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Stefan Friedl

Publications and source records attributed to Stefan Friedl.

At least 55 records · Page 3Linked to original sources
arXiv2016

Novikov homology and noncommutative Alexander polynomials

In the early 2000's Cochran and Harvey introduced non-commutative Alexander polynomials for 3-manifolds. Their degrees give strong lower bounds on the Thurston norm. In this paper we make the case that the vanishing of a certain Novikov-Sikorav homology module is the correct notion of a monic non-commutative Alexander polynomial. Furthermore we will use the opportunity to give new proofs of several statements about Novikov-Sikorav homology in the three-dimensional context.

math.GT↗
arXiv2016

Rank gradients of infinite cyclic covers of Kaehler manifolds

Given a Kaehler group $G$ and a primitive class $ϕ\in H^1(G;Z)$, we show that the rank gradient of $(G;ϕ)$ is zero if and only if Ker $ϕ$ is finitely generated. Using this approach, we give a quick proof of the fact (originally due to Napier and Ramachandran) that Kaehler groups are not properly ascending or descending HNN extensions. Further investigation of the properties of Bieri-Neumann-Strebel invariants of Kaehler groups allows us to show that a large class of groups of orientation-preserving PL homeomorphisms of an interval, which generalize Thompson's group $F$, are not Kaehler.

math.GT↗
arXiv2016

Representation varieties detect essential surfaces

Extending Culler-Shalen theory, Hara and the second author presented a way to construct certain kinds of branched surfaces in a $3$-manifold from an ideal point of a curve in the $\operatorname{SL}_n$-character variety. There exists an essential surface in some $3$-manifold known to be not detected in the classical $\operatorname{SL}_2$-theory. We prove that every connected essential surface in a $3$-manifold is given by an ideal point of a rational curve in the $\operatorname{SL}_n$-character variety for some $n$.

math.GT↗
arXiv2016

The Turaev and Thurston norms

In 1986, W. Thurston introduced a (possibly degenerate) norm on the first cohomology group of a 3-manifold. Inspired by this definition, Turaev introduced in 2002 a analogous norm on the first cohomology group of a finite 2-complex. We show that if N is the exterior of a link in a rational homology sphere, then the Thurston norm agrees with a suitable variation of Turaev's norm defined on any 2-skeleton of N.

math.GT↗
arXiv2016

Twisted Novikov homology of complex hypersurface complements

We study the twisted Novikov homology of the complement of a complex hypersurface in general position at infinity. We give a self-contained topological proof of the vanishing (except possibly in the middle degree) of the twisted Novikov homology groups associated to positive cohomology classes of degree one defined on the complement.

math.AT↗
arXiv2015

Knot concordances and alternating knots

There is an infinitely generated free subgroup of the smooth knot concordance group with the property that no nontrivial element in this subgroup can be represented by an alternating knot. This subgroup has the further property that every element is represented by a topologically slice knot.

math.GT↗
arXiv2015

The Grothendieck group of polytopes and norms

Polytopes in R^n with integral vertices form a monoid under the Minkowski sum, and the Grothendieck construction gives rise to a group. We show that every symmetric polytope is a norm in this group for every n.

math.GT↗
arXiv2015

The L^2-Alexander torsion of 3-manifolds

We introduce $L^2$-Alexander torsions for 3-manifolds, which can be viewed as a generalization of the $L^2$-Alexander polynomial of Li--Zhang. We state the $L^2$-Alexander torsions for graph manifolds and we partially compute them for fibered manifolds. We furthermore show that given any irreducible 3-manifold there exists a coefficient system such that the corresponding $L^2$-torsion detects the Thurston norm.

math.GT↗
arXiv2015

The L^2-torsion function and the Thurston norm of 3-manifolds

Let M be an oriented irreducible 3-manifold with infinite fundamental group and empty or toroidal boundary. Consider any element ϕin the first cohomology of M with integral coefficients. Then one can define the ϕ-twisted L^2-torsion function of the universal covering which is a function from the set of positive real numbers to the set of real numbers. By earlier work of the second author and Schick the evaluation at t=1 determines the volume. In this paper we show that its degree, which is a number extracted from its asymptotic behavior at 0 and at infinity, agrees with the Thurston norm of ϕ.

math.GT↗
arXiv2015

Thurston norm via Fox calculus

In 1976 Thurston associated to a $3$-manifold $N$ a marked polytope in $H_1(N;\mathbb{R}),$ which measures the minimal complexity of surfaces representing homology classes and determines all fibered classes in $H^1(N;\mathbb{R})$. Recently the first and the last author associated to a presentation $π$ with two generators and one relator a marked polytope in $H_1(π;\mathbb{R})$ and showed that it determines the Bieri-Neumann-Strebel invariant of $π$. In this paper, we show that if the fundamental group of a 3-manifold $N$ admits such a presentation $π$, then the corresponding marked polytopes in $H_1(N;\mathbb{R})=H_1(π;\mathbb{R})$ agree.

math.GT↗
arXiv2015

The profinite completion of $3$-manifold groups, fiberedness and the Thurston norm

We show that a regular isomorphism of profinite completion of the fundamental groups of two 3-manifolds $N_1$ and $N_2$ induces an isometry of the Thurston norms and a bijection between the fibered classes. We study to what extent does the profinite completion of knot groups distinguish knots and show that it distinguishes each torus knot and the figure eight knot among all knots. We show also that it distinguishes between hyperbolic knots with cyclically commensurable complements under the assumption that their Alexander polynomials have at least one zero which is not a root of unity.

math.GT↗
arXiv2015

A note on the existence of essential tribranched surfaces

The second author and Hara introduced the notion of an essential tribranched surface that is a generalisation of the notion of an essential embedded surface in a 3-manifold. We show that any 3-manifold for which the fundamental group has at least rank four admits an essential tribranched surface.

math.GT↗
arXiv2015

Decision problems for 3-manifolds and their fundamental groups

We survey the status of some decision problems for 3-manifolds and their fundamental groups. This includes the classical decision problems for finitely presented groups (Word Problem, Conjugacy Problem, Isomorphism Problem), and also the Homeomorphism Problem for 3-manifolds and the Membership Problem for 3-manifold groups.

math.GT↗
arXiv2015

Two-generator one-relator groups and marked polytopes

We use Fox calculus to assign a marked polytope to a `nice' group presentation with two generators and one relator. Relating the marked vertices to Novikov-Sikorav homology we show that they determine the Bieri-Neumann-Strebel invariant of the group. Furthermore we show that in many cases the marked polytope is an invariant of the underlying group and that in those cases the marked polytope also determines the minimal complexity of all the associated HNN-splittings.

math.GR↗
arXiv2014

The $L^2$-Alexander torsion is symmetric

We show that the $L^2$-Alexander torsion of a 3-manifold is symmetric. This can be viewed as a generalization of the symmetry of the Alexander polynomial of a knot.

math.GT↗