Higher homology groups of knots and links












1














I know that $H_1$ of the complement of a knot or a link can be obtained by taking the commutative quotient group which can be computed by Wirtinger presentation theorem. My questions are following




  1. I have shown that for a knot, the first homology group is the infinitely cyclic group, is this also true for a link?

  2. When I consider the higher homology groups, I tried to calculate them by M-V sequence, but it seems not work, so I wonder if there are some ways to compute them.


Thanks advanced!










share|cite|improve this question




















  • 1




    The usual way (for knots) is to use the sphere theorem. I think this is probably in any beginning knot theory book (and I want to say it's almost certainly in the book by Lickorish). Essentially, the higher homology for a knot is trivial.
    – Steve D
    Jun 20 '18 at 5:55










  • I guess you could also use Alexander duality to get $H_1$ and $H_2$.
    – Steve D
    Jun 20 '18 at 5:58












  • @SteveD so is it true that H_i(R3-K) is zero if i ≥2 ? sorry i haven't studied cohomology...
    – user365833
    Jun 20 '18 at 7:10










  • Yes that's true. Here's maybe the easiest way to see it. You have a knot in $S^3$. If you assume the knot contains the point at infinity, then you complement is $mathbb{R^3}$ minus a squiggly line. Now take $U$ to be a nbhd of that line, $V$ to be the complement of that line. Then $Ucup V=mathbb{R^3}$ is contractible, and so is $U$. So by M-V, the homology of $V$ (your complement) is the same as $Ucap V$, which is an infinite cylinder, homotopic to a circle. So your complement has the homology of a circle.
    – Steve D
    Jun 20 '18 at 15:31
















1














I know that $H_1$ of the complement of a knot or a link can be obtained by taking the commutative quotient group which can be computed by Wirtinger presentation theorem. My questions are following




  1. I have shown that for a knot, the first homology group is the infinitely cyclic group, is this also true for a link?

  2. When I consider the higher homology groups, I tried to calculate them by M-V sequence, but it seems not work, so I wonder if there are some ways to compute them.


Thanks advanced!










share|cite|improve this question




















  • 1




    The usual way (for knots) is to use the sphere theorem. I think this is probably in any beginning knot theory book (and I want to say it's almost certainly in the book by Lickorish). Essentially, the higher homology for a knot is trivial.
    – Steve D
    Jun 20 '18 at 5:55










  • I guess you could also use Alexander duality to get $H_1$ and $H_2$.
    – Steve D
    Jun 20 '18 at 5:58












  • @SteveD so is it true that H_i(R3-K) is zero if i ≥2 ? sorry i haven't studied cohomology...
    – user365833
    Jun 20 '18 at 7:10










  • Yes that's true. Here's maybe the easiest way to see it. You have a knot in $S^3$. If you assume the knot contains the point at infinity, then you complement is $mathbb{R^3}$ minus a squiggly line. Now take $U$ to be a nbhd of that line, $V$ to be the complement of that line. Then $Ucup V=mathbb{R^3}$ is contractible, and so is $U$. So by M-V, the homology of $V$ (your complement) is the same as $Ucap V$, which is an infinite cylinder, homotopic to a circle. So your complement has the homology of a circle.
    – Steve D
    Jun 20 '18 at 15:31














1












1








1







I know that $H_1$ of the complement of a knot or a link can be obtained by taking the commutative quotient group which can be computed by Wirtinger presentation theorem. My questions are following




  1. I have shown that for a knot, the first homology group is the infinitely cyclic group, is this also true for a link?

  2. When I consider the higher homology groups, I tried to calculate them by M-V sequence, but it seems not work, so I wonder if there are some ways to compute them.


Thanks advanced!










share|cite|improve this question















I know that $H_1$ of the complement of a knot or a link can be obtained by taking the commutative quotient group which can be computed by Wirtinger presentation theorem. My questions are following




  1. I have shown that for a knot, the first homology group is the infinitely cyclic group, is this also true for a link?

  2. When I consider the higher homology groups, I tried to calculate them by M-V sequence, but it seems not work, so I wonder if there are some ways to compute them.


Thanks advanced!







algebraic-topology homology-cohomology






share|cite|improve this question















share|cite|improve this question













share|cite|improve this question




share|cite|improve this question








edited Nov 27 '18 at 1:09









Kyle Miller

8,452928




8,452928










asked Jun 20 '18 at 5:11









user365833

1097




1097








  • 1




    The usual way (for knots) is to use the sphere theorem. I think this is probably in any beginning knot theory book (and I want to say it's almost certainly in the book by Lickorish). Essentially, the higher homology for a knot is trivial.
    – Steve D
    Jun 20 '18 at 5:55










  • I guess you could also use Alexander duality to get $H_1$ and $H_2$.
    – Steve D
    Jun 20 '18 at 5:58












  • @SteveD so is it true that H_i(R3-K) is zero if i ≥2 ? sorry i haven't studied cohomology...
    – user365833
    Jun 20 '18 at 7:10










