We define a polynomial invariant $J_n^T$ of links in the thickened torus. We call $J^T_n$ the $n$th toroidal colored Jones polynomial, and show it satisfies many properties of the original colored Jones polynomial. Most significantly, $J_n^T$ exhibits volume conjecture behavior. We prove the volume conjecture for the 2-by-2 square weave, and provide computational evidence for other links. We also give two equivalent constructions of $J_n^T$, one as a generalized operator invariant we call a pseudo-operator invariant, and another using the Kauffman bracket skein module of the torus. Finally, we show $J^T_n$ produces invariants of biperiodic and virtual links. To our knowledge, $J^T_n$ gives the first example of volume conjecture behavior in a virtual (non-classical) link.
We propose to generalize the volume conjecture to knotted trivalent graphs and we prove the conjecture for all augmented knotted trivalent graphs. As a corollary we find that for any link L there is a link containing L for which the volume conjecture holds.
The slope conjecture gives a precise relation between the degree of the colored Jones polynomial of a knot and the boundary slopes of essential surfaces in the knot complement. In this note we propose a generalization of the slope conjecture to links. We prove the conjecture for all alternating and more generally adequate links. We also verify the conjecture for torus links.
In this article, we give a rough, and so not complete yet, proof of Kashaev's conjecture, that is, the volume conjecture for hyperbolic knots, where the hyperbolicity equations associated to knot diagrams appear as the stationary phase equations for Kashaev's invariants.
We establish the volume conjecture for (m,2)-cables of the figure 8 knot, when m is odd. For (m,2)-cables of general knots where m is even, we show that the limit in the volume conjecture depends on the parity of the color (of the Kashaev invariant). There are many cases when the volume conjecture for cables of the figure 8 knot is false if one considers all the colors, but holds true if one restricts the colors to a subset of the set of positive integers.
This is a survey of our work on Quantum Hyperbolic Invariants (QHI) of 3-manifolds. We explain how the theory of scissors congruence classes is a powerful geometric framework for QHI and for a `Volume Conjecture' to make sense.
We compute the asymptotical growth rate of a large family of $U_q(sl_2)$ $6j$-symbols and we interpret our results in geometric terms by relating them to volumes of hyperbolic truncated tetrahedra. We address a question which is strictly related with S.Gukov's generalized volume conjecture and deals with the case of hyperbolic links in connected sums of $S^2\times S^1$. We answer this question for the infinite family of fundamental shadow links.
Loosely speaking, the Volume Conjecture states that the limit of the n-th colored Jones polynomial of a hyperbolic knot, evaluated at the primitive complex n-th root of unity is a sequence of complex numbers that grows exponentially. Moreover, the exponential growth rate is proportional to the hyperbolic volume of the knot. We provide an efficient formula for the colored Jones function of the simplest hyperbolic non-2-bridge knot, and using this formula, we provide numerical evidence for the Hyperbolic Volume Conjecture for the simplest hyperbolic non-2-bridge knot.
We prove the volume conjecture for an infinite family of links called Whitehead chains that generalizes both the Whitehead link and the Borromean rings.
We use purely topological tools to construct several infinite families of hyperbolic links in the 3-sphere that satisfy the Turaev-Viro invariant volume conjecture posed by Chen and Yang. To show that our links satisfy the volume conjecture, we prove that each has complement homeomorphic to the complement of a fundamental shadow link. These are links in connected sums of copies of $S^2 \times S^1$ for which the conjecture is known due to Belletti, Detcherry, Kalfagianni, and Yang. Our methods also verify the conjecture for several hyperbolic links with crossing number less than twelve. In addi…
Given a knot in 3-space, one can associate a sequence of Laurrent polynomials, whose $n$th term is the $n$th colored Jones polynomial. The Generalized Volume Conjecture states that the value of the $n$-th colored Jones polynomial at $\exp(2 πi \a/n)$ is a sequence of complex numbers that grows exponentially, for a fixed real angle $\a$. Moreover the exponential growth rate of this sequence is proportional to the volume of the 3-manifold obtained by $(1/\a,0)$ Dehn filling. In this paper we will prove that (a) for every knot, the limsup in the hyperbolic volume conjecture is finite and bounded …
We study the Chern-Simons partition function of orthogonal quantum group invariants, and propose a new orthogonal Labastida-Mariño-Ooguri-Vafa conjecture as well as degree conjecture for free energy associated to the orthogonal Chern-Simons partition function. We prove the degree conjecture and some interesting cases of orthogonal LMOV conjecture. In particular, We provide a formula of colored Kauffman polynomials for torus knots and links, and applied this formula to verify certain case of the conjecture at roots of unity except $1$. We also derive formulas of Lickorish-Millett type for Kauff…
We show that the Volume Conjecture for polyhedra implies a weak version of the Stoker Conjecture; in turn we prove that this weak version of the Stoker conjecture implies the Stoker conjecture. The main tool used is an extension of a result of Montcouquiol and Weiss, saying that dihedral angles are local coordinates for compact polyhedra with angles $\leq π$.
