Small Heegaard genus and \(\mathrm{SU}(2)\) (Q6936504)

This paper investigates when the fundamental groups of \(3\)-manifolds have nonabelian homomorphisms into \(\mathrm{SU}(2)\). In particular, the paper focuses on rational homology \(3\)-spheres \(Y\) of Heegaard genus two with \(H_1(Y;\mathbb{Z})\) of order \(1\), \(3\), or \(5\). Since the fundamental groups for \(3\)-manifolds of Heegaard genus one are abelian, we should start with \(3\)-manifolds of Heegaard genus two. According to [\textit{J. S. Birman} and \textit{H. M. Hilden}, Trans. Am. Math. Soc. 213, 315--352 (1975; Zbl 0312.55004)], we can think of a closed \(3\)-manifold of Heegaard genus two as the double branched cover over \(S^3\) along a \(3\)-bridge link. The main result shows that there is a nonabelian homomorphism of \(\pi_1(Y)\) into \(\mathrm{SU}(2)\) when \(Y\) is a rational homology \(3\)-sphere of Heegaard genus two with \(H_1(Y;\mathbb{Z})\) of order \(1\), \(3\), or \(5\). Actually the authors show that there are no rational homology \(3\)-spheres \(Y\) of Heegaard genus two with \(H_1(Y;\mathbb{Z})\) of order \(1\), \(3\), or \(5\) such that \(\pi_1(Y)\) has only abelian homomorphisms into \(\mathrm{SU(2)}\). To show this result, they establish a surjection onto the set of rational homology \(3\)-spheres \(Y\) of Heegaard genus two such that \(\pi_1(Y)\) has only abelian homomorphisms into \(\mathrm{SU}(2)\) from the set of knots \(K\) in \(S^3\) of bridge number three such that \(\pi_1(S^3 \setminus K)\) has only \textit{simple} meridian-traceless homomorphisms into \(\mathrm{SU}(2)\). Here a meridian-traceless homomorphism means that it sends every meridian to a traceless matrix and we call it simple when its image is contained in the binary dihedral group of \(\mathrm{SU}(2)\), up to conjugation. Such simple, meridian-traceless homomorphisms form a slightly larger class of homomorphisms, including abelian ones. In the above surjection, a rational homology \(3\)-sphere \(Y\) is given by the double branched cover \(\Sigma_2(K)\) along a knot \(K\). Therefore the knot determinant of \(K\) equals the order of \(H_1(Y; \mathbb{Z}) = H_1(\Sigma_2(K); \mathbb{Z})\). The authors determine that the knots \(K\) with determinant \(1\), \(3\), or \(5\) such that their knot groups have only simple meridian-traceless homomorphisms into \(\mathrm{SU(2)}\) are the unknot (the case of knot determinant \(1\)), the trefoil knot (the case of knot determinant \(3\)), the figure eight knot or the torus knot of type \((2, 5)\) (the case of knot determinant \(5\)). The bridge numbers of these knots are at most two (and the Heegaard genus of their double branched covers is at most one). The surjection shows that there are no rational homology \(3\)-spheres of Heegaard genus two such that the fundamental groups have only abelian homomorphisms into \(\mathrm{SU}(2)\).\N\NIn the process of showing the case of the knot determinant \(3\), the authors also provide useful results on the set of meridian-traceless homomorphisms from a knot group into \(\mathrm{SU}(2)\) and the Alexander polynomial of a knot. According to the result of meridian-traceless homomorphisms, we can detect the trefoil knot by the set of homomorphisms of a knot group into \(\mathrm{SU}(2)\) such that they send a fixed meridian to the diagonal matrix with diagonal components \(\pm \sqrt{-1}\). As for the Alexander polynomial of a knot, they express the coefficients of the Alexander polynomial as the dimensions of the instanton knot homology groups for a knot with knot determinant prime such that the knot groups have only simple homomorphisms into \(\mathrm{SU}(2)\). Finally the paper considers the case of rational homology \(3\)-spheres \(Y\) of Heegaard genus two with order \(|H_1(Y;\mathbb{Z})|=2\) (even). It is shown that there is a nonabelian homomorphism of \(\pi_1(Y)\) into \(\mathrm{SO}(3) = \mathrm{SU}(2) / \{\pm I\}\) when \(Y\) is a rational homology \(3\)-sphere of Heegaard genus two with \(|H_1(Y; \mathbb{Z})|=2\). We can regard such a rational homology \(3\)-sphere \(Y\) as the double branched cover of \(S^3\) along a link \(L\) of bridge number three with link determinant \(2\). The homomorphism of \(\pi_1(Y)\) into \(\mathrm{SO}(3)\) comes from a meridian-traceless homomorphism of \(\pi_1(S^3 \setminus L)\) into \(\mathrm{SU}(2)\) together with the adjoint action of \(\mathrm{SU}(2)\) on the Lie algebra \(\mathfrak{su}(2)\). To derive this result, the authors also determine that a link of link determinant two such that the link group has only simple homomorphisms into \(\mathrm{SU}(2)\) is the Hopf link. This classification deduces that there are no rational homology \(3\)-spheres \(Y\) of Heegaard genus two such that \(\pi_1(Y)\) has only abelian homomorphisms into \(\mathrm{SO}(3)\).