Birack modules and their link invariants

Regina Bauernschmidt, Sam Nelson

Published 2011-03-01, updated 2012-12-13Version 2

We extend the rack algebra Z[X] defined by Andruskiewitsch and Grana to the case of biracks, enabling a notion of birack modules. We use these birack modules to define an enhancement of the birack counting invariant generalizing the birack module counting invariant in [8]. We provide examples demonstrating that the enhanced invariant is not determined by the Jones or Alexander polynomials and is strictly stronger than the unenhanced birack counting invariant.