SL(2) Representations of Finitely Presented Groups (Contemporary Mathematics)

This book is essentially self-contained and requires only a basic abstract algebra course as background. The book includes and extends much of the classical theory of $SL(2)$ representations of groups. Readers will find $SL(2)$Representations of Finitely Presented Groups relevant to geometric theory of three dimensional manifolds, representations of infinite groups, and invariant theory. It features: a new finitely computable invariant $H[\pi]$ associated to groups and used to study the $SL(2)$ representations of $\pi$; and, invariant theory and knot theory related through $SL(2)$ representations of knot groups.