The \(SU\)(3) Casson invariant for 3-manifolds split along a 2-sphere or a 2-torus (Q1862051)

The Casson invariant is an algebraic count of the representations of the fundamental group of a 3-manifold in \(SU(2)\). Several generalizations of Casson's work counting \(SU(3)\)-representations of fundamental groups have been introduced: one by the authors of this paper in [J. Differ. Geom. 50, 147-206 (1998; Zbl 0934.57013)]; another by the authors of this paper in collaboration with \textit{P. Kirk} [Math. Res. Lett. 8, 589-602 (2001; Zbl 0991.57014)]; and a third by \textit{S. Cappell, R. Lee} and \textit{E. Miller} [Comment. math. Helv. 77, No. 3, 491-523 (2002; Zbl 1008.57009)]. The current paper is primarily a readable survey article explaining the first of these generalizations in non-technical terms. The definition of the invariant is motivated by analogy with the (equivariant) Morse theory calculation of the (relative) Euler characteristic. Equivariant Bott-Morse theory is also used to perform new calculations of the invariant for certain graph manifolds; these calculations show that the invariant is integral for these manifolds.