  • Yes that's true. Here's maybe the easiest way to see it. You have a knot in $S^3$. If you assume the knot contains the point at infinity, then you complement is $mathbb{R^3}$ minus a squiggly line. Now take $U$ to be a nbhd of that line, $V$ to be the complement of that line. Then $Ucup V=mathbb{R^3}$ is contractible, and so is $U$. So by M-V, the homology of $V$ (your complement) is the same as $Ucap V$, which is an infinite cylinder, homotopic to a circle. So your complement has the homology of a circle.
    – Steve D
    Jun 20 '18 at 15:31














  • 1




    The usual way (for knots) is to use the sphere theorem. I think this is probably in any beginning knot theory book (and I want to say it's almost certainly in the book by Lickorish). Essentially, the higher homology for a knot is trivial.
    – Steve D
    Jun 20 '18 at 5:55










  • I guess you could also use Alexander duality to get $H_1$ and $H_2$.
    – Steve D
    Jun 20 '18 at 5:58












  • @SteveD so is it true that H_i(R3-K) is zero if i ≥2 ? sorry i haven't studied cohomology...
    – user365833
    Jun 20 '18 at 7:10










  • Yes that's true. Here's maybe the easiest way to see it. You have a knot in $S^3$. If you assume the knot contains the point at infinity, then you complement is $mathbb{R^3}$ minus a squiggly line. Now take $U$ to be a nbhd of that line, $V$ to be the complement of that line. Then $Ucup V=mathbb{R^3}$ is contractible, and so is $U$. So by M-V, the homology of $V$ (your complement) is the same as $Ucap V$, which is an infinite cylinder, homotopic to a circle. So your complement has the homology of a circle.
    – Steve D
    Jun 20 '18 at 15:31








1




1




The usual way (for knots) is to use the sphere theorem. I think this is probably in any beginning knot theory book (and I want to say it's almost certainly in the book by Lickorish). Essentially, the higher homology for a knot is trivial.
– Steve D
Jun 20 '18 at 5:55




The usual way (for knots) is to use the sphere theorem. I think this is probably in any beginning knot theory book (and I want to say it's almost certainly in the book by Lickorish). Essentially, the higher homology for a knot is trivial.
– Steve D
Jun 20 '18 at 5:55












I guess you could also use Alexander duality to get $H_1$ and $H_2$.
– Steve D
Jun 20 '18 at 5:58






I guess you could also use Alexander duality to get $H_1$ and $H_2$.
– Steve D
Jun 20 '18 at 5:58














@SteveD so is it true that H_i(R3-K) is zero if i ≥2 ? sorry i haven't studied cohomology...
– user365833
Jun 20 '18 at 7:10




@SteveD so is it true that H_i(R3-K) is zero if i ≥2 ? sorry i haven't studied cohomology...
– user365833
Jun 20 '18 at 7:10












Yes that's true. Here's maybe the easiest way to see it. You have a knot in $S^3$. If you assume the knot contains the point at infinity, then you complement is $mathbb{R^3}$ minus a squiggly line. Now take $U$ to be a nbhd of that line, $V$ to be the complement of that line. Then $Ucup V=mathbb{R^3}$ is contractible, and so is $U$. So by M-V, the homology of $V$ (your complement) is the same as $Ucap V$, which is an infinite cylinder, homotopic to a circle. So your complement has the homology of a circle.
– Steve D
Jun 20 '18 at 15:31




Yes that's true. Here's maybe the easiest way to see it. You have a knot in $S^3$. If you assume the knot contains the point at infinity, then you complement is $mathbb{R^3}$ minus a squiggly line. Now take $U$ to be a nbhd of that line, $V$ to be the complement of that line. Then $Ucup V=mathbb{R^3}$ is contractible, and so is $U$. So by M-V, the homology of $V$ (your complement) is the same as $Ucap V$, which is an infinite cylinder, homotopic to a circle. So your complement has the homology of a circle.
– Steve D
Jun 20 '18 at 15:31










1 Answer
1






active

oldest

votes


















4














Alexander Duality is you friend here. It relates the homology of the complement with the cohomology of the link itself, which is just a disjoint union of circles. In particular, $H_1$ has one $mathbb Z$ for every link component. $H_2$ has one fewer copy of $mathbb Z$, essentially because you need to use reduced homology in the statement of the Alexander Duality isomorphism.



MV should provide an alternate proof of this, if you take $mathbb R^3=Ucup V$ with $U$ being a tubular neighborhood of the link, and $V$ being the link complement.






share|cite|improve this answer





















  • thx for your answer, but i still have some problems when using M-V sequebce, if we take u,v as you said, then homology of u may be computed seeing it as some torus (is this right?), but how to compute the homology of the intersection of U and V?(maybe i should use cutting lemma?)
    – user365833
    Jun 20 '18 at 6:31






  • 1




    $U$ is homotopy equivalent to a circle. The intersection is homotopy equivalent to a 2D torus.
    – Cheerful Parsnip
    Jun 20 '18 at 14:18











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1 Answer
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1 Answer
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active

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4














Alexander Duality is you friend here. It relates the homology of the complement with the cohomology of the link itself, which is just a disjoint union of circles. In particular, $H_1$ has one $mathbb Z$ for every link component. $H_2$ has one fewer copy of $mathbb Z$, essentially because you need to use reduced homology in the statement of the Alexander Duality isomorphism.



