By considering a (not necessarily locally-flat) PL knot as the singular locus of a PL stratified pseudomanifold, we can use intersection homology theory to define intersection Alexander polynomials, a generalization of the classical Alexander polynomial invariants for smooth or PL locally-flat knots. We show that the intersection Alexander polynomials satisfy certain duality and normalization conditions analogous to those of ordinary Alexander polynomials, and we explore the relationships between the intersection Alexander polynomials and certain generalizations of the classical Alexander polynomials that are defined for non-locally-flat knots. We also investigate the relations between the intersection Alexander polynomials of a knot and the intersection and classical Alexander polynomials of the link knots around the singular strata. To facilitate some of these investigations, we introduce spectral sequences for the computation of the intersection homology of certain stratified bundles.
We consider two Laurent polynomials in two variables associated to a braid, given by {\em graded intersections} between {\em fixed Lagrangians in configuration spaces}. In order to get link invariants, we notice that we have to quotient by a quadratic relation. Then we prove by topological tools that this relation is sufficient and the first graded intersection gives an invariant which is the Jones polynomial. This shows a {\em topological model for the Jones polynomial} and a direct {\em topological proof}\hspace{0.4mm} that it is a well-defined invariant. The other intersection model in the …
This paper gives an algebraic characterization of Alexander polynomials of equivariant ribbon knots and a factorization condition satisfied by Alexander polynomials of equivariant slice knots.
An Alexander self-dual complex gives rise to a compactification of $M_{0,n}$, called ASD compactification, which is a smooth algebraic variety. ASD compactifications include (but are not exhausted by) the polygon spaces, or the moduli spaces of flexible polygons. We present an explicit description of the Chow rings of ASD compactifications. We study the analogues of Kontsevich tautological bundles, compute their Chern classes, compute top intersections of the Chern classes, and derive a recursion for the intersection numbers.
We give a survey of some recent papers by the authors and Masaaki Wada relating the twisted Alexander polynomial with a partial order on the set of prime knots. We also give examples and pose open problems.
We generalize the classical study of Alexander polynomials of smooth or PL locally-flat knots to PL knots that are not necessarily locally-flat. We introduce three families of generalized Alexander polynomials and study their properties. For knots with point singularities, we obtain a classification of these polynomials that is complete except for one special low-dimensional case. This classification extends existing classifications for PL locally-flat knots. For knots with higher-dimensional singularities, we further extend the necessary conditions on the invariants. We also construct several…
Coloured Jones and Alexander polynomials are sequences of quantum invariants recovering the Jones and Alexander polynomials at the first terms. We show that they can be seen conceptually in the same manner, using topological tools, as intersection pairings in covering spaces between explicit homology classes given by Lagrangian submanifolds. The main result proves that the $N^{th}$ coloured Jones polynomial and $N^{th}$ coloured Alexander polynomial come as different specialisations of an intersection pairing of the same homology classes over two variables, with extra framing corrections in ea…
We construct a bigraded spectral sequence from the gl(0)-homology to knot Floer homology. This spectral sequence is of Bockstein type and comes from a subtle manipulation of coefficients. The main tools are quantum traces of foams and of singular Soergel bimodules.
As a generalization of a fundamental result about the Alexander polynomial of links, we give a description of a Torres condition for the twisted Alexander polynomial of links associated to a unimodular representation.
We calculate the twisted Alexander polynomials of all tunnel number one Montesinos knots associated to their $SL_2(\mathbb{C})$-representations and obtain their leading coefficients and degrees. As a corollary, we get some interesting examples, that is, nonfibered knots with monic Alexander polynomials which have non-monic twisted Alexander polynomials.
We prove duality theorems for twisted Reidemeister torsions and twisted Alexander polynomials generalizing the results of Turaev. As a corollary we determine the parity of the degrees of twisted Alexander polynomials of 3-manifolds in many cases.
In recent years, twisted Alexander polynomial has been playing an important role in low-dimensional topology. For Montesinos links, we develop an efficient method to compute the twisted Alexander polynomial associated to any linear representation. In particular, formulas for multi-variable Alexander polynomials of these links can be easily derived.
We observe the twisted Alexander polynomial for metabelian representations of knot groups into SL(2,C) and study relations to the characterizations of metabelian representations in the character varieties. We give a factorization of the twisted Alexander polynomial for irreducible metabelian representations with the adjoint action on sl(2,C), in which the Alexander polynomial and the twisted Alexander polynomial appear as factors. We also show several explicit examples.
The Burau representation of the braid group can be used to recover the Alexander polynomial of the closure of a braid. We define twisted Burau maps and use them to compute twisted Alexander polynomials.
