The Alexander polynomial of a configuration of skew lines in 3-space (Q1127910)

In a previous article [J. Knot Theory Ramifications 4, No. 2, 235-262 (1995; Zbl 0835.57006)] we observed that the multi-variable Alexander polynomial can be computed by means of ``multi-variable Burau matrices'', the entries of which can be visualized by a ``path model''. In this article we introduce the Alexander polynomial for line configurations. The correspondence between ``adjacency of lines'' in a configuration, and the factorization of its Alexander polynomial can be well understood by way of the path model.