Chord Diagrams and Coxeter Links

This paper presents a construction of fibered links $(K,\Sigma)$ out of chord diagrams \sL. Let $\Gamma$ be the incidence graph of \sL. Under certain conditions on \sL the symmetrized Seifert matrix of $(K,\Sigma)$ equals the bilinear form of the simply-laced Coxeter system $(W,S)$ associated to $\Gamma$; and the monodromy of $(K,\Sigma)$ equals minus the Coxeter element of $(W,S)$. Lehmer's problem is solved for the monodromy of these Coxeter links.Comment: 18 figure

Salem-Boyd sequences and Hopf plumbing

Given a fibered link, consider the characteristic polynomial of the monodromy restricted to first homology. This generalizes the notion of the Alexander polynomial of a knot. We define a construction, called iterated plumbing, to create a sequence of fibered links from a given one. The resulting sequence of characteristic polynomials has the same form as those arising in work of Salem and Boyd in their study of distributions of Salem and P-V numbers. From this we deduce information about the asymptotic behavior of the large roots of the generalized Alexander polynomials, and define a new poset structure for Salem fibered links.Comment: 18 pages, 6 figures, to appear in Osaka J. Mat

Lehmer's Problem, McKay's Correspondence, and 2,3,72,3,7

This paper addresses a long standing open problem due to Lehmer in which the triple 2,3,7 plays a notable role. Lehmer's problem asks whether there is a gap between 1 and the next smallest algebraic integer with respect to Mahler measure. The question has been studied in a wide range of contexts including number theory, ergodic theory, hyperbolic geometry, and knot theory; and relates to basic questions such as describing the distribution of heights of algebraic integers, and of lengths of geodesics on arithmetic surfaces. This paper focuses on the role of Coxeter systems in Lehmer's problem. The analysis also leads to a topological version of McKay's correspondence

Boundary Manifolds of Line Arrangements

In this paper we describe the complement of real line arrangements in the complex plane in terms of the boundary three-manifold of the line arrangement. We show that the boundary manifold of any line arrangement is a graph manifold with Seifert fibered vertex manifolds, and depends only on the incidence graph of the arrangement. When the line arrangement is defined over the real numbers, we show that the homotopy type of the complement is determined by the incidence graph together with orderings on the edges emanating from each vertex.Comment: Latex, 22 pages, 15 figure

Digraphs and cycle polynomials for free-by-cyclic groups

Let \phi \in \mbox{Out}(F_n) be a free group outer automorphism that can be represented by an expanding, irreducible train-track map. The automorphism $\phi$ determines a free-by-cyclic group $\Gamma=F_n \rtimes_\phi \mathbb Z,$ and a homomorphism $\alpha \in H^1(\Gamma; \mathbb Z)$. By work of Neumann, Bieri-Neumann-Strebel and Dowdall-Kapovich-Leininger, $\alpha$ has an open cone neighborhood $\mathcal A$ in $H^1(\Gamma;\mathbb R)$ whose integral points correspond to other fibrations of $\Gamma$ whose associated outer automorphisms are themselves representable by expanding irreducible train-track maps. In this paper, we define an analog of McMullen's Teichm\"uller polynomial that computes the dilatations of all outer automorphism in $\mathcal A$.Comment: 41 pages, 20 figure

Braid Group Actions on Rational Maps

Rational maps are maps from the Riemann sphere to itself that are defined by ratios of polynomials. A special type of rational map is the ones where the forward orbit of the critical points is finite. That is, under iteration, the critical points all eventually cycle in some periodic orbit. In the 1980s Thurston proved the surprising result that (except for a well-understood set of exceptions) when the post-critical set is finite the rational map is determined by the “combinatorics” of how the map behaves on the post-critical set. Recently, there has been interest in the question: what happens if we just fix the degree and impose the condition that only one critical orbit is finite. In that case, the family of rational maps defined by the combinatorics is a complex manifold naturally acted on by subgroups of the pure spherical braid group on n-strands where n depends on the order of the orbit and the degree, In this talk, we discuss the question: what is the global topology of this manifold

Small dilatation pseudo-Anosov mapping classes coming from the simplest hyperbolic braid

In this paper we study the minimum dilatation pseudo-Anosov mapping classes coming from fibrations over the circle of a single 3-manifold, the mapping torus for the "simplest pseudo-Anosov braid". The dilatations that arise include the minimum dilatations for orientable mapping classes for genus g=2,3,4,5,8 as well as Lanneau and Thiffeault's conjectural minima for orientable mapping classes, when g = 2,4 (mod 6). Our examples also show that the minimum dilatation for orientable mapping classes is strictly greater than the minimum dilatation for non-orientable ones when g = 4,6,8.Comment: 16 pages. 5 figures. Contains minor corrections to previous submission