Twisted Alexander polynomials, character varieties and Reidemeister torsions of double branched covers (Q272886)

The Fox formula [\textit{C. Weber}, Enseign. Math. (2) 25, 261--272 (1979; Zbl 0435.57002)] gives a simple expression for the order of the first homology group of the \(n\)-fold cyclic covering \(\Sigma_n\) of the three-sphere \(\mathbb S^3\) branching over a knot \(K\) in terms of values of the Alexander polynomial \(\Delta_K\) at roots of unity. In particular for the 2-fold covering it reads \(|H_1(\Sigma_2, \mathbb Z)| = |\Delta_K(-1)|\). The reviewed paper studies what happens when replacing trivial coefficients by the local system associated to a complex 1-dimensional representation \(\xi\) of the fundamental group \(\pi_1(E_K)\) of the knot exterior \(E_K = \mathbb S^3 \setminus K\). The formula expresses, under technical conditions, the absolute value of the Reidemeister torsion \(\mathrm{Tor}(\Sigma_2, \mathbb C_\xi)\) in terms of a twisted Alexander polynomial of \(K\), with coefficients in a \(\mathrm{SL}_2(\mathbb C)\)-representation of \(\pi_1(E_K)\) associated to \(\xi\) via previous work of the author with \textit{F. Nagasato} [Math. Ann. 354, No. 3, 967--1002 (2012; Zbl 1270.57045)]. The motivation to establish this formula is to classify 2-bridge knots by a numerical invariant computable from Alexander polynomials.