Turaev torsion and cohomology determinants for 3-manifolds with boundary

Abstract

We obtain generalizations of some results of Turaev relating leading order terms of the Turaev torsion of closed, oriented, connected 3-manifolds to certain ``determinants'' derived from cohomology operations such as the alternate trilinear form on the first cohomology group given by cup product. These determinants unfortunately do not generalize directly to compact, connected, oriented 3-manifolds with nonempty boundary, because one must incorporate the cohomology of the manifold relative to its boundary. We define the new determinants that will be needed, and show that with these determinants enjoy a similar relationship to the one given between torsion and the known determinants. These definitions and results are given for integral cohomology, cohomology with coefficients in Z/rZ for certain integers r, and for integral Massey products.