On character varieties, sets of discrete characters, and nonzero degree maps
On character varieties, sets of discrete characters, and nonzero degree maps
A {\it knot manifold} is a compact, connected, irreducible, orientable $3$-manifold whose boundary is an incompressible torus. We first investigate virtual epimorphisms between the fundamental groups of small knot manifolds and prove minimality results for small knot manifolds with respect to nonzero degree maps. These results are applied later in …