# The symplectic Floer homology of the figure eight knot

## 1. Introduction

In , we generalized the Casson-Lin invariant  to the symplectic theory point of view. Our symplectic Floer homology of knots serves a new invariant for knots, and its Euler characteristic is half of the signature of knots.

We showed that the symplectic Floer homology of the unknotted knot is trivial in . The natural question arises as whether there is a nontrivial knot with trivial symplectic Floer homology. We answer this question in this paper by computing the symplectic Floer homology of the figure eight knot.

Although we know that the signature of the figure eight knot $`4_1=\overline{\sigma _1\sigma _2^1\sigma _1\sigma _2^1}`$ is zero, the signature does not suffice to give the information of our finer invariant - the symplectic Floer homology. For the square knot, we computed in  that the symplectic Floer homology is nontrivial even though its signature is zero. Our main result is the following.

Theorem The symplectic Floer homology of the figure eight knot $`4_1=\overline{\sigma _1\sigma _2^1\sigma _1\sigma _2^1}`$ is

$$HF_i^{\text{sym}}(4_1)=CF_i^{\text{sym}}(4_1)=0,\text{for all }i𝐙_4.$$

To our knowledge, this is the first trivial symplectic Floer homology involving nontrivial information. It is still an open question about if there is a non-homotopy 3-sphere with trivial instanton Floer homology. We wish to build the relation between our symplectic Floer homology of knots  and the instanton Floer homology of homology 3-spheres  through the Dehn surgery technique. Using the calculation of the figure eight knot, we hope to find an example of non-homotopy 3-sphere with trivial instanton Floer homology.

## 2. The symplectic Floer homology

### 2.1. The symplectic Floer homology of braids

We briefly recall our definition of the Floer homology of braids in this subsection. See  for more details.

For any knot $`K=\overline{\beta }`$ with $`\beta B_n`$, the braid group, the space $`(S^2K)^{[i]}`$ can be identified with the space of $`2n`$ matrices $`X_1\mathrm{},X_n`$, $`Y_1,\mathrm{},Y_n`$ in $`SU(2)`$ satisfying

(1) 
$$\text{tr}(X_i)=\text{tr}(Y_i)=0,\text{for }i=1,\mathrm{},n,$$

(2) 
$$X_1X_2\mathrm{}X_n=Y_1Y_2\mathrm{}Y_n.$$

Note that $`\pi _1(S^2K)`$ is generated by $`m_{x_i},m_{y_i}(i=1,2,\mathrm{},n)`$ with one relation $`_{i=1}^nm_{x_i}=_{i=1}^nm_{y_i}`$. There is a unique reducible conjugacy class of representations $`s_K:\pi _1(S^3K)U(1)`$ such that

$$s_K([m_{x_i}])=s_K([m_{y_i}])=\left[\begin{array}{cc}i& 0\\ 0& i\end{array}\right].$$

Let $`^{}(S^2K)^{[i]}`$ be the subset of $`(S^2K)^{[i]}`$ consisting of irreducible representations. Then $`^{}(S^2K)^{[i]}`$ is a monotone symplectic manifold of dimension $`4n6`$ by Lemma 2.3 in . The symplectic manifold $`(M,\omega )`$ is called monotone if $`\pi _2(M)=0`$ or if there exists a nonnegative $`\alpha 0`$ such that $`I_\omega =\alpha I_{c_1}`$ on $`\pi _2(M)`$, where $`I_\omega (u)=_{S^2}u^{}(\omega )𝐑`$ and $`I_{c_1}(u)=_{S^2}u^{}(c_1)𝐙`$ for $`u\pi _2(M)`$. The braid $`\beta `$ induces a diffeomorphism $`\varphi _\beta :^{}(S^2K)^{[i]}^{}(S^2K)^{[i]}`$. The induced diffeomorphism $`\varphi _\beta `$ is symplectic, and the fixed point set of $`\varphi _\beta `$ is $`^{}(S^3K)^{[i]}`$ (see Lemma 2.4 in ).

