An algorithm to compute the Teichmüller polynomial from matrices (Q2290851)

Consider the unit ball for Thurston's norm defined on the second homology group of an orientable 3-manifod \(M\), or, rather, its dual norm on the first cohomology group of \(M\). This ball is a rational polytope. A \textit{fibered face} of this polytope is a top-dimensional face \(F\) such that an integral point (or, equivalently, all integral points) in the cone \(\mathbb{R}_+F\) represents a fibration of \(M\) over the circle with pseudo-Anosov monodromy. The \textit{Teichmüller polynomial} is an invariant for fibered faces that was defined by \textit{C. T. McMullen} in his paper [Ann. Sci. Éc. Norm. Supér. (4) 33, No. 4, 519--560 (2000; Zbl 1013.57010)]. It is an element in \(\mathbb{Z}[H_1(M;\mathbb{Z})/\mathrm{torsion}]\). In the paper under review, the authors present a simple algorithm to compute the Teichmüller polynomials for \textit{oddblock surfaces}. These are translation surfaces which come with pseudo-Anosov homeomorphisms obtained from a certain class of \(\{0, 1\}\)-matrices, constructed in the paper [\textit{H. Baik} et al., Geom. Dedicata 180, 39--48 (2016; Zbl 1364.37094)]. The authors observe that for such surfaces the Teichmüller polynomial coincides with the Alexander polynomial of an associated finitely presented group after an operation they call specialization. Then they construct an invariant train track whose first homology group can be naturally identified with the first homology group of the surface, and they compute its Alexander polynomial.