We consider hyperbolic links that admit alternating projections on surfaces in compact, irreducible 3-manifolds. We show that, under some mild hypotheses, the volume of the complement of such a link is bounded below in terms of a Kauffman bracket function defined on link diagrams on the surface. In the case that the 3-manifold is a thickened surface, this Kauffman bracket function leads to a Jones-type polynomial that is an isotopy invariant of links. We show that coefficients of this polynomial provide 2-sided linear bounds on the volume of hyperbolic alternating links in the thickened surfac…
The volume conjecture states that for a hyperbolic knot K in the three-sphere S^3 the asymptotic growth of the colored Jones polynomial of K is governed by the hyperbolic volume of the knot complement S^3\K. The conjecture relates two topological invariants, one combinatorial and one geometric, in a very nonobvious, nontrivial manner. The goal of the present lectures is to review the original statement of the volume conjecture and its recent extensions and generalizations, and to show how, in the most general context, the conjecture can be understood in terms of topological quantum field theor…
For families of knots and links given in Conway notation we compute lower maximal and upper minimal bound of hyperbolic volume by using source links and augmented links.
In this report I discuss the relations between systoles and volumes of hyperbolic manifolds and a conjecture of Lehmer about the Mahler measure of non-cyclotomic polynomials.
The hyperbolic volume of a link complement is known to be unchanged when a half-twist is added to a link diagram, and a suitable 3-punctured sphere is present in the complement. We generalize this to the simplicial volume of link complements by analyzing the corresponding toroidal decompositions. We then use it to prove a refined upper bound for the volume in terms of twists of various lengths for links.
Using Ohtsuki's method, we prove the Asymptotic Expansion Conjecture and the Volume Conjecture of the Reshetikhin-Turaev and the Turev-Viro invariants for all hyperbolic $3$-manifolds obtained by doing a Dehn-surgery along the figure-$8$ knot.
This is an introduction to the Volume Conjecture and its generalizations for nonexperts. The Volume Conjecture states that a certain limit of the colored Jones polynomial of a knot would give the volume of its complement. If we deform the parameter of the colored Jones polynomial we also conjecture that it would also give the volume and the Chern-Simons invariant of a three-manifold obtained by Dehn surgery determined by the parameter. I start with a definition of the colored Jones polynomial and include elementary examples and short description of elementary hyperbolic geometry.
In arxiv:1205.1274 Rieck and Yamashita defined the link volume of 3-manifolds and studied some of its basic properties. Many of these properties are similar to the corresponding properties of the hyperbolic volume. In this paper we calculate the link volume of an infinite family of prism manifolds. As a corollary, we show that (in contrast to the hyperbolic volume) the link volume is not finite-to-one.
Using the recently proposed differential hierarchy (Z-expansion) technique, we obtain a general expression for the HOMFLY polynomials in two arbitrary symmetric representations of link families, including Whitehead and Borromean links. Among other things, this allows us to check and confirm the recent conjecture of arXiv:1304.5778 that the large representation limit (the same as considered in the knot volume conjecture) of this quantity matches the prediction from mirror symmetry consideration. We also provide, using the evolution method, the HOMFLY polynomial in two arbitrary symmetric repres…
The $\textit{volume density}$ of a hyperbolic link $K$ is defined to be the ratio of the hyperbolic volume of $K$ to the crossing number of $K$. We show that there are sequences of non-alternating links with volume density approaching $v_8$, where $v_8$ is the volume of the ideal hyperbolic octahedron. We show that the set of volume densities is dense in $[0,v_8]$. The $\textit{determinant density}$ of a link $K$ is $[2 π\log \det(K)]/c(K)$. We prove that the closure of the set of determinant densities contains the set $[0, v_8]$.
