A new structure on Khovanov's homology

Abstract

The purpose of this thesis is proving conjectures in [1] on the Khovanov invariant. Khovanov invariant [6] is an invariant of (relatively) oriented links which is a cohomology theory over the cube of the resolutions of a link diagram. Khovanov invariant specializes to the Jones polynomial by taking graded Euler characteristic. Bar-Natan [1] [2] computed this invariant for the prime knots of up to 11 crossings. From the data, Bar-Natan, Garoufalidis, and Khovanov formulated two conjectures on the value of the Khovanov invariant of an alternating knot [1][4]. We prove those conjectures by constructing a new map on Khovanov's chain complex which, with the original coboundary map, gives rise to a double complex structure on the chain complex.