The Kauffman bracket and the Jones polynomial in quantum gravity Original Research Article

In the loop representation the quantum states of gravity are given by knot invariants. From general arguments concerning the loop transform of the exponential of the Chem-Simons form, a certain expansion of the Kauffman bracket knot polynomial can be formally viewed as a solution of the Hamiltonian constraint with a cosmological constant in the loop representation. The Kauffman bracket is closely related to the Jones polynomial. In this paper the operation of the Hamiltonian on the power expansions of the Kauffman bracket and Jones polynomials is analyzed. It is explicitly shown that the Kauffman bracket is a formal solution of the Hamiltonian constraint to third order in the cosmological constant. We make use of the extended loop representation of quantum gravity where the analytic calculation can be thoroughly accomplished. Some peculiarities of the extended loop calculus are considered and the significance of the results to the case of the conventional loop representation is discussed.