On configuration space integrals for links

Abstract

We give an introductory survey on the universal Vassiliev invariant called the perturbative series expansion of the Chern-Simons theory of links in euclidean space, and on its relation with the Kontsevich integral. We also prove an original geometric property of the anomaly of Bott, Taubes, Altschuler, Freidel and D. Thurston, that allowed Poirier to prove that the Chern-Simons series and the Kontsevich integral coincide up to degree 6.