Alexander and Thurston norms of graph links
Abstract
We show that the Alexander and Thurston norms are the same for all irreducible Eisenbud-Neumann graph links in homology 3-spheres. These are the links obtained by splicing Seifert links in homology 3-spheres together along tori. By combining this result with previous results, we prove that the two norms coincide for all links in S^3 if either of the following two conditions are met; the link is a graph link, so that the JSJ decomposition of its complement in S^3 is made up of pieces which are all Seifert-fibered, or the link is alternating and not a (2,n)-torus link, so that the JSJ decomposition of its complement in S^3 is made up of pieces which are all hyperbolic. We use the E-N obstructions to fibrations for graph links together with the Thurston cone theorem on link fibrations to deduce that every facet of the reduced Thurston norm unit ball of a graph link is a fibered facet.
Cite
@article{arxiv.0808.1066,
title = {Alexander and Thurston norms of graph links},
author = {David G. Long},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:0808.1066},
year = {2008}
}
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25 pages