Perturbed Gaussian generating functions for universal knot invariants

Abstract: We introduce a new approach to universal quantum knot invariants that emphasizes generating functions instead of generators and relations. All the relevant generating functions are shown to be perturbed Gaussians of the form $Pe^G$, where $G$ is quadratic and $P$ is a suitably restricted "perturbation". After developing a calculus for such Gaussians in general we focus on the rank one invariant $\mathbf{Z}\mathbb{D}$ in detail. We discuss how it dominates the $\mathfrak{sl}_2$-colored Jones polynomials and relates to knot genus and Whitehead doubling. In addition to being a strong knot invariant that behaves well under natural operations on tangles $\mathbf{Z}\mathbb{D}$ is also computable in polynomial time in the crossing number of the knot. We provide a full implementation of the invariant and provide a table in an appendix.