The Alexander polynomial for closed braids in lens spaces (Q2301985)

We can present a link in a lens space as a braid with a strand on which we obtain the lens space by Dehn surgery. Such a braid is called a mixed braid. This paper shows how we can calculate the Alexander polynomial for links in a lens space from their mixed braid presentation. We have the mixed braid group on one strand \(B_{1, n}\) of mixed braids by fixing a strand yielding a lens space. The authors define a reduced Burau-like representation of \(B_{1, n}\) according to a similar construction of the reduced Burau representation of a braid group. The main theorem provides how to calculate the Alexander polynomial of a link in a lens space by applying the reduced Burau-like representation to a mixed braid presentation. One can think of this main theorem as a generalization of the classical result that expresses the Alexander polynomial of a closed braid in \(S^3\) by using the reduced Burau representation for its braid presentation.