Invariants of links of Conway type

Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to present a certain combinatorial method of constructing invariants of isotopy classes of oriented tame links. This arises as a generalization of the known polynomial invariants of Conway and Jones. These invariants have one striking common feature. If L+, L- and L0 are diagrams of oriented links which are identical, except near one crossing point (as in Conway or Jones polynomials), then an invariant w(L) has the property: w(L+) is uniquely determined by w(L-) and w(L0), and also w(L-) is uniquely determined by w(L+) and w(L0). To formalize this property we introduce a concept of a Conway algebra and quasi Conway algebra. The paper is now almost 32 years old and it contains the PT contribution to HOMFLYPT polynomial. We believe it should be available in arXiv.