Related papers: Twisted Alexander polynomials and character variet…

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.

A torti-rational knot, denoted by K(2a,b|r), is a knot obtained from the 2-bridge link B(2a,b) by applying Dehn twists an arbitrary number of times, r, along one component of B(2a,b). We determine the genus of K(2a,b|r) and solve a question…

We prove that the SL(2, C) character variety of a hyperbolic, freely 2-periodic knot has two canonical components. We also prove that the hyperbolic torsion polynomial of such a knot satisfies a factorization condition which seems to be…

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…

For every genus $g\geq 2$, we construct an infinite family of strongly quasipositive fibred knots having the same Seifert form as the torus knot $T(2,2g+1)$. In particular, their signatures and four-genera are maximal and their homological…

Let $\Delta_{L,\rho_n}(t)$ be the twisted Alexander polynomial with respect to the representation given by the composition of the lift of the holonomy representation of a certain hyperbolic link $L$ and the $n$-dimensional irreducible…

We establish some facts about the behavior of the rational-geometric subvariety of the $SL_2(\c)$ or $PSL_2(\c)$ character variety of a hyperbolic knot manifold under the restriction map to the $SL_2(\c)$ or $PSL_2(\c)$ character variety of…

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…

We clarify steps for determining the ${\rm SL}(2,\mathbb{C})$-character variety of any arborescent knot. Interestingly, we show that the `excellent parts' of arborescent knots $K_1,K_2$ are isomorphic if $K_1$ can be related to $K_2$…

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…

We study the degree of polynomial representations of knots. We give the lexicographic degree of all two-bridge knots with 11 or fewer crossings. First, we estimate the total degree of a lexicographic parametrisation of such a knot. This…

We calculate the twisted Alexander polynomial with the adjoint action for torus knots and twist knots. As consequences of these calculations, we obtain the formula for the nonabelian Reidemeister torsion of torus knots in \cite{Du} and a…

In this paper we study the parabolic representations of 2-bridge links by finiding arc coloring vectors on the Conway diagram. The method we use is to convert the system of conjugation quandle equations to that of symplectic quandle…

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…

Let $G$ be the fundamental group of the complement of the torus knot of type $(m,n)$. This has a presentation $G=<x,y|x^m=y^n>$. We find the geometric description of the character variety $X(G)$ of characters of representations of $G$ into…

In this paper we conjecture that the Links-Gould invariant of links, that we know is a generalization of the Alexander-Conway polynomial, shares some of its classical features. In particular it seems to give a lower bound for the genus of…

For each even classical pretzel knot $P(2k_1+1,2k_2+1,2k_3)$, we determine the character variety of irreducible ${\rm SL}(2,\mathbb{C})$-representations, and clarify the steps of computing its A-polynomial.

Twisted Alexander invariants of knots are well-defined up to multiplication of units. We get rid of this multiplicative ambiguity via a combinatorial method and define normalized twisted Alexander invariants. We then show that the…

Let $\Gamma$ be the fundamental group of the exterior of a knot in the three-sphere. We study deformations of representations of $\Gamma$ into $\mathrm{SL}_n(\mathbf{C})$ which are the sum of two irreducible representations. For such…

We present explicit infinite families of twisted torus knots that are not fibered. Our approach relies on an explicit formula for the Alexander polynomial derived in our previous work. We show that the leading coefficients of the Alexander…