Polynomial splittings of Ozsvath and Szabo's d-invariant

Abstract

For any rational homology 3-sphere and one of its spin^{c}-structures, Ozsvath and Szabo defined a topological invariant, called d-invariant. Given a knot in the 3-sphere, the d-invariants associated with the prime-power-fold branched covers of the knot, obstruct the smooth sliceness of the knot. These invariants bear some structural resemblances to Casson-Gordon invariants, which obstruct the topological sliceness of a knot. Se-Goo Kim found a polynomial splitting property for Casson-Gordon invariants. In this paper, we show a similar result for Ozsvath and Szabo's d-invariants. We give an application of the result.

12 pages, 1 figure. This paper was published one year ago