On abelian quantum invariants of links in 3-manifolds

From a finite abelian group G, a quadratic form onG and an element in , we define a topological invariant of a pair(M,L) where is a closed oriented 3-manifold and L an oriented, framedn-component link inM. The main result consists in an explicit formula for this invariant, based on a reciprocity formula for Gauss sums, which features a special linking pairing. This pairing depends on both the quadratic form q and the linking pairing of M. A necessary and sufficient condition for the invariant to vanish is described in terms of a characteristic class for this pairing. We also discuss torsion spin-structures and related structures which appear in this context. Received May 13, 1998 / Accepted November 11, 1999 / Published online February 5, 2001     

Local flat duality of abelian varieties

 Let K be a field complete for a discrete valuation and with algebraically closed residue field of positive characteristic p. We prove the existence of a non-degenerate pairing between the first (flat) cohomology group of an abelian variety A _K over K and the fundamental group of the Néron model of the dual abelian variety. This pairing extends to the p-primary components a pairing introduced by Shafarevich in [16]. We relate this pairing with Grothendieck's pairing. Received: 7 January 2002 / Revised version: 6 December 2002 Published online: 24 April 2003 Mathematics Subject Classification (2000): 14k05, 14F20, 14G22     

Free and free abelian Euler-Satake characteristics of nonorientable 2-orbifolds

We compute the Γ-sectors and Γ-Euler-Satake characteristic of a closed, effective 2-dimensional orbifold Q where Γ is a free or free abelian group. Using this information, we determine a family of orbifolds such that the complete collection of Γ-Euler-Satake characteristics associated to free and free abelian groups determines the number and type of singular points of Q as well as the Euler characteristic of the underlying space. Additionally, we show that any collection of these groups whose Euler-Satake characteristics determine this information contains both free and free abelian groups of arbitrarily large rank. It follows that the collection of Euler-Satake characteristics associated to free and free abelian groups constitute a finer orbifold invariant than the collection of Euler-Satake characteristics associated to free groups or free abelian groups alone.     

6-dimensional manifolds with effective T4-actions

Suppose the four dimensional torus T⁴ acts effectively on a 6-manifold M so that the orbit space M¹ is a closed 2-disk, and there exist no exceptional orbits, and the isotropy groups span T⁴. Then the fundamental group of M is a finite abelian group with at most two generators. In this paper, we obtain a homology classification of manifolds of this type under an additional hypothesis that one of the two generators is trivial. We then use this result to obtain a complete classification of simply connected 6-manifolds supporting effective T⁴-actions.     

On variations of m,n-simply presented abelian p-groups

We define a few new classes of p-primary abelian groups,and study their crucial properties,one of which is the so-called Nunke’s-esque property.They are also closely related to n-simply presented groups from Keef and Danchev(2012)and m,n-simply presented groups from Keef and Danchev(2013).     

The hexatangle

We are interested in knowing what type of manifolds are obtained by doing Dehn surgery on closed pure 3-braids in S³. In particular, we want to determine when we get S³ by surgery on such a link. We consider links which are small closed pure 3-braids; these are the closure of 3-braids of the form , where σ₁, σ₂ are the generators of the 3-braid group and e₁, f₁, e are integers. We study Dehn surgeries on these links, and determine exactly which ones admit an integral surgery producing the 3-sphere. This is equivalent to determining the surgeries of some type on a certain six component link L that produce S³. The link L is strongly invertible and its exterior double branch covers a certain configuration of arcs and spheres, which we call the hexatangle. Our problem is equivalent to determine which fillings of the spheres by integral tangles produce the trivial knot, which is what we explicitly solve. This hexatangle is a generalization of the pentangle, which is studied in [C.McA. Gordon, J. Luecke, Non-integral toroidal Dehn surgeries, Comm. Anal. Geom. 12 (2004) 417-485].     

On the torsion of group extensions and group actions

In this note, we study the torsion of extensions of finitely generated abelian by elementary abelian groups. When the action is trivial , we make a specific choice of a 1-cochain for a vanishing multiple of the cohomology class defining the extension and use it to completely describe the torsion of central extensions. As an application, one gets that, under the assumption of trivial action on homology, Z_p^r may act freely on (S¹)^k if and only if r?k, providing an alternative proof of the main theorem in [Trans. Amer. Math. Soc. 352 (6) (2000) 2689-2700] for central extensions.     