Based on recent work by Futer, Kalfagianni and Purcell, we prove that the volume of sufficiently complicated positive braid links is proportional to the signature defect $Δσ=2g-σ$.
It is known that alternative links are pseudoalternating. In 1983 Louis Kauffman conjectured that both classes are identical. In this paper we prove that Kauffman Conjecture holds for those links whose first Betti number is at most 2. However, it is not true in general when this value increases, as we also prove by finding two counterexamples: a link and a knot whose first Betti numbers equal 3 and 4, respectively.
A technique to calculate the colored Jones polynomials of satellite knots, illustrated by the Whitehead doubles of knots, is presented. Then we prove the volume conjecture for Whitehead doubles of a family of torus knots and show some interesting observations.
We obtain bounds on hyperbolic volume for periodic links and Conway sums of alternating tangles. For links that are Conway sums we also bound the hyperbolic volume in terms of the coefficients of the Jones polynomial.
We propose a version of the volume conjecture that would relate a certain limit of the colored Jones polynomials of a knot to the volume function defined by a representation of the fundamental group of the knot complement to the special linear group of degree two over complex numbers. We also confirm the conjecture for the figure-eight knot and torus knots. This version is different from S. Gukov's because of a choice of polarization.
The volume density of a hyperbolic link is defined as the ratio of hyperbolic volume to crossing number. We study its properties and a closely-related invariant called the determinant density. It is known that the sets of volume densities and determinant densities of links are dense in the interval [0,v_{oct}]. We construct sequences of alternating knots whose volume and determinant densities both converge to any x in [0,v_{oct}]. We also investigate the distributions of volume and determinant densities for hyperbolic rational links, and establish upper bounds and density results for these inv…
We calculate the volume of the $7_3^2$ link cone-manifolds using the Schläfli formula. As an application, we give the volume of the cyclic coverings over the link.
Augmented alternating links are links obtained by adding trivial components that bound twice-punctured disks to non-split reduced non-2-braid prime alternating projections. These links are known to be hyperbolic. Here, we extend to show that generalized augmented alternating links, which allow for new trivial components that bound n-punctured disks, are also hyperbolic. As an application we consider generalized belted sums of links and compute their volumes.
We first study superpolynomial associated to triply-graded reduced colored HOMFLY-PT homology. We propose conjectures of congruent relations and cyclotomic expansion for it. We prove conjecture of $N=1$ for torus knot case, through which we obtain the corresponding invariant $α(T(m,n))=-(m-1)(n-1)/2$. This is closely related to the Milnor conjecture. Many examples including homologically thick knots and higher representations are also tested. Based on these examples, we further propose a conjecture that invariant $α$ determined in cyclotomic expansion at $N=1$ is a lower bound for smooth 4-bal…
We extend the definition of the colored Jones polynomials to framed links and trivalent graphs in S^3 # k S^2 X S^1 using a state-sum formulation based on Turaev's shadows. Then, we prove that the natural extension of the Volume Conjecture is true for an infinite family of hyperbolic links.
In this note, I will discuss a possible relation between the Mahler measure of the colored Jones polynomial and the volume conjecture. In particular, I will study the colored Jones polynomial of the figure-eight knot on the unit circle. I will also propose a method to prove the volume conjecture for satellites of the figure-eight knot.
We realize a given (monic) Alexander polynomial by a (fibered) hyperbolic arborescent knot and link of any number of components, and by infinitely many such links of at least 4 components. As a consequence, a Mahler measure minimizing polynomial, if it exists, is realized as the Alexander polynomial of a fibered hyperbolic link of at least 2 components. For given polynomial, we give also an upper bound on the minimal hyperbolic volume of knots/links, and contrarily, construct knots of arbitrarily large volume, which are arborescent, or have given free genus at least 2.
This paper proves lower bounds on the volume of a hyperbolic 3-orbifold whose singular locus is a link. We identify the unique smallest volume orbifold whose singular locus is a knot or link in the 3-sphere, or more generally in a Z_6 homology sphere. We also prove more general lower bounds under mild homological hypotheses.
