Tamunonye Cheetham-West (Yale University)
Event Date
2026-04-08
Event Time
03:30 pm ~ 04:30 pm
Event Location
Wachman Hall, room 407
Abstract: A time-tested strategy for distinguishing links in the three-sphere up to isotopy and mirroring is to study epimorphisms from the fundamental groups of their exteriors to finite groups. In joint work with Xiaoyu Xu, we show that every two-bridge link and 3-tangle Montesinos link is distinguished from every other compact 3-manifold by the set of finite quotients of the fundamental groups of their exteriors. We will present key examples and motivate a powerful tool from earlier work of Xu that organizes and recovers the finite quotients of (fundamental groups of) Dehn surgeries on a fixed link.