Twisted Alexander invariants of knot group representations (Q2165828)

Since the beginning of the 21st century, many generalizations of the Alexander polynomial of a knot in the \(3\)-sphere have been suggested from noncommutative viewpoints. Given a homomorphism from a knot group to a fixed group, the author introduces in this paper an element of a \(K_1\)-group which is a generalization of twisted Alexander polynomials. He compares the \(K_1\)-class with other Alexander polynomials and, in terms of semi-local rings, he computes the \(K_1\)-classes of some knots and shows their non-triviality. As an application he suggests two criteria for detecting fiberedness of knots. For a special metabelian case, he also introduces a metabelian Alexander polynomial as a knot invariant.