The \(L^2\)-Alexander torsion is symmetric (Q907781)

Given a compact three-manifold \(N\), a homomorphism \(\gamma\) from \(\pi_1(N)\) to a group \(G\) and a cohomology class \(\phi \in H^1(N, \mathbb Z)\) coming from the pullback of a class in \(H^1(G, \mathbb Z)\), one can define the associated \(L^2\)-Alexander invariant. It is a function \(\tau^{(2)} : \mathbb R_{>0} \to \mathbb R_{>0}\) well-defined up to multiplication by a function of the form \(t \mapsto t^m\). Its value at \(t > 0\) is the \(L^2\)-torsion of the \(L^2\)-completion of the complex \(C_*(\widetilde{N}) \otimes_{\mathbb C[\pi_1(N)]} \mathbb C[G]\), where the \(\pi_1(N)\)-action on \(\mathbb C[G]\) is given by \(g\cdot f = t^{-\phi(g)} \gamma(g)h\). This invariant was studied in previous work by the same authors [``The \(L^2\)-Alexander torsion of 3-manifolds'', Preprint, \url{arXiv:1410.6918}, to appear in J. Topol.]. The main result in the present paper is that the function representing \(\tau^{(2)}\) has a symmetry property with respect to multiplication : \[ \tau^{(2)}(t^{-1}) = t^n \tau(t) \] where \(n\) depends on the representative modulo \(t^{\mathbb Z}\) but is always congruent modulo 2 to the Thurston norm of the class \(\phi\). In the case where \(N\) is a knot complement this is equal to \(2g - 1\) where \(g\) is the genus of a Seifert surface for the knot. In general, to properly define \(L^2\)-torsions one needs an additional specification (this is the origin of the ambiguity in the definition for the \(L^2\)-Alexander invariant). In this case the authors use (combinatorial) Euler classes. The symmetry property is then proved using a more general duality formula between an \(L^2\)-torsion and some kind of Poincaré dual.