Algebraic Invariants of Links (Series on Knots and Everything)

This book is intended as a reference on links and on the invariants derived via algebraic topology from covering spaces of link exteriors. It emphasizes features of the multicomponent case not normally considered by knot theorists, such as longitudes, the homological complexity of many-variable Laurent polynomial rings, free coverings of homology boundary links, the fact that links are not usually boundary links, the lower central series as a source of invariants, nilpotent completion and algebraic closure of the link group, and disc links. Invariants of the types considered here play an essential role in many applications of knot theory to other areas of topology.