arXiv research

Invariants for 3-orbifolds derived from Turaev torsion.

Researchers compute torsion for homology cylinders, proving it a finite-type invariant.

We extend Turaev's theory of Euler structures and torsion invariants on 3-manifolds to the case of vector fields having generic behavior on the boundary. This allows to easily define gluings of Euler structures and to develop a completely general gluing formula for Reidemeister torsion of 3-manifolds. Lastly, we descri…

In this paper we extend and Poincare dualize the concept of Euler structures, introduced by Turaev for manifolds with vanishing Euler-Poincare characteristic, to arbitrary manifolds. We use the Poincare dual concept, co-Euler structures, to remove all geometric ambiguities from the Ray-Singer torsion by providing a sli…

Braverman and Kappeler introduced a refinement of the Ray-Singer analytic torsion associated to a flat vector bundle over a closed odd-dimensional manifold. We study this notion and improve the Braverman-Kappeler theorem comparing the refined analytic torsion with Farber-Turaev refinement of the combinatorial torsion. …

We show that the refined analytic torsion is a holomorphic section of the determinant line bundle over the space of complex representations of the fundamental group of a closed oriented odd dimensional manifold. Further, we calculate the ratio of the refined analytic torsion and the Farber-Turaev combinatorial torsion.…

New formula connects surface singularity zeta function to Reidemeister-Turaev torsion.

We introduce and study a canonical quadratic form, called the torsion quadratic form, of the determinant line of a flat vector bundle over a closed oriented odd-dimensional manifold. This quadratic form caries less information than the refined analytic torsion, introduced in our previous work, but is easier to construc…

We extend the main result in the previous paper of Zhang and the author relating the Milnor-Turaev torsion with the complex valued analytic torsion to the equivariant case.

Recently twisted and higher order Alexander polynomials were used by Cochran, Harvey, Friedl--Kim and Turaev to give lower bounds on the Thurston norm. We first show how Reidemeister torsion relates to these Alexander polynomials. We then give lower bounds on the Thurston norm in terms of the Reidemeister torsion which…

We prove for the Reidemeister-Turaev torsion of closed oriented three-manifolds some finiteness properties in the sense of Goussarov and Habiro, that is, with respect to some cut-and-paste operations which preserve the homology type of the manifolds. In general, those properties require the manifolds to come equipped w…

New invariants from quantum group theory for hyperbolic 3-manifolds.

We obtain generalizations of some results of Turaev relating leading order terms of the Turaev torsion of closed, oriented, connected 3-manifolds to certain ``determinants'' derived from cohomology operations such as the alternate trilinear form on the first cohomology group given by cup product. These determinants unf…

For an acyclic representation of the fundamental group of a compact oriented odd-dimensional manifold, which is close enough to a unitary representation, we define a refinement of the Ray-Singer torsion associated to this representation. This new invariant can be viewed as an analytic counterpart of the refined combina…

We generalize Turaev's definition of torsion invariants of pairs (M,x), where M is a 3-dimensional manifold and x is an Euler structure on M (a non-singular vector field up to homotopy relative to bM and local modifications in int(M). Namely, we allow M to have arbitrary boundary and x to have simple (convex and/or con…

Given an oriented rational homology 3-sphere M, it is known how to associate to any Spin^c-structure σon M two quadratic functions over the linking pairing. One quadratic function is derived from the reduction modulo 1 of the Reidemeister-Turaev torsion of (M,σ), while the other one can be defined using the intersectio…

We generalize Turaev's definition of torsion invariants of pairs $(M,ξ)$, where $M$ is a 3-dimensional manifold and $ξ$ is an Euler structure on $M$ (a non-singular vector field up to homotopy relative to the boundary of $M$ and local modifications in the interior of $M$). Namely, we allow $M$ to have arbitrary boundar…

We construct an infinite family of hyperbolic, homologically thin knots that are not quasi-alternating. To establish the latter, we argue that the branched double-cover of each knot in the family does not bound a negative definite 4-manifold with trivial first homology and bounded second betti number. This fact depends…

Defines monopole Floer homology for 3-manifolds with toroidal boundaries.

New dynamical torsion for contact Anosov flows connects to Reidemeister torsion.

These notes accompany some lectures given at the autumn school "Tresses in Pau" in October 2009. The abelian Reidemeister torsion for 3-manifolds, and its refinements by Turaev, are introduced. Some applications, including relations between the Reidemeister torsion and other classical invariants, are surveyed.

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 derive formulae which lend themselves to TQFT interpretations of the Milnor torsion, the Lescop invariant, the Casson invariant, and the Casson-Morita cocyle of a 3-manifold, and, furthermore, relate them to the Reshetikhin-Turaev theory.