Modifying a branched surface to carry a foliation

We consider C¹ nonsingular flows on a closed 3-manifold under which there is no transverse disk that flows continuously back into its own interior. We provide an algorithm for modifying any branched surface transverse to such a flow ? that terminates in a branched surface carrying a foliation F precisely when F is transverse to ?. As a corollary, we find branched surfaces that do not carry foliations but that lift to ones that do.     

An effective algorithm to get linking numbers of 3-manifolds

Summary A colored triangulation of a 3-manifoldM ³ is a decomposition into tetrahedra so that each vertex of them receive one of the colors 0, 1, 2, 3 in such a way that each tetrahedron has four differently colored vertices. From the combinatorics of the dual of a colored triangulation forM ³ we provide an easy algorithm to get a special kind of intersection matrix; from this matrix and from the torsion coefficients of the firstZ-homology group ofM ³ we provide a formula which yields its linking numbers.     

Seifert fibered surgeries with distinct primitive/Seifert positions

We call a pair (K,m) of a knot K in the 3-sphere S³ and an integer m a Seifert fibered surgery if m-surgery on K yields a Seifert fiber space. For most known Seifert fibered surgeries (K,m), K can be embedded in a genus 2 Heegaard surface of S³ in a primitive/Seifert position, the concept introduced by Dean as a natural extension of primitive/primitive position defined by Berge. Recently Guntel has given an infinite family of Seifert fibered surgeries each of which has distinct primitive/Seifert positions. In this paper we give yet other infinite families of Seifert fibered surgeries with distinct primitive/Seifert positions from a different point of view.     

Embedding infinite cyclic covers of knot spaces into 3-space

We say a knot k in the 3-sphere S³ has PropertyIE if the infinite cyclic cover of the knot exterior embeds into S³. Clearly all fibred knots have Property IE.There are infinitely many non-fibred knots with Property IE and infinitely many non-fibred knots without property IE. Both kinds of examples are established here for the first time. Indeed we show that if a genus 1 non-fibred knot has Property IE, then its Alexander polynomial Δ_k(t) must be either 1 or 2t²−5t+2, and we give two infinite families of non-fibred genus 1 knots with Property IE and having Δ_k(t)=1 and 2t²−5t+2 respectively.Hence among genus 1 non-fibred knots, no alternating knot has Property IE, and there is only one knot with Property IE up to ten crossings.We also give an obstruction to embedding infinite cyclic covers of a compact 3-manifold into any compact 3-manifold.     

Cohomological rigidity and the number of homeomorphism types for small covers over prisms

In this paper, based upon the basic theory for glued manifolds in M.W. Hirsch (1976) [8, Chapter 8, §2 Gluing Manifolds Together], we give a method of constructing homeomorphisms between two small covers over simple convex polytopes. As a result we classify, up to homeomorphism, all small covers over a 3-dimensional prism P³(m) with m?3. We introduce two invariants from colored prisms and other two invariants from ordinary cohomology rings with Z₂-coefficients of small covers. These invariants can form a complete invariant system of homeomorphism types of all small covers over a prism in most cases. Then we show that the cohomological rigidity holds for all small covers over a prism P³(m) (i.e., cohomology rings with Z₂-coefficients of all small covers over a P³(m) determine their homeomorphism types). In addition, we also calculate the number of homeomorphism types of all small covers over P³(m).     

Maximal abelian and minimal nonabelian subgroups of some finite two-generator p-groups especially metacyclic

We study the subgroup structure of some two-generator p-groups and apply the obtained results to metacyclic p-groups. For metacyclic p-groups G, p > 2, we do the following: (a) compute the number of nonabelian subgroups with given derived subgroup, show that (ii) minimal nonabelian subgroups have equal order, (c) maximal abelian subgroups have equal order, (d) every maximal abelian subgroup is contained in a minimal nonabelian subgroup and all maximal subgroups of any minimal nonabelian subgroup are maximal abelian in G. We prove the same results for metacyclic 2-groups (e) with abelian subgroup of index p, (f) without epimorphic image ? D₈. The metacyclic p-groups containing (g) a minimal nonabelian subgroup of order p ⁴, (h) a maximal abelian subgroup of order p ³ are classified. We also classify the metacyclic p-groups, p > 2, all of whose minimal nonabelian subgroups have equal exponent. It appears that, with few exceptions, a metacyclic p-group has a chief series all of whose members are characteristic.     

