In an earlier paper the first author defined a non-commutative A-polynomial for knots in 3-space, using the colored Jones function. The idea is that the colored Jones function of a knot satisfies a non-trivial linear q-difference equation. Said differently, the colored Jones function of a knot is annihilated by a non-zero ideal of the Weyl algebra which is generalted (after localization) by the non-commutative A-polynomial of a knot.
In that paper, it was conjectured that this polynomial (which has to do with representations of the quantum group U_q(SL_2)) specializes at q=1 to the better known A-polynomial of a knot, which has to do with genuine SL_2(C) representations of the knot complement.
Computing the non-commutative A-polynomial of a knot is a difficult task which so far has been achieved for the two simplest knots. In the present paper, we introduce the C-polynomial of a knot, along with its non-commutative version, and give an explicit computation for all twist knots. In a forthcoming paper, we will use this information to compute the non-commutative A-polynomial of twist knots. Finally, we formulate a number of conjectures relating the A, the C-polynomial and the Alexander polynomial, all confirmed for the class of twist knots.
This work presents formulas for the Kauffman bracket and Jones polynomials of 3-bridge knots using the structure of Chebyshev knots and their billiard table diagrams. In particular, these give far fewer terms than in the Skein relation expansion. The subject is introduced by considering the easier case of 2-bridge knots, where some geometric interpretation is provided, as well, via combinatorial tiling problems.
This paper presents an algorithm to construct a weighted adjacency matrix of a plane bipartite graph obtained from a pretzel knot diagram. The determinant of this matrix after evaluation is shown to be the Jones polynomial of the pretzel knot by way of perfect matchings (or dimers) of this graph. The weights are Tutte's activity letters that arise because the Jones polynomial is a specialization of the signed version of the Tutte polynomial. The relationship is formalized between the familiar spanning tree setting for the Tait graph and the perfect matchings of the plane bipartite graph above.…
The paper introduces Slope Conjecture which relates the degree of the Jones polynomial of a knot and its parallels with the slopes of incompressible surfaces in the knot complement. More precisely, we introduce two knot invariants, the Jones slopes (a finite set of rational numbers) and the Jones period (a natural number) of a knot in 3-space. We formulate a number of conjectures for these invariants and verify them by explicit computations for the class of alternating knots, torus knots, the knots with at most 9 crossings, and the $(-2,3,n)$ pretzel knots.
We establish a relationship between the Jones polynomial of generalized weaving knots of type $W(3,n,m)$ and the Chebyshev polynomial of the first kind. Consequently, we prove that the coefficients of the Jones polynomial of weaving knots are basically the Whitney numbers of Lucas lattices. Furthermore, we give an explicit formula for the Alexander polynomial of weaving knots $W(3,n)$ and we prove that it satisfies Fox's trapezoidal conjecture.
Although most knots are nonalternating, modern research in knot theory seems to focus on alternating knots. We consider here nonalternating knots and their properties. Specifically, we show certain classes of knots have nontrivial Jones polynomials.
This article gives the foundations of the colored Jones polynomial for singular knots. We extend Masbum and Vogel's algorithm to compute the colored Jones polynomial for any singular knot. We also introduce the tail of the colored Jones polynomial of singular knots and use its stability properties to prove a false theta function identity that goes back to Ramanujan.
In this paper, a method is given to calculate the Jones polynomial of the 6-plat presentations of knots by using a representation of the braid group $\mathbb{B}_6$ into a group of $5\times 5$ matrices. We also can calculate the Jones polynomial of the $2n$-plat presentations of knots by generalizing the method for the 6-plat presentations of knots.
We continue our study of the degree of the colored Jones polynomial under knot cabling started in "Knot Cabling and the Degree of the Colored Jones Polynomial" (arXiv:1501.01574). Under certain hypothesis on this degree, we determine how the Jones slopes and the linear term behave under cabling. As an application we verify Garoufalidis' Slope Conjecture and a conjecture of the authors for cables of a two-parameter family of closed 3-braids called 2-fusion knots.
Garoufalidis conjectured a relation between the boundary slopes of a knot and its colored Jones polynomials. According to the conjecture, certain boundary slopes are detected by the sequence of degrees of the colored Jones polynomials. We verify this conjecture for adequate knots, a class that vastly generalizes that of alternating knots.
