Alexander and Thurston norms of fibered 3-manifolds

Nathan M. Dunfield

Vol. 200 (2001), No. 1, 43–58

DOI: 10.2140/pjm.2001.200.43

Abstract

For a 3-manifold M, McMullen derived from the Alexander polynomial of M a norm on H¹(M, ℝ) called the Alexander norm. He showed that the Thurston norm is an upper bound for the Alexander norm. He asked if these two norms were the same when M fibers over the circle. Here, I give examples that show this is not the case. This question relates to the faithfulness of the Gassner representations of the braid groups. The key tool used is the Bieri-Neumann-Strebel invariant, and I show a connection between this invariant and the Alexander polynomial.

Milestones

Received: 22 October 1999

Revised: 17 July 2000

Published: 1 September 2001