Knot homology theories revolutionized the study of knots and links, much like (simplicial or singular) homology theory revolutionized the study of topological spaces. One of the major knot homology theories, Khovanov homology, was introduced by M. Khovanov in 2000 as a "categorification of the Jones polynomial." One notable feature of Khovanov homology is its ability to detect the unknot, a feature not known to be possessed by the Jones polynomial. Recently, it has found notable applications in low-dimensional topology, including the detection of exotic surfaces in the 4-ball.
Day 3: Recent developments of Khovanov homology and its applications to low-dimensional topology.
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