Twisted Alexander polynomials and surjectivity of a group homomorphism (Q2571384)

Let \(\phi :G\to H\) be a surjective homomorphism of finitely presented groups having a non-trivial abelianization. Each linear representation \(\psi :H\to \text{GL}(n;\mathbb R)\) induces one of \(G\) through \(\tau = \psi\circ\phi \). The authors show: Theorem: The twisted Alexander polynomial of \(G\) associated to \(\tau \) is divisible by the twisted Alexander polynomial of \(H\) associated to \(\psi \). In the paper two proofs of this Theorem are given. One proof is purely algebraic and the other one uses Reidemeister torsion. As an application, the authors study whether there is a surjective homomorphism from the knot groups \(G(K)\) to \(G(K')\) for knots \(K\) and \(K'\) in the case where \(K'\) is the figure eight knot.