Reidemeister torsion, the Thurston norm and Harvey's invariants (Q952942)

Alexander polynomials over noncommutative Laurent polynomial rings were introduced by \textit{T. D. Cochran} in [Algebr. Geom. Topol. 4, 347--398 (2004; Zbl 1063.57011)]. Their degrees were studied by Cochran himself (in the same paper), by \textit{S. L. Harvey} [Topology 44, No.~5, 895--945 (2005; Zbl 1080.57019)] and by \textit{V. Turaev} [``A homological estimate for the Thurston norm'', arXiv:math. GT/0207267]. The present paper extends Cochran's definition to twisted Alexander polynomials [see \textit{X. S. Lin}, Acta Math. Sin., Engl. Ser. 17, No.~3, 361--380 (2001; Zbl 0986.57003)], by making use also of the definitions introduced by \textit{P. Kirk} and \textit{C. Livingston} in [Topology 38, No.~3, 635--661 (1999; Zbl 0928.57005)]. Lower bounds on the Thurston norm in terms of the Reidemeister torsion are obtained, yielding a concise formulation of the bounds already obtained by Cochran, Harvey and Turaev in the quoted papers. The Reidemeister torsion approach also provides a natural approach to proving and extending certain monotonicity results of Cochran and Harvey (see the quoted papers, too).