Milnor link invariants and quantum 3-manifold invariants

Abstract.

Let ${\cal Z}(M)$ be the 3-manifold invariant of Le, Murakami and Ohtsuki. We show that ${\cal Z}(M) = 1 + o(n)$, where $o(n)$ denotes terms of degree $\geq n$, if M is a homology 3-sphere obtained from $S^3$ by surgery on an n-component Brunnian link whose Milnor $\overline\mu$-invariants of length $\leq 2n$ vanish.¶We prove a realization theorem which is a partial converse to the above theorem.¶Using the Milnor filtration on links, we define a new bifiltration on the $\Bbb Q$ vector space with basis the set of oriented diffeomorphism classes of homology 3-spheres. This includes the Milnor level 2 filtration defined by Ohtsuki. We show that the Milnor level 2 and level 3 filtrations coincide after reindexing.