Let $`H:^{}(S^2K)^{[i]}\times 𝐑𝐑`$ be a $`C^{\mathrm{}}`$ time-dependent Hamiltonian function with $`H(x,s)=H(\varphi _\beta (x),s+1)`$. Let $`X_s`$ be the corresponding vector field from $`\omega (X_s,)=dH_s(,s)`$, and $`\psi _s`$ be the corresponding flow

$$\frac{d\psi _s}{ds}=X_s\psi _s,\psi _0=id.$$

Then we have $`\psi _{s+1}\varphi _\beta ^H=\varphi _\beta \psi _s`$, where $`\varphi _\beta ^H=\psi _1^1\varphi _\beta `$. Let $`\mathrm{\Omega }_{\varphi _\beta }`$ be the space of smooth paths $`\alpha `$ in $`^{}(S^2K)^{[i]}`$ such that $`\alpha (s+1)=\varphi _\beta (\alpha (s))`$. The symplectic action $`a_H:\mathrm{\Omega }_{\varphi _\beta }𝐑/2\alpha N𝐙`$ is given by

$$da_H(\gamma )\xi =_0^1\omega (\dot{\gamma }X_s(\gamma ),\xi )𝑑s.$$

So the critical points of $`a_H`$ are the fixed points of $`\varphi _\beta ^H`$. For $`x\text{Fix}(\varphi _\beta ^H)`$, define $`\mu (x)=\mu _u(x,s)(mod2N)`$, where $`\mu _u`$ is the Maslov index and $`N=N(K)`$ is the minimal value of the first Chern number of the tangent bundle of $`^{}(S^2K)^{[i]}`$. The integer $`N(K)`$ is a knot invariant.

Thus we have a $`𝐙_{2N}`$-graded symplectic Floer chain complex:

$$CF_i^{\text{sym}}=\{x\text{Fix}(\varphi _\beta )^{}(S^2K)^{[i]}:\mu (x)=i\},i𝐙_{2N}.$$

The following is Proposition 4.1 and Theorem 4.2 of .

###### Theorem 2.1.

For a knot $`K=\overline{\beta }`$ with the property that $`\pi _2(^{}(S^2K)^{[i]})=0`$ or $`\alpha N(K)=0`$, there is a well-defined $`𝐙`$-graded symplectic Floer homology $`HF_{}^{\text{sym}}(\varphi _\beta )`$. The symplectic Floer homology $`\{HF_i^{\text{sym}}(\varphi _\beta )\}_{i𝐙_{2N}}`$ is a knot invariant and its Euler number is half of the signature of the knot (see ).

### 2.2. The symplectic Floer homology of the figure eight knots

The figure eight knot $`4_1`$ has the braid representative $`\sigma _1\sigma _2^1\sigma _1\sigma _2^1`$. The knot $`4_1`$ has signature zero since $`4_1`$ is equivalent (by an orientation preserving homeomorphism) to its mirror image $`\overline{4_1}`$. So the figure eight knot is amphicheiral. Also it is well-known that the figure eight knot is not a slice knot, and represents an element of order 2 in the knot cobordism group (see ).

We calculate the symplectic Floer homology of the figure eight knot by identifying the fixed points of the induced symplectic diffeomorphism in §2.1.

Let $`^{}(S^24_1)^{[i]}`$ be the subset of $`(S^24_1)^{[i]}`$ consisting of irreducible representations. Then $`^{}(S^24_1)^{[i]}`$ can be also identified with $`(H_3S_3)/SU(2)`$ in Lin’s notation , i.e., the set of 6-tuple $`(X_1,X_2,X_3,Y_1,Y_2,Y_3)SU(2)^6`$ satisfying $`\text{tr}(X_j)=\text{tr}(Y_j)=0(j=1,2,3)`$ and

$$X_1X_2X_3=Y_1Y_2Y_3.$$

By operating the conjugation on $`X_3`$ and $`Y_3`$, we may assume that

$$X_3=\left(\begin{array}{cc}i& 0\\ 0& i\end{array}\right),Y_3=\left(\begin{array}{cc}i\mathrm{cos}\theta & \mathrm{sin}\theta \\ \mathrm{sin}\theta & i\mathrm{cos}\theta \end{array}\right),0\theta \pi .$$

