Topology

Speaker: 
Nicholas Rouse
Speaker Affiliation: 
UBC

January 18, 2023

MATH 204
Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z2
Canada

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Abstract: 

Associated to any finite volume hyperbolic 3-manifold is a number field called the trace field and a quaternion algebra over that trace field. For knot complements, this quaternion algebra is trivial in the sense that it is always a matrix algebra. However, for closed orbifolds such as those obtained by hyperbolic Dehn surgery on a hyperbolic knot complement, the algebra is often nontrivial. A conjecture of Chinburg, Reid, and Stover relates the algebras one can obtain by surgery to the Alexander polynomial of the knot. This problem involves the character variety of the knot and a generalization of quaternion algebras called Azumaya algebras. I will discuss the interplay of these objects as well as some work on the conjecture.

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