New Modular Hopf Algebras related to rational $k$ $\widehat {sl(2)}$

30 pages (minor typos corrected, refs added)30 pages (minor typos corrected, refs added)30 pages (minor typos corrected, refs added)We show that the Hopf link invariants for an appropriate set of finite dimensional representations of $ U_q SL(2)$ are identical, up to overall normalisation, to the modular S matrix of Kac and Wakimoto for rational $k$ $\widehat {sl(2)}$ representations. We use this observation to construct new modular Hopf algebras, for any root of unity $q=e^{-i\pi m/r}$, obtained by taking appropriate quotients of $U_q SL(2)$, that give rise to 3-manifold invariants according to the approach of Reshetikin and Turaev. The phase factor correcting for the `framing anomaly' in these invariants is equal to $ e^{- {{i \pi} \over 4} ({ {3k} \over {k+2}})}$, an analytic continuation of the anomaly at integer $k$. As expected, the Verlinde formula gives fusion rule multiplicities in agreement with the modular Hopf algebras. This leads to a proposal, for $(k+2)=r/m$ rational with an odd denominator, for a set of $\widehat {sl(2)}$ representations obtained by dropping some of the highest weight representations in the Kac-Wakimoto set and replacing them with lowest weight representations. For this set of representations the Verlinde formula gives non-negative integer fusion rule multiplicities. We discuss the consistency of the truncation to highest and lowest weight representations in conformal field theory