We observe that Clay-Rolfsen's obstruction of bi-orderability, which uses the classical Alexander polynomial, is not strengthened by using the twisted Alexander polynomials for finite representations unlike many known applications of the Alexander polynomial. This is shown by studying the maximal ordered abelian quotient of bi-ordered groups.
We show that if the fundamental group of the complement of a rationally homologically fibered knot in a rational homology 3-sphere is bi-orderable, then its Alexander polynomial has at least one positive real root. Our argument can be applied for a finitely generated group which is an HNN extension with certain properties.
Residual torsion-free nilpotence has proven to be an important property for knot groups with applications to bi-orderability and ribbon concordance. Mayland proposed a strategy to show that a two-bridge knot group has a commutator subgroup which is a union of an ascending chain of parafree groups. This paper proves Mayland's assertion and expands the result to the subgroups of two-bridge link groups that correspond to the kernels of maps to $\mathbb{Z}$. We call these kernels the Alexander subgroups of the links. As a result, we show the bi-orderability of a large family of two-bridge link gro…
As a generalization of a classical result on the Alexander polynomial for fibered knots, we show in this paper that the Reidemeister torsion associated to a certain representation detects fiberedness of knots in the three sphere.
In a series of papers the authors proved that twisted Alexander polynomials detect fibered 3-manifolds, and they showed that this implies that a closed 3-manifold N is fibered if and only if S^1 x N is symplectic. In this note we summarize some of the key ideas of the proofs. We also give new evidence to the conjecture that if $ is a symplectic 4-manifold with a free S^1-action, then the orbit space is fibered.
We prove that for "most" closed 3-dimensional manifolds $M$, the existence of a closed non singular one-form in a given cohomology class $u\in H^1 (M,\bf R)$ is equivalent to the fact that every twisted Alexander polynomial $Δ^H(M,u) \in {\bf Z}[G/\ker u]$ associated to a normal subgroup with finite index $H < π_1(M)$ has a unitary $u$-minimal term.
A classical result in knot theory says that the Alexander polynomial of a fibered knot is monic and that its degree equals twice the genus of the knot. This result has been generalized by various authors to twisted Alexander polynomials and fibered 3-manifolds. In this paper we show that the conditions on twisted Alexander polynomials are not only necessary but also sufficient for a 3-manifold to be fibered. By previous work of the authors this result implies that if a manifold of the form S^1 x N^3 admits a symplectic structure, then N fibers over S^1. In fact we will completely determine the…
In this paper we use twisted Alexander polynomials to prove that the exterior of a particular graph knot is not fibered. Then we build three 2-component graph links out of this knot, and use similar techniques to discuss their fiberedness.
Every element in the first cohomology group of a 3--manifold is dual to embedded surfaces. The Thurston norm measures the minimal `complexity' of such surfaces. For instance the Thurston norm of a knot complement determines the genus of the knot in the 3--sphere. We show that the degrees of twisted Alexander polynomials give lower bounds on the Thurston norm, generalizing work of McMullen and Turaev. Our bounds attain their most concise form when interpreted as the degrees of the Reidemeister torsion of a certain twisted chain complex. We show that these lower bounds give the correct genus bou…
For a 3-manifold M, McMullen derived from the Alexander polynomial of M a norm on H^1(M, R) called the Alexander norm. He showed that the Thurston norm on H^1(M, R), which measures the complexity of a dual surface, is an upper bound for the Alexander norm. He asked if these two norms were equal on all of H^1(M,R) when M fibers over the circle. Here, I give examples which show that the answer to this question is emphatically no. This question is related to the faithfulness of the Gassner representations of the braid groups. The key tool used to understand this question is the Bieri-Neumann-Stre…
Homologically fibered knots are knots whose exteriors satisfy the same homological conditions as fibered knots. In our previous paper, we observed that for such a knot, higher-order Alexander invariants defined by Cochran, Harvey and Friedl are generally factorized into the part of the Magnus matrix and that of a certain Reidemeister torsion, both of which are known as invariants of homology cylinders over a surface. In this paper, we study more details of the invariants and give some concrete calculations by restricting to the case of the invariants associated with metabelian quotients of the…
We explore certain restrictions on knots in the three-sphere which admit non-trivial Seifert fibered surgeries. These restrictions stem from the Heegaard Floer homology for Seifert fibered spaces, and hence they have consequences for both the Alexander polynomial of such knots, and also their knot Floer homology. In particular, we show that certain polynomials are never the Alexander polynomials of knots which admit homology three-sphere Seifert fibered surgeries. The knot Floer homology restrictions, on the other hand, apply also in cases where the Alexander polynomial gives no information, s…
We realize a given (monic) Alexander polynomial by a (fibered) hyperbolic arborescent knot and link of any number of components, and by infinitely many such links of at least 4 components. As a consequence, a Mahler measure minimizing polynomial, if it exists, is realized as the Alexander polynomial of a fibered hyperbolic link of at least 2 components. For given polynomial, we give also an upper bound on the minimal hyperbolic volume of knots/links, and contrarily, construct knots of arbitrarily large volume, which are arborescent, or have given free genus at least 2.