Twisted torus knots and links are given by twisting adjacent strands of a torus link. They are geometrically simple and contain many examples of the smallest volume hyperbolic knots. Many are also Lorenz links. We study the geometry of twisted torus links and related generalizations. We determine upper bounds on their hyperbolic volumes that depend only on the number of strands being twisted. We exhibit a family of twisted torus knots for which this upper bound is sharp, and another family with volumes approaching infinity. Consequently, we show there exist twisted torus knots with arbitrarily…
We establish the second part of Milnor's conjecture on the volume of simplexes in hyperbolic and spherical spaces. A characterization of the closure of the space of the angle Gram matrices of simplexes is also obtained.
We view closed orientable 3-manifolds as covers of S^3 branched over hyperbolic links. For a p-fold cover M \to S^3, branched over a hyperbolic link L, we assign the complexity p Vol(S^3 minus L) (where Vol is the hyperbolic volume). We define an invariant of 3-manifolds, called the link volume and denoted LV, that assigns to a 3-manifold M the infimum of the complexities of all possible covers M \to S^3, where the only constraint is that the branch set is a hyperbolic link. Thus the link volume measures how efficiently M can be represented as a cover of S^3. We study the basic properties of t…
The generalized volume conjecture relates asymptotic behavior of the colored Jones polynomials to objects naturally defined on an algebraic curve, the zero locus of the A-polynomial $A(x,y)$. Another "family version" of the volume conjecture depends on a quantization parameter, usually denoted $q$ or $\hbar$; this quantum volume conjecture (also known as the AJ-conjecture) can be stated in a form of a q-difference equation that annihilates the colored Jones polynomials and $SL(2,\C)$ Chern-Simons partition functions. We propose refinements / categorifications of both conjectures that include a…
R.M. Kashaev conjectured that the asymptotic behavior of his link invariant, which equals the colored Jones polynomial evaluated at a root of unity, determines the hyperbolic volume of any hyperbolic link complement. We observe numerically that for knots $6_3$, $8_9$ and $8_{20}$ and for the Whitehead link, the colored Jones polynomials are related to the hyperbolic volumes and the Chern-Simons invariants and propose a complexification of Kashaev's conjecture.
We give a refined upper bound for the hyperbolic volume of an alternating link in terms of the first three and the last three coefficients of its colored Jones polynomial.
In this paper we give an introduction to the volume conjecture and its generalizations. Especially we discuss relations of the asymptotic behaviors of the colored Jones polynomials of a knot with different parameters to representations of the fundamental group of the knot complement at the special linear group over complex numbers by taking the figure-eight knot and torus knots as examples.
We show that for a large class of hyperbolic knots and links, we can determine bounds on the volume of the link complement from combinatorial information given by a link diagram. Specifically, there is a universal constant C such that if a knot or link admits a prime, twist reduced diagram with at least 2 twist regions and at least C crossings per twist region, then the link complement is hyperbolic with volume bounded below by 3.3515 times the number of twist regions in the diagram. C is at most 113.
We show that the volume of any Montesinos link can be bounded above and below in terms of the combinatorics of its diagram. This was known for Montesinos links with at most two tangles, and those with at least five tangles. We complete the result for the remaining cases.
We study the concept of the fourth skein module of 3-manifolds, that is a skein module based on the skein relation b_0L_0 + b_1L_1 + b_2L_2 + b_3L_3 = 0 and a framing relation L^{(1)} = aL, where a, b_0, b_3 are invertible. We introdule the concept of n-algebraic tangles (and links) and analyze the skein module for 3-algebraic links. As a byproduct we prove the Montesinos-Nakanishi 3-move conjecture for 3-algebraic links (including 3-bridge links).
In this paper, we study the generalized volume conjecture for the colored Jones polynomials of links with complements containing more than one hyperbolic piece. First of all, we construct an infinite family of prime links by considering the cabling on the figure eight knot by the Whitehead chains. The complement of these links consist of two hyperbolic pieces in their JSJ decompositions. We show that at the $(N+\frac{1}{2})$-th root of unity, the exponential growth rates for the $\vec{N}$-th colored Jones polynomials for these links capture the simplicial volume of the link complements. As an …
We define a graph algebra version of the stationary phase integration over the coadjoint orbits in the Reshetikhin formula for the colored Jones-HOMFLY polynomial. As a result, we obtain a `universal' U(1)-RCC invariant of links in rational homology spheres, which determines the U(1)-RCC invariants based on simple Lie algebras. We formulate a rationality conjecture about the structure of this invariant.
