Companionship and knot group representations (Q1091635)

This paper presents a geometric proof of an unpublished result of \textit{D. Johnson} related to his work on the question of when a group \(G\), with a specified pair of elements \((\mu,\lambda)\), can be realized as the homomorphic image of some knot group, with a meridian-longitude pair mapping to \((\mu,\lambda)\) [Proc. Am. Math. Soc. 78, 135-138 (1980; Zbl 0435.57003)]. The result itself is a technicality: if \(G\) can be so realized for some pair \((\mu,\mu^n)\), where \(n\) is the order of \(\mu\) in \(G/G'\), then \(G\) can be realized for every pair \((\nu,\nu^n)\) with \(\nu\) a normal generator of \(G\); but it has the useful consequence of greatly simplifying Johnson's algebraic criteria for the realizability of arbitrary pairs \((\mu,\lambda)\). The essence of the proof is to construct companions and composites of knots realizing the given pair \((\mu,\mu^n)\) and a pair \((\nu,\lambda)\) for some \(\lambda\) whose existence is guaranteed by a result of \textit{F. González-Acuña} [Homomorphs of knot groups, Ann. Math. (2) 102, 373--377 (1975; Zbl 0323.57010)].