Twisted Alexander polynomials and incompressible surfaces given by ideal points

We study incompressible surfaces constructed by Culler-Shalen theory in the context of twisted Alexander polynomials. For a $1$st cohomology class of a $3$-manifold the coefficients of twisted Alexander polynomials induce regular functions on the $SL_2(\mathbb{C})$-character variety. We prove that if an ideal point gives a Thurston norm minimizing non-separating surface dual to the cohomology class, then the regular function of the highest degree has a finite value at the ideal point.Comment: 10 pages, to appear in "The special issue for the 20th anniversary", the Journal of Mathematical Sciences, the University of Toky

Reflection Groups and Polytopes over Finite Fields, III

When the standard representation of a crystallographic Coxeter group is reduced modulo an odd prime p, one obtains a finite group G^p acting on some orthogonal space over Z_p . If the Coxeter group has a string diagram, then G^p will often be the automorphism group of a finite abstract regular polytope. In parts I and II we established the basics of this construction and enumerated the polytopes associated to groups of rank at most 4, as well as all groups of spherical or Euclidean type. Here we extend the range of our earlier criteria for the polytopality of G^p . Building on this we investigate the class of 3-infinity groups of general rank, and then complete a survey of those locally toroidal polytopes which can be described by our construction.Comment: Advances in Applied Mathematics (to appear); 19 page