Alexander module of a connected sum

ID: alexander-module-of-a-connected-sum

Boundary-connected-summing Seifert surfaces gives a block-diagonal Seifert matrix, because basis curves in the separated summands have zero linking. The Seifert-matrix presentation of the Alexander module is block diagonal too. Thus the Alexander modules form a direct sum and their Alexander polynomials of a knot multiply up to a unit.

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