Instantons and \(\mathrm{L}\)-space surgeries (Q6056481)

Summary: We prove that instanton \(\mathrm{L}\)-space knots are fibered and strongly quasipositive. Our proof differs conceptually from proofs of the analogous result in Heegaard Floer homology, and includes a new decomposition theorem for cobordism maps in framed instanton Floer homology akin to the \(\operatorname{Spin}^c\) decompositions of cobordism maps in other Floer homology theories. As our main application, we prove (modulo a mild nondegeneracy condition) that for \(r\) a positive rational number and \(K\) a nontrivial knot in the \(3\)-sphere, there exists an irreducible homomorphism \[ \pi_1(S^3_r(K)) \to SU(2) \] unless \(r \geq 2g(K)-1\) and \(K\) is both fibered and strongly quasipositive, broadly generalizing results of Kronheimer and Mrowka. We also answer a question of theirs from 2004, proving that there is always an irreducible homomorphism from the fundamental group of 4-surgery on a nontrivial knot to \(SU(2)\). In another application, we show that a slight enhancement of the \(A\)-polynomial detects infinitely many torus knots, including the trefoil.