If $`\theta =0`$ and $`\pi `$, then we get two copies of $`(H_2S_2)/SU(2)`$ which is the pillow case (a 2-sphere with four cone points deleted ). For $`0<\theta <\pi `$, the identification reduces down to the following

$$X_1X_2\left(\begin{array}{cc}\mathrm{cos}\theta & i\mathrm{sin}\theta \\ i\mathrm{sin}\theta & \mathrm{cos}\theta \end{array}\right)=Y_1Y_2.$$

Let $`R_\theta `$ be the representations in $`^{}(S^24_1)^{[i]}`$ satisfying the above equation. So the space $`R_\theta `$ is the non-singular piece in $`^{}(S^2K)^{[i]}`$. For $`0<\theta ,\theta ^{^{}}<\pi `$, the space $`R_\theta `$ is diffeomorphic to the space $`R_\theta ^{^{}}`$. In particular, they are all diffeomorphic to $`R_{\pi /2}`$. In this case, we see that $`^{}(S^24_1)^{[i]}`$ is a generalized pillow case:

$$^{}(S^24_1)^{[i]}=\underset{0\theta \pi }{}R_\theta .$$

The fixed point set of $`\varphi _{4_1}`$ is $`^{}(S^34_1)^{[i]}`$ by Lemma 2.4 in . So we have, for $`\sigma =\sigma _1\sigma _2^1\sigma _1\sigma _2^1`$, $`\text{Fix}(\varphi _{4_1})=\{(X_1,X_2,X_3)SU(2)^3|\sigma (X_j)=X_j,j=1,2,3\}`$ up to conjugation. Let $`B_n`$ be the braid group of rank $`n`$ with the standard generators $`\sigma _1,\mathrm{},\sigma _{n1}`$, and $`F_n`$ be the free group of rank $`n`$ generated by $`x_1,\mathrm{},x_n`$. Then the automorphism of $`F_n`$ representing $`\sigma _k`$ is given by (still denote it by $`\sigma _k`$)

(3) $`\sigma _k:`$ $`x_kx_kx_{k+1}x_k^1`$   
$`x_{k+1}x_k`$   
$`x_lx_l,lk,k+1.`$   
By (3), we compute the followings.

$`\sigma _1\sigma _2^1\sigma _1\sigma _2^1(x_1)`$ $`=\sigma _1\sigma _2^1\sigma _1(x_1^1)=\sigma _1\sigma _2^1(x_1x_2^1x_1^1)`$   
$`=\sigma _1(x_1x_2x_3x_2^1x_1^1)`$   
$`=(x_1x_2x_1^1)x_1x_3x_1^1(x_1x_2x_1^1)^1`$   
$`=x_1x_2x_3x_2^1x_1^1.`$   
$`\sigma _1\sigma _2^1\sigma _1\sigma _2^1(x_2)`$ $`=\sigma _1\sigma _2^1\sigma _1(x_2x_3^1x_2^1)`$   
$`=\sigma _1\sigma _2^1(x_1x_3^1x_1^1)=\sigma _1(x_1^1x_2x_1)`$   
$`=x_1x_2^1x_1x_2x_1^1.`$   
$`\sigma _1\sigma _2^1\sigma _1\sigma _2^1(x_3)`$ $`=\sigma _1\sigma _2^1\sigma _1(x_2^1)=\sigma _1\sigma _2^1(x_1^1)`$   
$`=\sigma _1(x_1)=x_1x_2x_1^1.`$   
Therefore the fixed point set of $`\varphi _{4_1}`$ is the set of points $`(X_1,X_2,X_3)SU(2)^3`$ such that

$`\text{tr}(X_j)`$ $`=0,j=1,2,3,`$   
$`X_1X_2X_3X_2^1X_1^1`$ $`=X_1,`$   
$`X_1X_2^1X_1X_2X_1^1`$ $`=X_2,`$   
$`X_1X_2X_1^1`$ $`=X_3,`$   
up to conjugation. Up to conjugation, we can assume that

$$X_2=\left(\begin{array}{cc}i& 0\\ 0& i\end{array}\right),X_1=\left(\begin{array}{cc}i\mathrm{cos}\theta & \mathrm{sin}\theta \\ \mathrm{sin}\theta & i\mathrm{cos}\theta \end{array}\right),0\theta \pi .$$

