial
B1B1SO3 Polynonmial; 2 coloured Jones polynomial
BVBVBar-Natan and van der Veen's Theta (non Alexander part)
BVSpBVSpBar-Natan and van der Veen's Theta (non Alexander part) specialised at t1=22/7, t2=21/13
Alexander+BVA+BVBar-Natan and van der Veen's Theta (full)
AlexanderSp+BVSpASp+BVSpBar-Natan and van der Veen's Theta (full) specialised at t1=22/7, t2=21/13
HFK2HFK2HFK homology (p=2)
HFK2T1HFK2T1HFK homology (p=2) specialising t=1
HOMFLYPTHHOMFLYPT polynomial
HOMFLYPTHomologyHHHOMFLYPT homology
JonesJJones polynomial
KhovanovKKhovanov homology
KhovanovT1KT1Khovanov homology specialising t=1
KhovanovOddKOOdd Khovanov homology
KR3KR3SL3 homology (Khovanov--Rozansky)
V1V1Nichols algebra version of the Links-Gould polynomial
V2V2Higher version of V1
AllAllEverything together
J+KT1J+KT1Jones and KhovanovT1 together