MV should provide an alternate proof of this, if you take $mathbb R^3=Ucup V$ with $U$ being a tubular neighborhood of the link, and $V$ being the link complement.






share|cite|improve this answer





















  • thx for your answer, but i still have some problems when using M-V sequebce, if we take u,v as you said, then homology of u may be computed seeing it as some torus (is this right?), but how to compute the homology of the intersection of U and V?(maybe i should use cutting lemma?)
    – user365833
    Jun 20 '18 at 6:31






  • 1




    $U$ is homotopy equivalent to a circle. The intersection is homotopy equivalent to a 2D torus.
    – Cheerful Parsnip
    Jun 20 '18 at 14:18
















4














Alexander Duality is you friend here. It relates the homology of the complement with the cohomology of the link itself, which is just a disjoint union of circles. In particular, $H_1$ has one $mathbb Z$ for every link component. $H_2$ has one fewer copy of $mathbb Z$, essentially because you need to use reduced homology in the statement of the Alexander Duality isomorphism.



MV should provide an alternate proof of this, if you take $mathbb R^3=Ucup V$ with $U$ being a tubular neighborhood of the link, and $V$ being the link complement.






share|cite|improve this answer





















  • thx for your answer, but i still have some problems when using M-V sequebce, if we take u,v as you said, then homology of u may be computed seeing it as some torus (is this right?), but how to compute the homology of the intersection of U and V?(maybe i should use cutting lemma?)
    – user365833
    Jun 20 '18 at 6:31






  • 1




    $U$ is homotopy equivalent to a circle. The intersection is homotopy equivalent to a 2D torus.
    – Cheerful Parsnip
    Jun 20 '18 at 14:18














4












4








4






Alexander Duality is you friend here. It relates the homology of the complement with the cohomology of the link itself, which is just a disjoint union of circles. In particular, $H_1$ has one $mathbb Z$ for every link component. $H_2$ has one fewer copy of $mathbb Z$, essentially because you need to use reduced homology in the statement of the Alexander Duality isomorphism.



MV should provide an alternate proof of this, if you take $mathbb R^3=Ucup V$ with $U$ being a tubular neighborhood of the link, and $V$ being the link complement.






share|cite|improve this answer












Alexander Duality is you friend here. It relates the homology of the complement with the cohomology of the link itself, which is just a disjoint union of circles. In particular, $H_1$ has one $mathbb Z$ for every link component. $H_2$ has one fewer copy of $mathbb Z$, essentially because you need to use reduced homology in the statement of the Alexander Duality isomorphism.



MV should provide an alternate proof of this, if you take $mathbb R^3=Ucup V$ with $U$ being a tubular neighborhood of the link, and $V$ being the link complement.







share|cite|improve this answer












share|cite|improve this answer



share|cite|improve this answer










answered Jun 20 '18 at 5:53









Cheerful Parsnip

20.9k23396




20.9k23396












  • thx for your answer, but i still have some problems when using M-V sequebce, if we take u,v as you said, then homology of u may be computed seeing it as some torus (is this right?), but how to compute the homology of the intersection of U and V?(maybe i should use cutting lemma?)
    – user365833
    Jun 20 '18 at 6:31






  • 1




    $U$ is homotopy equivalent to a circle. The intersection is homotopy equivalent to a 2D torus.
    – Cheerful Parsnip
    Jun 20 '18 at 14:18


















  • thx for your answer, but i still have some problems when using M-V sequebce, if we take u,v as you said, then homology of u may be computed seeing it as some torus (is this right?), but how to compute the homology of the intersection of U and V?(maybe i should use cutting lemma?)
    – user365833
    Jun 20 '18 at 6:31






  • 1




    $U$ is homotopy equivalent to a circle. The intersection is homotopy equivalent to a 2D torus.
    – Cheerful Parsnip
    Jun 20 '18 at 14:18
















thx for your answer, but i still have some problems when using M-V sequebce, if we take u,v as you said, then homology of u may be computed seeing it as some torus (is this right?), but how to compute the homology of the intersection of U and V?(maybe i should use cutting lemma?)
– user365833
Jun 20 '18 at 6:31




thx for your answer, but i still have some problems when using M-V sequebce, if we take u,v as you said, then homology of u may be computed seeing it as some torus (is this right?), but how to compute the homology of the intersection of U and V?(maybe i should use cutting lemma?)
– user365833
Jun 20 '18 at 6:31




1




1




$U$ is homotopy equivalent to a circle. The intersection is homotopy equivalent to a 2D torus.
– Cheerful Parsnip
Jun 20 '18 at 14:18




$U$ is homotopy equivalent to a circle. The intersection is homotopy equivalent to a 2D torus.
– Cheerful Parsnip
Jun 20 '18 at 14:18


















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