We will study the asymptotic behaviors of the colored Jones polynomials of the figure-eight knot. In particular we will show that for certain limits we obtain the volumes of the cone manifolds with singularities along the knot.
The Volume conjecture claims that the hyperbolic Volume of a knot is determined by the colored Jones polynomial. The purpose of this article is to show a Volume-ish theorem for alternating knots in terms of the Jones polynomial, rather than the colored Jones polynomial: The ratio of the Volume and certain sums of coefficients of the Jones polynomial is bounded from above and from below by constants. Furthermore, we give experimental data on the relation of the growths of the hyperbolic volume and the coefficients of the Jones polynomial, both for alternating and non-alternating knots.
In this paper, we study the asymptotic behavior of the colored Jones polynomials evaluated at roots of unity for a special class of knots. We show that certain limit is zero as predicted by the volume conjecture.
In this master thesis, I present a new family of knots in the solid torus called lassos, and their properties. Given a knot $K$ with Alexander polynomial $Δ_K(t)$, I then use these lassos as patterns to construct families of satellite knots that have Alexander polynomial $Δ_K(t^d)$ where $d\in\mathbb{N}\cup \{0\}$. In particular, I prove that if $d\in\{0,1,2,3\}$ these satellite knots have different Jones polynomials. For this purpose, I give rise to a formula for calculating the Jones polynomial of a satellite knot in terms of the Jones polynomials of its pattern and companion.
We show that for a torus knot the SL(2;C) Chern-Simons invariants and the SL(2;C) twisted Reidemeister torsions appear in an asymptotic expansion of the colored Jones polynomial. This suggests a generalization of the volume conjecture that relates the asymptotic behavior of the colored Jones polynomial of a knot to the volume of the knot complement.
We establish a characterization of adequate knots in terms of the degree of their colored Jones polynomial. We show that, assuming the Strong Slope conjecture, our characterization can be reformulated in terms of "Jones slopes" of knots and the essential surfaces that realize the slopes .For alternating knots the reformulated characterization follows by recent work of J. Greene and J. Howie.
We show that from the asymptotic behavior of an evaluation of the colored Jones polynomial of the figure-eight knot we can extract the Chern--Simons invariant and the twisted Reidemeister torsion associated with a representation of the fundamental group of the knot complement to the two-dimensional complex special linear group.
The notion of chckerboard colorability for virtual links and abstract links is introduced. We study the Jones polynomials of virtual links and abstruct links. It is proved that a certain property of the Jones polynomials of classical links is valid for virtual links which admit checkerboard colorings.
We show for an alternating knot the minimal boundary slope of an essential spanning surface is given by the signature plus twice the minimum degree of the Jones polynomial and the maximal boundary slope of an essential spanning surface is given by the signature plus twice the maximum degree of the Jones polynomial. For alternating Montesinos knots, these are the minimal and maximal boundary slopes.
We calculate limits of the colored Jones polynomials of the figure-eight knot and conclude that in most cases they determine the volumes and the Chern--Simons invariants of the three-manifolds obtained by Dehn surgeries along it.
We prove that the N-colored Jones polynomial for the torus knot T_{s,t} satisfies the second order difference equation, which reduces to the first order difference equation for a case of T_{2,2m+1}. We show that the A-polynomial of the torus knot can be derived from this difference equation. Also constructed is a q-hypergeometric type expression of the colored Jones polynomial for T_{2,2m+1}.
We point out that the strong slope conjecture implies that the degrees of the colored Jones knot polynomials detect the figure eight knot. Furthermore, we propose a characterization of alternating knots in terms of the Jones period and the degree span of the colored Jones polynomial.
The tail of the colored Jones polynomial of an alternating link is a $q$-series invariant whose first $n$ terms coincide with the first $n$ terms of the $n$-th colored Jones polynomial. Recently, it has been shown that the tail of the colored Jones polynomial of torus knots give rise to Ramanujan type identities. In this paper, we study $q$-series identities coming from the colored Jones polynomial of pretzel knots. We prove a false theta function identity that goes back to Ramanujan and we give a natural generalization of this identity using the tail of the colored Jones polynomial of Pretzel…
We study relationships between the colored Jones polynomial and the A-polynomial of a knot. We establish for a large class of 2-bridge knots the AJ conjecture (of Garoufalidis) that relates the colored Jones polynomial and the A-polynomial. Along the way we also calculate the Kauffman bracket skein module of all 2-bridge knots. Some properties of the colored Jones polynomial of alternating knots are established.
