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Yang-Baxter operators are invertible linear endomorphisms with applications in theoretical physics and topology named after theoretical physicists Yang Chen-Ning and Rodney Baxter. These operators are particularly notable for providing solutions to the quantum Yang-Baxter equation, which originated in statistical mechanics, and for their use in constructing invariants of knots, links, and three-dimensional manifolds.
Definition
In the category of left modules over a commutative ring , Yang-Baxter operators are -linear mappings . The operator satisfies the quantum Yang-Baxter equation if
where
,
,
The represents the "twist" mapping defined for -modules and by for all and .
An important relationship exists between the quantum Yang-Baxter equation and the braid equation. If satisfies the quantum Yang-Baxter equation, then satisfies .
Applications
Yang-Baxter operators have applications in statistical mechanics and topology.
See also
References
- Baxter, R. (1982). "Exactly solved models in statistical mechanics". Academic Press. ISBN 978-0-12-083180-7.
- Yang, C.N. (1967). "Some exact results for the many-body problem in one dimension with repulsive delta-function interaction". Physical Review Letters. 19: 1312–1315.
- Kauffman, L.H. (1991). "Knots and physics". Series on Knots and Everything. 1. World Scientific. ISBN 978-981-02-0332-1.
- Joyal, A.; Street, R. (1993). "Braided tensor categories". Advances in Mathematics. 102: 20–78.
- Zamolodchikov, A.B.; Zamolodchikov, A.B. (1975). "Factorized S-matrices in two dimensions as the exact solutions of certain relativistic quantum field theory models". Annals of Physics. 120: 253–291.
- Jimbo, M. (1985). "A q-difference analogue of U(g) and the Yang-Baxter equation". Letters in Mathematical Physics. 10: 63–69.
- Reshetikhin, N.Yu.; Turaev, V.G. (1991). "Invariants of 3-manifolds via link polynomials and quantum groups". Inventiones Mathematicae. 103: 547–597.