From the last equation in the above, we obtain

$`X_1X_2X_1^1`$ $`=\left(\begin{array}{cc}i\mathrm{cos}\theta & \mathrm{sin}\theta \\ \mathrm{sin}\theta & i\mathrm{cos}\theta \end{array}\right)\left(\begin{array}{cc}i& 0\\ 0& i\end{array}\right)\left(\begin{array}{cc}i\mathrm{cos}\theta & \mathrm{sin}\theta \\ \mathrm{sin}\theta & i\mathrm{cos}\theta \end{array}\right)`$   
$`=\left(\begin{array}{cc}i\mathrm{cos}2\theta & \mathrm{sin}2\theta \\ \mathrm{sin}2\theta & i\mathrm{cos}2\theta \end{array}\right)=X_3.`$   
So the matrix $`X_3`$ is completely determined by the parameter $`\theta [0,\pi ]`$. This is, in fact, a key to complete the calculation. Now substituting $`X_3`$ into the relation $`\sigma _1\sigma _2^1\sigma _1\sigma _2^1(X_1)=X_1`$, we have

$`X_1X_2X_3^1X_2^1X_1^1`$ $`=\left(\begin{array}{cc}\mathrm{cos}\theta & i\mathrm{sin}\theta \\ i\mathrm{sin}\theta & \mathrm{cos}\theta \end{array}\right)\left(\begin{array}{cc}i\mathrm{cos}2\theta & \mathrm{sin}2\theta \\ \mathrm{sin}2\theta & i\mathrm{cos}2\theta \end{array}\right)\left(\begin{array}{cc}\mathrm{cos}\theta & i\mathrm{sin}\theta \\ i\mathrm{sin}\theta & \mathrm{cos}\theta \end{array}\right)`$   
$`=\left(\begin{array}{cc}i\mathrm{cos}4\theta & \mathrm{sin}4\theta \\ \mathrm{sin}4\theta & i\mathrm{cos}4\theta \end{array}\right)=X_1.`$   
This reduces to the equations

(4) 
$$\mathrm{cos}4\theta =\mathrm{cos}\theta ,\mathrm{sin}4\theta =\mathrm{sin}\theta .$$

Similarly, we compute

$$\sigma _1\sigma _2^1\sigma _1\sigma _2^1(X_2)=\left(\begin{array}{cc}i\mathrm{cos}3\theta & \mathrm{sin}3\theta \\ \mathrm{sin}3\theta & i\mathrm{cos}3\theta \end{array}\right)=X_2=\left(\begin{array}{cc}i& 0\\ 0& i\end{array}\right),$$

to get the equations

(5) 
$$\mathrm{cos}3\theta =1,\mathrm{sin}3\theta =0.$$

Thus the fixed point of $`\varphi _{4_1}`$ can be identified with

$$X_1=\left(\begin{array}{cc}i\mathrm{cos}\theta & \mathrm{sin}\theta \\ \mathrm{sin}\theta & i\mathrm{cos}\theta \end{array}\right),X_2=\left(\begin{array}{cc}i& 0\\ 0& i\end{array}\right),X_3=\left(\begin{array}{cc}i\mathrm{cos}2\theta & \mathrm{sin}2\theta \\ \mathrm{sin}2\theta & i\mathrm{cos}2\theta \end{array}\right),0\theta \pi ,$$

subject to equations (4) and (5). Using the equations (5) and the angle addition formulae for sine and cosine functions with $`4\theta =3\theta +\theta `$, (4) becomes

(6) 
$$\mathrm{sin}\theta =0,\mathrm{cos}\theta =0.$$

There is no solution for (6). Hence

(7) 
$$\text{Fix}(\varphi _{4_1})=\mathrm{}\text{(empty set)}.$$

###### Theorem 2.2.

The symplectic Floer homology of the figure eight knot $`4_1=\overline{\sigma _1\sigma _2^1\sigma _1\sigma _2^1}`$ is

$$HF_i^{\text{sym}}(4_1)=CF_i^{\text{sym}}(4_1)=0,\text{for all }i𝐙_{2N}.$$

Proof: Since the $`𝐙_{2N}`$-graded symplectic Floer chain complex $`CF_i^{\text{sym}}(4_1)`$ is generated by $`\text{Fix}(\varphi _{4_1})`$, the result follows from (7). ∎

### 2.3. The symplectic Floer homology of knots with braid representatives in $`B_3`$

It seems that the method in §2.2 can be adapted to knots with braid representatives in $`B_3`$. We are going to illustrate another example to show that the computation for the figure eight knot in §2.2 is quite lucky.