The refined analytic torsion associated to a flat vector bundle over a closed odd-dimensional manifold canonically defines a quadratic form $τ$ on the determinant line of the cohomology. Both $τ$ and the Burghelea-Haller torsion are refinements of the Ray-Singer torsion. We show that whenever the Burghelea-Haller torsi…

In a recent joint work with V. Turaev (cf. math.DG/9810114) we defined a new concept of combinatorial torsion which we called absolute torsion. Compared with the classical Reidemeister torsion it has the advantage of having a well-defined sign. Also, the absolute torsion is defined for arbitrary orientable flat vector …

We generalize a theorem of Bismut-Zhang, which extends the Cheeger-Mueller theorem on Ray-Singer torsion and Reidemeister torsion, to the case where the flat vector bundle over a closed manifold carries a nondegenerate symmetric bilinear form. As a consequence, we prove the Burghelea-Haller conjecture which gives an an…

The paper generalizes Kuperberg invariants using twisted Drinfeld doubles.

We study lens space surgeries along two different families of 2-component links, denoted by $A_{m,n}$ and $B_{p,q}$, related with the rational homology 4-ball used in J.\ Park's (generalized) rational blow down. We determine which coefficient $r$ of the knotted component of the link yields a lens space by Dehn surgery.…

In this paper we extend Witten-Helffer-Sjöstrand theory from selfadjoint Laplacians based on fiber wise Hermitian structures, to non-selfadjoint Laplacians based on fiber wise non-degenerate symmetric bilinear forms. As an application we verify, up to sign, the conjecture about the comparison of the Milnor-Turaev torsi…

Let X be a closed manifold with zero Euler characteristic, and let f: X --> S^1 be a circle-valued Morse function. We define an invariant I which counts closed orbits of the gradient of f, together with flow lines between the critical points. We show that our invariant equals a form of topological Reidemeister torsion …

It is shown that for knots with a sufficiently regular character variety the Dubois' torsion detects the A-polynomial of the knot. A global formula for the integral of the Dubois torsion is given. The formula looks like the heat kernel regularization of the formula for the Witten-Reshetikhin-Turaev invariant of the dou…

New nonacyclic Reidemeister torsions defined for odd-dimensional manifolds.

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.

This is a short version of math.DG/0505537. For an acyclic representation of the fundamental group of a compact oriented odd-dimensional manifold, which is close enough to a unitary representation, we define a refinement of the Ray-Singer torsion associated to this representation. This new invariant can be viewed as an…

The paper studies Heegaard Floer homology for manifolds with torus boundaries and proves properties.

Formula for computing triple-cup product from Heegaard diagrams of 3-manifolds.

We give definitions of cohomology determinants for compact, connected, orientable 3-manifolds. We also give formulae relating cohomology determinants before and after gluing a solid torus along a torus boundary component. Cohomology determinants are related to Turaev torsion, though the author hopes that they have othe…

We extend Turaev's definition of torsion invariants of 3-dimensional manifolds equipped with non-singular vector fields, by allowing (suitable) tangency circles to the boundary, and manifolds with non-zero Euler characteristic. We show that these invariants apply in particular to (the exterior of) Legendrian links in c…

Study on quantum invariants from surgeries on torus knots.

Using the equivalence between the renormalized Euler characteristic of Ozsvath and Szabo, and the Turaev torsion normalized by the Casson-Walker invariant, we make calculations for $S^3_{p/q}(K)$. An alternative proof of a theorem by Ozsváth and Szabó on $L$-space surgery obstructions is provided.

Survey of quantum invariants for 3-manifolds using non-semisimple categories.

We consider topological field theories that compute the Reidemeister-Milnor-Turaev torsion in three dimensions. These are the psl(1|1) and the U(1|1) Chern-Simons theories, coupled to a background complex flat gauge field. We use the 3d mirror symmetry to derive the Meng-Taubes theorem, which relates the torsion and th…

We identify the leading order term of the asymptotic expansion of the Witten-Reshetikhin-Turaev invariants for finite order mapping tori with classical invariants for all simple and simply-connected compact Lie groups. The square root of the Reidemeister torsion is used as a density on the moduli space of flat connecti…

For every rational homology 3-sphere with 2-torsion only we construct a unified invariant (which takes values in a certain cyclotomic completion of a polynomial ring), such that the evaluation of this invariant at any odd root of unity provides the SO(3) Witten-Reshetikhin-Turaev invariant at this root and at any even …

Riemannian Geometry, Topology and Dynamics permit to introduce partially defined holomorphic functions on the variety of representations of the fundamental group of a manifold. The functions we consider are the complex valued Ray-Singer torsion, the Milnor-Turaev torsion, and the dynamical torsion. They are associated …

Classifies $L$-space surgeries on all two-bridge links

This is a continuation of our paper math.AG/0111298. We prove an explicit formula for the geometric genus p_g of a quasihomogeneous isolated surface singularity in terms of the Seiberg-Witten invariant of the link and other topological data which can be read from a resolution graph of the singularity. Moreover, we also…

We describe an effective algorithm for computing Seiberg-Witen invariants of lens spaces. We apply it to two problems: (i) to compute the Froyshov invariants of a large family of lens spaces; (ii) to show that the knowledge of the Seiberg-Witten invariants of lens spaces is topologically equivalent to the knowledge of …