On the height of 2-component links (Q5966444)
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scientific article; zbMATH DE number 3934032
Language | Label | Description | Also known as |
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English | On the height of 2-component links |
scientific article; zbMATH DE number 3934032 |
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On the height of 2-component links (English)
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1985
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Let L be a link of two components, X and Y, in \(S^ 3\); and let p be a prime. The author defines the p-height of L with respect to X, \(h_ p(L;X)\), to be the supremum of the integers n such that \(S^ 3\) admits a tower of n successive p-fold branched coverings, the first branched along X, the next branched along a component of the preimage of Y under the first, etc. Representations of the group of L corresponding to such towers of coverings are explicitly described. In the special case \(p=2\), upper and lower bounds for \(h_ 2(L;X)=h_ 2(L;Y)\) can be obtained from the Alexander polynomial; in particular, \(h_ 2(L)=\infty\) if and only if L has determinant zero.
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height
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Milnor's invariant
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link of two components
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branched coverings
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towers of coverings
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Alexander polynomial
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