Twisting Kuperberg invariants via Fox calculus and Reidemeister torsion (Q2092764)

In previous work [\textit{D. López Neumann}, Can. J. Math. 73, No. 6, 1698--1742 (2021; Zbl 1487.57022)], the author generalized Kuperberg's involutory invariant \(I^{\mathrm{Kup}}_H \in \mathbb K\) for framed closed oriented \(3\)-manifolds (where \(H\) is a finite-dimensional Hopf algebra over the field \(\mathbb K\)) to balanced sutured \(3\)-manifolds, which are pairs \((M,\gamma)\) with \(M\) a \(3\)-manifold with nonempty boundary and \(\gamma\) a collection of annuli in \(\partial M\) that divide it into two homeomorphic pieces. This new invariant is denoted by \(\tilde I_{\tilde H}^{\rho}(M,\gamma, \mathfrak s, \omega) \in \mathbb K\), where \((M,\gamma)\) is a balanced sutured \(3\)-manifold, \(\tilde H\) is an involutory Hopf superalgebra relative to its Hopf subalgebras \(A\) and \(\mathbb K\), \(\rho : \pi_1(M) \rightarrow G(A)\) is a homomorphism into the grouplike elements of \(A\), \(\mathfrak s \in \mathrm{Spin}^c(M,\gamma)\) is a Spin\(^c\) structure for \(M\), and \(\omega\) is a homology orientation. The invariant depends on the Spin\(^c\) structure and the orientation only up to a term \(\pm a^\ast (\rho(g))\), where \(a^\ast : G(A) \rightarrow \mathbb K^\times\) is the distinguished grouplike of \(\tilde H\) relative to \(A\) and \(g \in \pi_1(M)\). By relating the coproduct of \(\tilde H\) to Fox calculus, the author showed that his invariant is a refinement of the abelian torsion \(\tau^\rho\) of Reidemeister whenever \(\tilde H\) is taken to be the Borel of \(U_q(\mathfrak gl(1|1))\) with an appropriate relative integral. The present work applies this \(\tilde I_{\tilde H}^{\rho}(M,\gamma, \mathfrak s, \omega)\) to the case where \(\tilde H\) is the semidirect product \(\mathbb K[\mathrm{Aut}(H)] \ltimes H\), \(A = \mathbb K[\mathrm{Aut}(H)]\), and \(a^\ast\) is defined (as \(r_H\)) in Section 2. The invariant is called a \textit{twisted Kuperberg invariant}, since writing its defining formula in terms of \(\rho\) and the structure tensors of the Hopf superalgebra \(H\) produces a formula similar to Kuperberg's with \(\rho\) twisting the structure tensors via Fox calculus. The twisted Kuperberg invariant is then denoted by \(I_H^\rho (M, \gamma, \mathfrak s, \omega)\), and its Fox calculus formula is developed and studied in Section 4 in a way that does not depend on the previous work that produced \(\tilde I_{\tilde H}^{\rho}(M,\gamma, \mathfrak s, \omega)\). There are two main results in the paper. The first is Theorem 1, proved in Section 5, that shows how \(\tilde I_{\tilde H}^{\rho}(M,\gamma, \mathfrak s, \omega)\) in fact agrees with the independently-developed \(I_H^\rho (M, \gamma, \mathfrak s, \omega)\). Moreover, when \(H\) is \(\mathbb N\)-graded, this construction is extended to define polynomial invariants that in some cases can be interpreted as polynomial deformations of the Kuperberg invariant of \(M\). The second main result is Theorem 2, proved in Section 4, relating the new invariant to twisted Reidemeister torsion whenever \(H\) is the exterior algebra of an \(n\)-dimensional vector space over \(\mathbb K\). If \(M\) is a link complement of a homology sphere, Corollary 1 of Theorem 2 recovers the twisted Kuperberg polynomial at the exterior algebra as a twisted Alexander polynomial.