On the tau invariants in instanton and monopole Floer theories

Abstract

We unify two existing approaches to the tau invariants in instanton and monopole Floer theories, by identifying $\tau_{\mathrm{G}}$, defined by the second author via the minus flavors $\underline{\operatorname{KHI}}^-$ and $\underline{\operatorname{KHM}}^-$ of the knot homologies, with $\tau_{\mathrm{G}}^{\sharp}$, defined by Baldwin and Sivek via cobordism maps of the $3$-manifold homologies induced by knot surgeries. We exhibit several consequences, including a relationship with Heegaard Floer theory, and use our result to compute $\underline{\operatorname{KHI}}^-$ and $\underline{\operatorname{KHM}}^-$ for twist knots.