We study the behavior of the degree of the colored Jones polynomial and the boundary slopes of knots under the operation of cabling. We show that, under certain hypothesis on this degree, if a knot $K$ satisfies the Slope Conjecture then a $(p, q)$-cable of $K$ satisfies the conjecture, provided that $p/q$ is not a Jones slope of $K$. As an application we prove the Slope Conjecture for iterated cables of adequate knots and for iterated torus knots. Furthermore we show that, for these knots, the degree of the colored Jones polynomial also determines the topology of a surface that satisfies the …
The volume conjecture and its generalization state that the series of certain evaluations of the colored Jones polynomials of a knot would grow exponentially and its growth rate would be related to the volume of a three-manifold obtained by Dehn surgery along the knot. In this paper, we show that for the figure-eight knot the series converges in some cases and the limit equals the inverse of its Alexander polynomial.
We generalize the colored Jones polynomial to $4$-valent graphs. This generalization is given as a sequence of invariants in which the first term is a one variable specialization of the Kauffman-Vogel polynomial. We use the invariant we construct to give a sequence of singular braid group representations.
In this paper we compute the signature for a family of knots $W(k,n)$, the weaving knots of type $(k,n)$. By work of E.~S.~Lee the signature calculation implies a vanishing theorem for the Khovanov homology of weaving knots. Specializing to knots $W(3,n)$, we develop recursion relations that enable us to compute the Jones polynomial of $W(3,n)$. Using additional results of Lee, we compute the ranks of the Khovanov Homology of these knots. At the end we provide evidence for our conjecture that, asymptotically, the ranks of Khovanov Homology of $W(3,n)$ are {\it normally distributed}.
This paper defines versions of the Jones polynomial and Khovanov homology by using several maps from the set of Gauss diagrams to its variant. Through calculation of some examples, this paper also shows that these versions behave differently from the original ones.
Using an involved study of the Jones polynomial, we determine, as our main result, the crossing numbers of (prime) amphicheiral knots. As further applications, we show that several classes of links, including semiadequate links and Whitehead doubles of semiadequate knots, have non-trivial Jones polynomial. We also prove that there are infinitely many positive knots with no positive minimal crossing diagrams. Some relations to the twist number of a link, Mahler measure and the hyperbolic volume are given, for example explicit upper bounds on the volume for Montesinos and 3-braid links in terms …
The noncommutative A-ideal of a knot is a generalization of the A-polynomial, defined using Kauffman bracket skein modules. In this paper we show that any knot that has the same noncommutative A-ideal as the (2,2p+1)-torus knot has the same colored Jones polynomials. This is a consequence of the orthogonality relation, which yields a recursive relation for computing all colored Jones polynomials of the knot.
In this paper we investigate the asymptotic behavior of the colored Jones polynomials and the Turaev-Viro invariants for the figure eight knot. More precisely, we consider the $M$-th colored Jones polynomials evaluated at $(N+1/2)$-th root of unity with a fixed limiting ratio, $s$, of $M$ and $(N+1/2)$. We find out the asymptotic expansion formula (AEF) of the colored Jones polynomials of the figure eight knot with $s$ close to $1$. Nonetheless, we show that the exponential growth rate of the colored Jones polynomials of the figure eight knot with $s$ close to $1/2$ is strictly less than those…
In the asymptotic expansion of the hyperbolic specification of the colored Jones polynomial of torus knots, we identify different geometric contributions, in particular Chern--Simons invaraint and Reidemeister torsion.
We show that for a twist knot, the A-polynomial can be obtained from recurrences for the summand in Masbaum's formula of the colored Jones polynomial. Our result supports the AJ conjecture due to S.Garoufalidis.
We study the asymptotic behaviors of the colored Jones polynomials of torus knots. Contrary to the works by R. Kashaev, O. Tirkkonen, Y. Yokota, and the author, they do not seem to give the volumes or the Chern-Simons invariants of the three-manifolds obtained by Dehn surgeries. On the other hand it is proved that in some cases the limits give the inverse of the Alexander polynomial.