For a fibered knot in the 3-sphere the twisted Alexander polynomial associated to an SL(2,C)-character is known to be monic. It is conjectured that for a nonfibered knot there is a curve component of the SL(2,C)-character variety containing only finitely many characters whose twisted Alexander polynomials are monic, i.e. finiteness of such characters detects fiberedness of knots. In this paper we discuss the existence of a certain curve component which relates to the conjecture when knots have nonmonic Alexander polynomials. We also discuss the similar problem of detecting the knot genus.
We show that a regular isomorphism of profinite completion of the fundamental groups of two 3-manifolds $N_1$ and $N_2$ induces an isometry of the Thurston norms and a bijection between the fibered classes. We study to what extent does the profinite completion of knot groups distinguish knots and show that it distinguishes each torus knot and the figure eight knot among all knots. We show also that it distinguishes between hyperbolic knots with cyclically commensurable complements under the assumption that their Alexander polynomials have at least one zero which is not a root of unity.
We study the twisted Alexander polynomial from the viewpoint of the SL(2,C)-character variety of nonabelian representations of a knot group. It is known that if a knot is fibered, then the twisted Alexander polynomials associated with nonabelian SL(2,C)-representations are all monic. In this paper, we show that the converse holds for 2-bridge knots. Furthermore we show that for a 2-bridge knot there exists a curve component in the SL(2,C)-character variety such that if the knot is not fibered then there are only finitely many characters in the component for which the associated twisted Alexand…
Using the mapping cone of a rational surgery, we give several obstructions for Seifert fibered surgeries, including obstructions on the Alexander polynomial, the knot Floer homology, the surgery coefficient and the Seifert and four-ball genus of the knot.
We study the twisted Alexander polynomial $Δ_{K,ρ}$ of a knot $K$ associated to a non-abelian representation $ρ$ of the knot group into $SL_2(\BC)$. It is known for every knot $K$ that if $K$ is fibered, then for every non-abelian representation, $Δ_{K,ρ}$ is monic and has degree $4g(K)-2$ where $g(K)$ is the genus of $K$. Kim and Morifuji recently proved the converse for 2-bridge knots. In fact they proved a stronger result: if a 2-bridge knot $K$ is non-fibered, then all but finitely many non-abelian representations on some component have $Δ_{K,ρ}$ non-monic and degree $4g(K)-2$. In this pap…
We calculate the twisted Alexander polynomials of $(-2,3,2n+1)$-pretzel knots associated to their holonomy representations. As a corollary, we obtain new supporting evidences of Dunfield, Friedl and Jackson's conjecture, that is, the twisted Alexander polynomials of hyperbolic knots associated to their holonomy representations determine the genus and fiberedness of the knots.