Murasugi discovered two criteria that must be satisfied by the Alexander polynomial of a periodic knot. We generalize these to the case of twisted Alexander polynomials. Examples demonstrate the application of these new criteria, including to knots with trivial Alexander polynomial, such as the two polynomial 1 knots with 11 crossings. Hartley found a restrictive condition satisfied by the Alexander polynomial of any freely periodic knot. We generalize this result to the twisted Alexander polynomial and illustrate the applicability of this extension in cases in which Hartley's criterion does n…
Using Freedman and Quinn's result for $\mathbb{Z}$-homology 3-spheres, we show that a 3-dimensional homology handle with trivial Alexander polynomial bounds a homology $S^1\times D^3$. As a consequence, a distinguished homology handle with trivial Alexander polynomial is topologically null $\widetilde{H}$-cobordant.
We prove the cosmetic crossing conjecture for genus one knots with non-trivial Alexander polynomial. We also prove the conjecture for genus one knots with trivial Alexander polynomial, under some additional assumptions.
For knots in $S^3$, it is well-known that the Alexander polynomial of a ribbon knot factorizes as $f(t)f(t^{-1})$ for some polynomial $f(t)$. By contrast, the Alexander polynomial of a ribbon $2$-knot is not even symmetric in general. Via an alternative notion of ribbon $2$-knots, we give a topological condition on a $2$-knot that implies the factorization of the Alexander polynomial.
We show how the Alexander polynomial of links in lens spaces is related to the classical Alexander polynomial of a link in the 3-sphere, obtained by cutting out the exceptional lens space fibre. It follows from these relationship that a certain normalization of the Alexander polynomial satisfies a skein relation in lens spaces.
We derive a formula for the weight system of the multivariable Alexander polynomial using determinants, show that it obeys known relations, and satisfies some of the same relations as the single variable polynomial.
This article is based on the lectures in the Winter Braids V (Pau, Feb. 2015). Main puposel of this is to explain how to compute twisted Alexander polynomials for non-experts.
We give necessary and sufficient conditions for an integer to be the signature of a (4q-1)-knot in the (4q+1)-sphere with a given square-free Alexander polynomial.
X.S. Lin's original definition of twisted Alexander knot polynomial is generalized for arbitrary finitely presented groups. J. Cha's fibering obstruction theorem is generalized. The group of a nontrivial virtual knot shown by L. Kauffman to have trivial Jones polynomial is seen also to have a faithful representation that yields a trivial twisted Alexander polynomial.
We show that if a link J in the 3-sphere is homotopy ribbon concordant to a link L then the Alexander polynomial of L divides the Alexander polynomial of J.
In this paper we give an explicit formula for the twisted Alexander polynomial of any torus link and show that it is a locally constant function on the $SL(2, \mathbb C)$-character variety. We also discuss similar things for the higher dimensional twisted Alexander polynomial and the Reidemeister torsion.
When $K$ is a knot and $p \gg 0$ is a prime, we discuss a finite set whose cardinality is $Δ_K(p^n)$, the value of the Alexander polynomial of $K$ at $p^n$.
We prove that the instanton knot homology KHI(K) as defined by Kronheimer and Mrowka (Knots, sutures and excision, preprint), recovers the Alexander polynomial for knots K in the 3-sphere.
In this paper we show that coloured Jones and coloured Alexander polynomials can both be read off from the same picture provided by two Lagrangians in a symmetric power of a surface. More specifically, the $N^{th}$ coloured Jones and $N^{th}$ coloured Alexander polynomials are specialisations of a graded intersection between two explicit Lagrangian submanifolds in a symmetric power of the punctured disc. The graded intersection is parametrised by the intersection points between these Lagrangians, graded in a specific manner using the diagonals of the symmetric power. As a particular case, we s…
Inspired by the combinatorial constructions in earlier work of the authors that generalized the classical Alexander polynomial to a large class of spatial graphs with a balanced weight on edges, we show that the value of the Alexander polynomial evaluated at $t=1$ gives the weighted number of the spanning trees of the graph.
In this paper, we study distribution of the zeros of the Alexander polynomials of knots and links in S^3. We call a knot or link "real stable" (resp. "circular stable") if all the zeros of its Alexander polynomial are real (resp. unit complex). We give a general construction of real stable and circular stable knots and links. We also study pairs of real stable knots and links such that the zeros of the Alexander polynomials are interlaced.
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.
We present a reduced Burau-like representation for the mixed braid group on one strand representing links in lens spaces and show how to calculate the Alexander polynomial of a link directly from the mixed braid.
