A Legendrian Turaev torsion via generating families (Q2213953)

If \(J^1(B)=T^*B \times \mathbb{R}\) is the \(1\)-jet space of a closed manifold \(B\), \(\pi: J^1(B) \to J^0(B)\) is the front projection, where \(J^0(B)=B \times \mathbb{R}\), \(F \to W \to B\) is a fiber bundle of closed, connected, orientable manifolds with \(F_b\) being the fiber over \(b \in B\), and a function \(f:W \to \mathbb{R}\) is viewed as a family of functions \(f_b:F_b \to \mathbb{R}\), then the subset \(\Sigma_f=\{ (b,z)\}\subset B \times \mathbb{R}\), where \(z\) is a critical value of \(f_b\), is called the Cerf diagram of \(f\). A Legendrian submanifold \(\Lambda \subset J^1(B)\) is said to be generated by \(f:W \to \mathbb{R}\) when \(\partial_F f \pitchfork 0 \) and \(\{ \partial_F f = 0 \} \to J^1 (B)\) is an embedding with image \(\Lambda\). In particular the Cerf diagram of \(f\) is the front of \(\Lambda\), i.e., \(\Sigma_f=\pi(\Lambda)\). If \(R\) is a commutative ring, \(U(R)\) is its group of units, \(\rho: \pi_1W \to U(R)\) is a representation, \(H^*(F;R^\rho)\) is the cohomology of \(F\) with the twisted \(R\) coefficients given by the restriction of \(\rho\) to \(\pi_1F\), and \(H^*(F;R^\rho)\) is trivial, then the Reidemeister torsion of \(F\) with respect to \(\rho\) is considered as an element of \(U(R) / \pm \rho(\pi_1F)\). Following Turaev, by choosing a Euler structure on \(F\) it is possible to lift the Reidemeister torsion to a finer invariant, the Turaev torsion, which is an element of \(U(R) / \pm 1\). A Legendrian submanifold \(\Lambda \subset J^1(B)\) is said to be of Euler type if each connected component \(\Lambda_i\) of \(\Lambda\) is simply connected and the projection to the base \(\Lambda_i \to B\) has degree zero. A torsion pair \((W,\rho)\) is a pair consisting of a fiber bundle \(F \to W \to B\) of closed, connected, orientable manifolds and a representation \(\rho:\pi_1W \to U(R)\) such that \(H^*(F;R^\rho)=0\) and \(\rho(\pi_1F)=\rho(\pi_1W)\). If \(\Lambda \subset J^1(B)\) is a Euler Legendrian and \((W,\rho)\) is a torsion pair, then to each generating family \(f\) for \(\Lambda\) on an even stabilization of \(W\) a certain Turaev torsion of \(F\) can be assigned by computing its \(\rho\)-twisted cohomology using the Morse theory of \(f\vert_{F}\). The resulting subset \(T(\Lambda, W, \rho) \subset U(R) / \pm1\) of Turaev torsions for varying \(f\) but fixed \(\Lambda\), \(W\) and \(\rho\) is called the Legendrian Turaev torsion. The first result of this paper shows that if \(\Lambda_1\) and \(\Lambda_2\) are Legendrian isotopic, then \(T(\Lambda_1,W,\rho)=T(\Lambda_2, W, \rho)\). The authors use the Legendrian Turaev torsion to study a family of Euler type Legendrians called mesh Legendrians. A ribbon graph \(G\) is a finite connected graph where each vertex is equipped with a cyclic ordering of the half-edges incident to the vertex. If \(G\) is a ribbon graph which is trivalent and bicolored, so each vertex only has three half-edges incident to it and is labeled with a decoration by the symbol \(+\) or \(-\), then a Legendrian submanifold \(\Lambda_G \subset J^1(\Sigma_G)\) can be constructed in the following way. For each face \(F_j\) of \(\Sigma_G \setminus G\) there is a connected component \(\Lambda^j_G\) of \(\Lambda_G\), which is a standard Legendrian unknot, i.e., a flying saucer in the front projection. Along each edge \(E\) of \(G\) the Legendrians \(\Lambda^{i}_G\) and \(\Lambda^{j}_G\) corresponding to the faces \(F_i\) and \(F_j\) whose boundary contains \(E\) are linked. Finally, at each vertex \(V\) of \(G\) the cusp loci of the front projections of the \(\Lambda^F_G\) spiral around each other with a chirality that depends on the sign \(+\) or \(-\) of the decoration. Hence \(\Lambda_G\) is always a link of unknotted Legendrian spheres. A Legendrian submanifold \(\Lambda_G \subset J^1(\Sigma_G)\) is called the mesh Legendrian associated to \(G\). If \(P\) is the number of positive vertices and \(N\) is the number of negative vertices and since \(G\) is trivalent, the number of vertices \(P+N\) is even, hence so is \(P - N\), then the number \(w(G)=\frac12(P-N)\in \mathbb{Z}\) is called the winding number of a bicolored trivalent ribbon graph \(G\). Every mesh Legendrian \(\Lambda_G\) admits a generating family on the circle bundle \(S^1 \to E_G \to \Sigma_G \) of Euler number \(\pm w(G)\). If \(E\) is a circle bundle, then \(W=E \times \mathbb{R}^{2k}\) is a stabilized circle bundle and \(e(E)\) is the Euler number of \(E\). In the next main result, the authors show that a mesh Legendrian \(\Lambda_G\) admits a generating family on the stabilized circle bundle \(W=E \times \mathbb{R}^{2k}\) if and only if \(e(E)=\pm w(G)\). Also, it is shown that if \(\Lambda_{G_1}\) and \(\Lambda_{G_2}\) are Legendrian isotopic, then \(|w(G_1)|=|w(G_2)|\). If a rank \(1\) unitary local system \(\rho: \pi_1 E_G \to U(1)\) whose restriction to the fundamental group of the fiber \(\pi_1S^1\) is nontrivial, then, for a mesh Legendrian \(\Lambda=\Lambda_G\) and for the circle bundle \(W=E_G\), the Legendrian Turaev torsion is a nonzero complex number \(\tau(G, \rho) \in \mathbb{C}^\times/ \pm 1\) well defined up to sign, which does not depend on \(f\). In other words, \(T(\Lambda_G,E_G,\rho)=\{\tau(G,\rho)\}\) is a one-element set. In the final main result, the authors show that the Legendrian Turaev torsion of \(\Lambda_G\) with respect to the rank \(1\) unitary local system \(\rho:\pi_1E_G \to U(1)\) which sends \(1 \in \mathbb{Z}\) to the primitive \(n\)-th root of unity \(\zeta^{-1}\) is \(\tau(G, \rho)=\pm(1-\zeta^\varepsilon)\), where \(\varepsilon \in \{ \pm 1 \}\). Since \(\pm(1-\zeta) \neq \pm(1-\zeta^{-1})\) for \(n \geq 3\), if \(\Lambda_{G_1}\) and \(\Lambda_{G_2}\) are Legendrian isotopic and \(|w(G_i)| \neq 1,2\), then \(w(G_1)=w(G_2)\). Finally, as a consequence of the above results, the authors show that for any closed orientable surface \(\Sigma\) there exist infinitely many distinct pairs of Legendrian links \(\Lambda_\pm \subset J^1(\Sigma)\) such that (i) \(\Lambda_+\) and \(\Lambda_-\) are equivalent as formal Legendrian links, (ii) \(\Lambda_+\) cannot be distinguished from \(\Lambda_-\) by any natural Legendrian invariant, and (iii) \(\Lambda_+\) is not Legendrian isotopic to \(\Lambda_-\).