It is known that the Alexander polynomial detects fibered knots and 3-manifolds that fiber over the circle. In this note, we show that when the Alexander polynomial becomes inconclusive, the notion of "knot adjacency", studied in the paper "Knot adjacency, genus and essential tori" by the authors, can be used to obtain obstructions to fibering of knots and of 3-manifolds. As an application, given a fibered knot K', we construct infinitely many non-fibered knots that share the same Alexander module and the same Vassiliev invariants up to certain orders with K'. Our construction also provides, f…
We introduce generalized arrow diagrams and generalized Reidemeister moves for diagrams of links in Seifert fibered spaces. We give a presentation of the fundamental group of the link complement. As a corollary we are able to compute the first homology group of the complement and the twisted Alexander polynomials of the link.
Given a fibered link, consider the characteristic polynomial of the monodromy restricted to first homology. This generalizes the notion of the Alexander polynomial of a knot. We define a construction, called iterated plumbing, to create a sequence of fibered links from a given one. The resulting sequence of characteristic polynomials has the same form as those arising in work of Salem and Boyd in their study of distributions of Salem and P-V numbers. From this we deduce information about the asymptotic behavior of the large roots of the generalized Alexander polynomials, and define a new poset…
In this paper we show that the twisted Alexander polynomial associated to a parabolic representation determines fiberedness and genus of a wide class of 2-bridge knots. As a corollary we give an affirmative answer to a conjecture of Dunfield, Friedl and Jackson for infinitely many hyperbolic knots.
We introduce $L^2$-Alexander torsions for 3-manifolds, which can be viewed as a generalization of the $L^2$-Alexander polynomial of Li--Zhang. We state the $L^2$-Alexander torsions for graph manifolds and we partially compute them for fibered manifolds. We furthermore show that given any irreducible 3-manifold there exists a coefficient system such that the corresponding $L^2$-torsion detects the Thurston norm.
In this paper we present a sequence of link invariants, defined from twisted Alexander polynomials, and discuss their effectiveness in distinguish knots. In particular, we recast and extend by geometric means a recent result of Silver and Williams on the nontriviality of twisted Alexander polynomials for nontrivial knots. Furthermore building on results in [FV06b] we prove that these invariants decide if a genus one knot is fibered, and we also show that these invariants distinguish all mutants with up to 12 crossings.
For a knot $K$ in $S^3$, let $G(K)$ be the knot group of $K$, $a(K)$ the Ma-Qiu index (the MQ index, for short), which is the minimal number of normal generators of the commutator subgroup of $G(K)$, and $m(K)$ the Nakanishi index of $K$, which is the minimal number of generators of the Alexander module of $K$.We generalize the notions for a pair of a group $G$ and its normal sugroup $N$, and we denote them by $a(G, N)$ and $m(G, N)$ respectively.Then it is easy to see $m(G, N)\le a(G, N)$ in general.We also introduce a notion ``$ω$-solvability" for a group that the intersection of all higher …
The instanton Floer homology of a knot in the three-sphere is a vector space with a canonical mod 2 grading. It carries a distinguished endomorphism of even degree,arising from the 2-dimensional homology class represented by a Seifert surface. The Floer homology decomposes as a direct sum of the generalized eigenspaces of this endomorphism. We show that the Euler characteristics of these generalized eigenspaces are the coefficients of the Alexander polynomial of the knot. Among other applications, we deduce that instanton homology detects fibered knots.
Twisted Alexander polynomials of a knot for group extensions
Research Institute for Mathematical Sciences, Kyoto University(京都大学数学科学研究所);Department of Mathematics, Hiyoshi Campus, Keio University(庆应义塾大学日吉校区数学系);Department of Frontier Media Science, Meiji University(明治大学前沿媒体科学系)
In this paper we show that given any 3-manifold N and any non-fibered class in H^1(N;Z) there exists a representation such that the corresponding twisted Alexander polynomial is zero. This is obtained by extending earlier work of the authors, together with results of Agol and Wise on separability of 3-manifold groups. This result allows us to completely classify symplectic 4-manifolds with a free circle action, and to determine their symplectic cones.
