Related papers: Small Heegaard genus and SU(2)

We show that if $Y$ is a toroidal closed graph manifold rational homology $3$-sphere with $|H_1(Y;\mathbb{Z})| \le 5$, then there exists an irreducible representation $\fund{Y} \to SU(2)$, using topological methods and avoiding the use of…

We prove that if $Y$ is a closed, oriented 3-manifold with first homology $H_1(Y;\mathbb{Z})$ of order less than $5$, then there is an irreducible representation $\pi_1(Y) \to \mathrm{SL}(2,\mathbb{C})$ unless $Y$ is homeomorphic to $S^3$,…

The following criterion is proved in this paper. If the Alexander polynomial of a knot $K\subset S^3$ has a zero of odd order on the complex unit circle, then there exists a continuous family of irreducible representations…

We prove that if $K_1 \subset M_1,...,K_n \subset M_n$ are m-small knots in closed orientable 3-manifolds then the Heegaard genus of $E(#_{i=1}^n K_i)$ is strictly less than the sum of the Heegaard genera of the $E(K_i)$ ($i=1,...,n$) if…

We use instanton gauge theory to prove that if $Y$ is a closed, orientable $3$-manifold such that $H_1(Y;\mathbb{Z})$ is nontrivial and either $2$-torsion or $3$-torsion, and if $Y$ is neither $\#^r \mathbb{RP}^3$ for some $r\geq 1$ nor…

We provide the first complete computations of colored sl(N) homology for a nontrivial knot. In doing so, we show that the colored sl(N) homology of the trefoil labeled by an exterior power of the defining representation is isomorphic to the…

A knot $K\subset S^3$ is called $SU(2)$-abundant if it satisfies two conditions: first, for all but finitely many $r\in\mathbb{Q}\backslash\{0\}$, there exists an irreducible representation $\pi_1(S^3_r(K))\to SU(2)$; second, any slope…

Let $M$ be an orientable, irreducible $3$-manifold admitting a weakly reducible genus three Heegaard splitting as a minimal genus Heegaard splitting. In this article, we prove that if $[f]$, $[g]\in Mod(M)$ give the same correspondence…

We call a knot in the 3-sphere $SU(2)$-simple if all representations of the fundamental group of its complement which map a meridian to a trace-free element in $SU(2)$ are binary dihedral. This is a generalisation of being a 2-bridge knot.…

Suppose L is a link in $S^3$. We show that $\pi_1(S^3-L)$ admits an irreducible meridian-traceless representation in SU(2) if and only if L is not the unknot, the Hopf link, or a connected sum of Hopf links. As a corollary, $\pi_1(S^3-L)$…

We prove the existence of pure braids with arbitrarily many strands which are small, i.e. they contain no closed incompressible surface in the complement which is not boundary parallel. This implies the existence of irreducible non-Haken…

The complete classification of representations of the Trefoil knot group G in S^{3} and SL(2,R), their affine deformations, and some geometric interpretations of the results, are given. Among other results, we also obtain the classification…

We prove that if a fibered knot $K$ with genus greater than one in a three-manifold $M$ has a sufficiently complicated monodromy, then $K$ induces a minimal genus Heegaard splitting $P$ that is unique up to isotopy, and small genus Heegaard…

Let $M$ be a closed, orientable, and irreducible 3-manifold with Heegaard genus two. We prove that if the fundamental group of $M$ is left-orderable then $M$ admits a co-orientable taut foliation.

Given a knot K and an irreducible metabelian SL(n,C) representation we establish an equality for the dimension of the first twisted cohomology. In the case of equality, we prove that the representation must have finite image and that it is…

A 3-manifold is called \emph{SU(2)}-abelian if every SU(2)-representation of its fundamental group has abelian image. We classify, in terms of the Seifert coefficients, SU(2)-abelian 3-manifolds among the family of graph manifolds obtained…

Let $(M,g)$ be a closed oriented Riemannian $3$-manifold and suppose that there is a strongly irreducible Heegaard splitting $H$. We prove that $H$ is either isotopic to a minimal surface of index at most one or isotopic to the stable…

We give an algorithmic proof of the theorem that a closed orientable irreducible and atoroidal 3-manifold has only finitely many Heegaard splittings in each genus, up to isotopy. The proof gives an algorithm to determine the Heegaard genus…

Let $K$ be a knot in $S^3$ and $X$ its complement. We study deformations of non-abelian, metabelian, reducible representations of the knot group $\pi\_1(X)$ into $\mathrm{SL}(n,\mathbf{C})$ which are associated to a simple root of the…

Let K be a knot in $S^3$ and $X$ its complement. We study deformations of reducible metabelian representations of the knot group $\pi_1(X)$ into $SL(3,\mathbb{C})$ which are associated to a double root of the Alexander polynomial. We prove…