A functorial extension of the abelian Reidemeister torsions of three-manifolds (Q5963024)

Let \(G\) be an abelian group. If \(M\) is a compact three-manifold with a morphism \(\varphi : H_1(M) \to G\) then the torsion of the complex \(C_*(\widetilde M) \otimes_{\pi_1(M)} \mathbb Z[G]\) is an element of the group ring \(\mathbb Z[G]\) defined up to multiplication by a group element. \textit{C. Lescop} [Invent. Math. 133, No. 3, 613--681 (1998; Zbl 0917.57008)] defined, for a manifold \(M\) with connected boundary of genus \(g\), a similar invariant which is (formally) a map \(\bigwedge^g H \to \mathbb Z[G]\). These constructions essentially give the classical Alexander polynomial when \(M\) is a knot complement and \(G\) its first homology. In this paper these maps are used in the following way: fix a neighbourhood \(U\) of a simple separating curve on \(\partial M\) and consider \((M, \varphi)\) as an ``augmented'' cobordism between the two connected components \(F_\pm\) of \(\partial M \setminus U\) with morphisms \(\phi|_{H_1(F_\pm)}\). Then the Alexander function allows to define a morphism of \(\mathbb Z[G]\)-modules between \(\bigwedge H_1(F_-, \mathbb Z[G])\) and \(\bigwedge H_1(F_+, \mathbb Z[G])\). The authors check that this defines a functor between the categories \(\mathrm{Cob}_G\) (of augmented cobordisms) and graded \(\mathbb Z[G]\)-modules in two cases: when \(G\) is free of finite rank and, more generally, when \(G\) is a subgroup of the multiplicative group of a field. Cobordisms as defined in this paper are equipped with more structure correponding to topological operations. The functor above is checked by the authors to be equivariant with respect to the composition of cobordisms on the right and the composition of linear maps on the left, and the boundary-connected sum on the right and the tensor product on the left.