Uniform boundedness of <Emphasis Type="Italic">p</Emphasis>-primary torsion of abelian schemes

Let k be a field finitely generated over ℚ and p a prime. The torsion conjecture (resp. p-primary torsion conjecture) for abelian varieties over k predicts that the k-rational torsion (resp. the p-primary k-rational torsion) of a d-dimensional abelian variety A over k should be bounded only in terms of k and d. These conjectures are only known for d=1. The p-primary case was proved by Y. Manin, in 1969; the general case was completed by L. Merel, in 1996, after a series of contributions by B. Mazur, S. Kamienny and others. Due to the fact that moduli of elliptic curves are 1-dimensional, the d=1 case of the torsion conjecture (resp. p-primary torsion conjecture) is closely related to the following. For any k-curve S and elliptic scheme E→S, the k-rational torsion (resp. the p-primary k-rational torsion) is uniformly bounded in the fibres E _s , s∈S(k). In this paper, we extend this result in the p-primary case to arbitrary abelian schemes over curves.     

On the height of 2-component links

Let p be a prime and let L be a 2-component link in S³. We define a numerical invariant, called p-height of L, using a tower of successive p-fold branched cyclic coverings of L, and show, in particular, 2-height is algorithmically determined for any 2-component link. Some relationships between p-height and known link type invariants are also established.     

Proper partial geometries with Singer groups and pseudogeometric partial difference sets

A partial geometry admitting a Singer group G is equivalent to a partial difference set in G admitting a certain decomposition into cosets of line stabilizers. We develop methods for the classification of these objects, in particular, for the case of abelian Singer groups. As an application, we show that a proper partial geometry Π=pg(s+1,t+1,2) with an abelian Singer group G can only exist if t=2(s+2) and G is an elementary abelian 3-group of order ³(s+1) or Π is the Van Lint-Schrijver partial geometry. As part of the proof, we show that the Diophantine equation (m³−1)/2=(²rw−1)/(r²−1) has no solutions in integers m,r?1, w?2, settling a case of Goormaghtigh's equation.     

Epimorphisms of knot groups onto free products

Let k be a knot in S³. There is an epimorphism from π₁(S³−k) onto a free product of two nontrivial cyclic groups sending a meridian to an element of length two iff k has property Q (Topology of Manifolds, Markham, Chicago, IL, 1970, pp. 195-199) that is if there is a closed surface F in S³ containing k, such that k is imprimitive in H₁(X) and in H₁(Y) where X and Y are the closures of the components of S³−F. We give answers to questions of Simon (1970) about properties Q, Q∗ and Q∗∗. Epimorphisms from knot groups onto torus knot groups are also studied and some results on property P and surgery are included.     

Graphically abelian groups

We define a group G to be graphically abelian if the function g?g⁻¹ induces an automorphism of every Cayley graph of G. We give equivalent characterizations of graphically abelian groups, note features of the adjacency matrices for Cayley graphs of graphically abelian groups, and show that a non-abelian group G is graphically abelian if and only if G=E×Q, where E is an elementary abelian 2-group and Q is a quaternion group.     

Compressing thin spheres in the complement of a link

Let L be a link in S³ that is in thin position but not in bridge position and let P be a thin level sphere with compressing disk D. We introduce the idea of alternating level spheres for D and show that all such spheres are thin and their widths are monotone decreasing. This allows us to generalize a result of Wu by giving a bound on the number of disjoint irreducible compressing disks P can have in terms of the width of P, including identifying thin spheres with unique compressing disks. We also give conditions under which P must be incompressible on some side or be weakly incompressible. In particular we show that the thin level sphere of second lowest width is weakly incompressible. If P is strongly compressible we describe how a pair of compressing disks must lie relative to the link.     

Indecomposable (1,3)-Groups and a matrix problem

Almost completely decomposable groups with a critical typeset of type (1, 3) and a p-primary regulator quotient are studied. It is shown that there are, depending on the exponent of the regulator quotient p ^k , either no indecomposables if k ? 2; only six near isomorphism types of indecomposables if k = 3; and indecomposables of arbitrary large rank if k ? 4.