Knot Floer homology in cyclic branched covers

Abstract

In this paper, we introduce a sequence of invariants of a knot K in S 3: the knot Floer homology groups of the preimage of K in the m-fold cyclic branched cover over K. We exhibit the knot Floer homology in the m-fold branched cover as the categorification of a multiple of the Turaev torsion in the case where the m-fold branched cover is a rational homology sphere. In addition, when K is a 2-bridge knot, we prove that the knot Floer homology of the lifted knot in a particular Spin c structure in the branched double cover matches the knot Floer homology of the original knot K in S 3. We conclude with a calculation involving two knots with identical knot Floer homology in S 3 for which the knot Floer homology groups in the double branched cover differ as Z2-graded groups.