We give examples of non-fibered hyperbolic knot complements in homology spheres that are not commensurable to fibered knot complements in homology spheres. In fact, we give many examples of knot complements in homology spheres with the property that every commensurable knot complement in a homology sphere has non-monic Alexander polynomial.
The derived group of a permutation representation, introduced by R.H. Crowell, unites many notions of knot theory. We survey Crowell's construction, and offer new applications. The twisted Alexander group of a knot is defined. Using it, we obtain twisted Alexander modules and polynomials. Also, we extend a well-known theorem of Neuwirth and Stallings giving necessary and sufficient conditions for a knot to be fibered. Virtual Alexander polynomials provide obstructions for a virtual knot that must vanish if the knot has a diagram with an Alexander numbering. The extended group of a virtual knot…
In this note we explore a connection between finite covers of surfaces and the Teichmüller polynomial of a fibered face of a hyperbolic 3--manifold. We consider the action of a homological pseudo-Anosov homeomorphism $ψ$ on the homology groups of a class of finite abelian covers of a surface $Σ_{g,n}$. Eigenspaces of the deck group actions on these covers are naturally parametrized by rational points on a torus. We show that away from the trivial eigenspace, the spectrum of the action of $ψ$ on these eigenspaces is bounded away from the dilatation of $ψ$. We show that the action $ψ$ on these e…
Let N be a closed, oriented 3-manifold. A folklore conjecture states that S^1 x N admits a symplectic structure only if N admits a fibration over the circle. The purpose of this paper is to provide evidence to this conjecture studying suitable twisted Alexander polynomials of N, and showing that their behavior is the same as of those of fibered 3-manifolds. In particular, we will obtain new obstructions to the existence of symplectic structures and to the existence of symplectic forms representing certain cohomology classes of S^1 x N. As an application of these results we will show that S^1 x…
Geometric interpretations of some virtual knot invariants are given in terms of invariants of links in $\mathbb{S}^3$. Alexander polynomials of almost classical knots are shown to be specializations of the multi-variable Alexander polynomial of certain two-component boundary links of the form $J \sqcup K$ with $J$ a fibered knot. The index of a crossing, a common ingredient in the construction of virtual knot invariants, is related to the Milnor triple linking number of certain three-component links $J \sqcup K_1 \sqcup K_2$ with $J$ a connected sum of trefoils or figure-eights. Our main techn…
The classical abelian invariants of a knot are the Alexander module, which is the first homology group of the the unique infinite cyclic covering space of S^3-K, considered as a module over the (commutative) Laurent polynomial ring, and the Blanchfield linking pairing defined on this module. From the perspective of the knot group, G, these invariants reflect the structure of G^(1)/G^(2) as a module over G/G^(1) (here G^(n) is the n-th term of the derived series of G). Hence any phenomenon associated to G^(2) is invisible to abelian invariants. This paper begins the systematic study of invarian…
We study the dependence of solutions of equations of the form $a_0 + a_1 z^{\ell_1} + ... + a_m z^{\ell_m} = 0$, on the exponents $\ell_1, ..., \ell_m$. We apply our results to equations that appear in graph theory, the theory of 3-manifolds fibering over the circle, and the theory of free-by-cyclic groups. In particular, we provide descriptions of the spectra of the Alexander polynomial of a fibered 3-manifold, Teichmüller polynomials associated to such a manifold or to a free by cyclic group, and the family of characteristic polynomials of a fixed directed graph with varying edge lengths.
We define an infinite sequence of new invariants, delta_n, of a group G that measure the size of the successive quotients of the derived series of G. In the case that G is the fundamental group of a 3-manifold, we obtain new 3-manifold invariants. These invariants are closely related to the topology of the 3-manifold. They give lower bounds for the Thurston norm which provide better estimates than the bound established by McMullen using the Alexander norm. We also show that the delta_n give obstructions to a 3-manifold fibering over S^1 and to a 3-manifold being Seifert fibered. Moreover, we s…