Let $`K=5_2`$ be the knot with 5-crossings. We have the braid representative $`\sigma _1^2\sigma _2^2\sigma _1^1\sigma _2`$ for the knot $`5_2`$ (see ). Thus the fixed points of $`\varphi _{5_2}`$ can be identified, by the same method in §2.2, with the set of points $`(X_1,X_2,X_3)SU(2)^3`$ such that

$`\text{tr}(X_j)`$ $`=0,j=1,2,3,`$   
$`X_1X_2X_3X_1X_2^1X_1^1X_3^1X_2^1X_1^1`$ $`=X_1,`$   
$`X_1X_2X_3^1X_1^2X_2^1X_1^1`$ $`=X_2,`$   
$`X_1X_2X_1^1X_2^1X_1^1`$ $`=X_3,`$   
up to conjugation. This follows a straightforward calculation of $`\sigma _1^2\sigma _2^2\sigma _1^1\sigma _2(x_j)(j=1,2,3)`$. Again we can compute $`X_3`$ from the last equation in the above.

$$X_1X_2X_1^1X_2^1X_1^1=\left(\begin{array}{cc}i\mathrm{cos}3\theta & \mathrm{sin}3\theta \\ \mathrm{sin}3\theta & i\mathrm{cos}3\theta \end{array}\right)=X_3.$$

Then $`\sigma _1^2\sigma _2^2\sigma _1^1\sigma _2(X_j)=X_j(j=1,2)`$ gives us

$`\sigma _1^2\sigma _2^2\sigma _1^1\sigma _2(X_1)`$ $`=\left(\begin{array}{cc}i\mathrm{cos}6\theta & \mathrm{sin}6\theta \\ \mathrm{sin}6\theta & i\mathrm{cos}6\theta \end{array}\right)=X_1`$   
$`\sigma _1^2\sigma _2^2\sigma _1^1\sigma _2(X_2)`$ $`=\left(\begin{array}{cc}i\mathrm{cos}5\theta & \mathrm{sin}5\theta \\ \mathrm{sin}5\theta & i\mathrm{cos}5\theta \end{array}\right)=X_2.`$   
Thus we need to solve the equations

(8) 
$$\mathrm{cos}6\theta =\mathrm{cos}\theta ,\mathrm{sin}6\theta =\mathrm{sin}\theta ,\mathrm{cos}5\theta =1,\mathrm{sin}5\theta =0.$$

There are three solutions of (8) with $`\theta =\frac{\pi }{5},\frac{3\pi }{5},\pi `$. Let $`\rho _j(j=1,2,3)`$ be the corresponding fixed points of $`\varphi _{5_2}`$ in $`^{}(S^25_2)^{[i]}`$.

By following the method in , for $`K=5_2`$, we have all type I double points so that the correction term $`\mu =0`$. Using the definition of Goeritz matrix in §1 of , we get the Goeritz matrix of $`5_2`$:

$$G(5_2)=\left(\begin{array}{ccc}4& 3& 1\\ 3& 4& 1\\ 1& 1& 2\end{array}\right).$$

By the theorem 6 of , we have

$$\text{Signature}(5_2)=\text{Signature}(G(5_2))\mu =2.$$

By Theorem 2.1, the Euler characteristic of the symplectic Floer homology of $`5_2`$ is one.

###### Proposition 2.3.

The symplectic Floer chain complex of $`5_2`$ is given by: one of the odd chain groups is generated by one of $`\rho _j(j=1,2,3)`$; even chain groups are generated by the rest two fixed points of $`\varphi _{5_2}`$.

It is nontrivial to determine the Maslov index of $`\rho _j`$ and the possible Floer boundary map in order to complete the calculation.