A formula for the Alexander polynomial of a 2-bridge knot or link given by Hartley and also by Minkus has a beautiful interpretation as a walk on the integers. We extend this to the 2-variable Alexander polynomial of a 2-bridge link, obtaining a formula that corresponds to a walk on the 2-dimensional integer lattice.
We investigate the twisted Alexander polynomial of a 2-bridge knot associated to a Fox coloring. For several families of 2-bridge knots, including but not limited to, torus knots and genus-one knots, we derive formulae for these twisted Alexander polynomials. We use these formulae to confirm a conjecture of Hirasawa and Murasugi for these knots.
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.
We show how Seifert surfaces, so useful for the understanding of the Alexander polynomial Δ_L(t), can be generalized in order to study the multivariable Alexander polynomial Δ_L(t_1,...,t_μ). In particular, we give an elementary and geometric proof of the Torres formula.
We define twisted Alexander polynomials of a complex hypersurface with arbitrary singularities. These generalize the classical Alexander polynomials of high dimensional hypersurfaces and the twisted Alexander polynomial of plane curves. We recover the classical torsionness and divisibility results, which say that, under certain assumptions, the twisted Alexander modules of a complex hypersurface are torsion modules, and that their orders, the twisted Alexander polynomials, divide the product of certain `local polynomials' defined in terms of the topology near singularities.
Using an invariant defined by Rasmussen, we extend an argument given by Hedden and Watson which further restricts which Alexander polynomials can be realized by $L$-space knots.
We prove that for any zero α of the Alexander polynomial of a two-bridge knot, -3 < Re(α) < 6. Furthermore, for a large class of two-bridge knots we prove -1<Re(α).
We give a characterization for the Alexander Polynomials of closed orientable 3-manifolds M with first Betti number 1, as well as some partial results for the characterization problem for M having first Betti number > 1. We first prove an analogue of a theorem of Levine: that the product of an Alexander polynomial of M with a symmetric polynomial in the same number of variables having non 0 trace, is again an Alexander polynomial of a closed orientable 3-manifold. Using the fact that there exists M with Alexander polynomial = 1 for M with first Betti number 1, 2 or 3, we conclude that symmetri…
In this paper we will study properties of twisted Alexander polynomials of knots corresponding to metabelian representations. In particular we answer a question of Wada about the twisted Alexander polynomial associated to the tensor product of two representations, and we settle several conjectures of Hirasawa and Murasugi.
Using recent results of Agol, Przytycki-Wise and Wise we show that twisted Alexander polynomials detect the Thurston norm of any irreducible 3-manifold which is not a closed graph manifold.
Fox conjectured the Alexander polynomial of an alternating knot is trapezoidal, i.e. the coefficients first increase, then stabilize and finally decrease in a symmetric way. Recently, Hirasawa and Murasugi further conjectured a relation between the number of the stable coefficients in the Alexander polynomial and the signature invariant. In this paper we prove the Hirasawa-Murasugi conjecture for two-bridge knots.
We use Reidemeister torsion to study a twisted Alexander polynomial, as defined by Turaev, for links in the projective space. Using sign-refined torsion we derive a skein relation for a normalized form of this polynomial.
We construct new invariant polynomial for long virtual knots. It is a generalization of Alexander polynomial. We designate it by $ζ$ meaning an analogy with $ζ$-polynomial for virtual links. A degree of $ζ$-polynomial estimates a virtual crossing number. We describe some application of $ζ$-polynomial for the study of minimal long virtual diagrams with respect number of virtual crossings.
We study the asymptotic behavior of the twisted Alexander polynomial for the sequence of SL(n ,C)-representations induced from an irreducible metabelian SL(2, C)-representation of a knot group. We give the limits of the leading coefficients in the asymptotics of the twisted Alexander polynomial and related Reidemeister torsion. The concrete computations for all genus one two-bridge knots are also presented.
Given a virtual knot $K$, we construct a group $VG_K$ called the virtual knot group, and we use the elementary ideals of $VG_K$ to define invariants of $K$ called the virtual Alexander invariants. For instance, associated to the $k=0$ ideal is a polynomial $H_K(s,t,q)$ in three variables which we call the virtual Alexander polynomial, and we show that it is closely related to the generalized Alexander polynomial $G_K(s,t)$ introduced by Sawollek, Kauffman-Radford, and Silver-Williams. We define a natural normalization of the virtual Alexander polynomial and show it satisfies a skein formula. W…
Cocycles are constructed by polynomial expressions for Alexander quandles. As applications, non-triviality of some quandle homology groups are proved, and quandle cocycle invariants of knots are studied. In particular, for an infinite family of quandles, the non-triviality of quandle homology groups is proved for all odd dimensions.