We show that the head and tail functions of the colored Jones polynomial of adequate links are the product of head and tail functions of the colored Jones polynomial of alternating links that can be read-off an adequate diagram of the link. We apply this to strengthen a theorem of Kalfagianni, Futer and Purcell on the fiberedness of adequate links.
A generalization of the volume conjecture relates the asymptotic behavior of the colored Jones polynomial of a knot to the Chern--Simons invariant and the Reidemeister torsion of the knot complement associated with a representation of the fundamental group to the special linear group of degree two over complex numbers. If the knot is hyperbolic, the representation can be regarded as a deformation of the holonomy representation that determines the complete hyperbolic structure. In this article we study a similar phenomenon when the knot is a twice-iterated torus knot. In this case, the asymptot…
The Jones polynomial of a knot in 3-space is a Laurent polynomial in $q$, with integer coefficients. Many people have pondered why is this so, and what is a proper generalization of the Jones polynomial for knots in other closed 3-manifolds. Our paper centers around this question. After reviewing several existing definitions of the Jones polynomial, we show that the Jones polynomial is really an analytic function, in the sense of Habiro. Using this, we extend the holonomicity properties of the colored Jones function of a knot in 3-space to the case of a knot in an integer homology sphere, and …
It has long been known that the quadratic term in the degree of the colored Jones polynomial of a knot is bounded above in terms of the crossing number of the knot. We show that this bound is sharp if and only if the knot is adequate. As an application of our result we determine the crossing numbers of broad families of non-adequate prime satellite knots. More specifically, we exhibit minimal crossing number diagrams for untwisted Whitehead doubles of zero-writhe adequate knots. This allows us to determine the crossing number of untwisted Whitehead doubles of any amphicheiral adequate knot, in…
Using the recent Gauss diagram formulas for Vassiliev invariants of Polyak-Viro-Fiedler and combining these formulas with the Bennequin inequality, we prove several inequalities for positive knots relating their Vassiliev invariants, genus and degrees of the Jones polynomial. As a consequence, we prove that for any of the polynomials of Alexander/Conway, Jones, HOMFLY, Brandt-Lickorish-Millett-Ho and Kauffman there are only finitely many positive knots with the same polynomial and no positive knot with trivial polynomial. We also discuss an extension of the Bennequin inequality, showing that t…
This paper is a memory of the work and influence of Vaughan Jones. It is an exposition of the remarkable breakthroughs in knot theory and low dimensional topology that were catalyzed by his work. The paper recalls the inception of the Jones polynomial and the author's discovery of the bracket polynomial model for the Jones polynomial. We then describe some of the developments in knot theory that were inspired by the Jones polynomial and involve variations and generalizations of this invariant. The paper is written in the form of a personal odyssey and with the intent to show different mathemat…
We study the asymptotic behavior of the $N$-dimensional colored Jones polynomial of a cable of the figure-eight knot, evaluated at $\exp(ξ/N)$ for a real number $ξ$. We show that if $ξ$ is sufficiently large, the colored Jones polynomial grows exponentially when $N$ goes to the infinity. Moreover the growth rate is related to the Chern-Simons invariant of the knot exterior associated with an $\mathrm{SL}(2;\mathbb{R})$ representation.
We describe a normal surface algorithm that decides whether a knot, with known degree of the colored Jones polynomial, satisfies the Strong Slope Conjecture. We also discuss possible simplifications of our algorithm and state related open questions. We establish a relation between the Jones period of a knot and the number of sheets of the surfaces that satisfy the Strong Slope Conjecture (Jones surfaces). We also present numerical and experimental evidence supporting a stronger such relation which we state as an open question.
The signature function of a knot is a locally constant integer valued function with domain the unit circle. The jumps (i.e., the discontinuities) of the signature function can occur only at the roots of the Alexander polynomial on the unit circle. The latter are important in deforming U(1) representations of knot groups to irreducible SU(2) representations. Under the assumption that these roots are simple, we formulate a conjecture that explicitly computes the jumps of the signature function in terms of the Jones polynomial of a knot and its parallels. As evidence, we prove our conjecture for …
In this paper, we prove a formula for the 2-head of the colored Jones polynomial for an infinite family of pretzel knots. Following Hall, the proof utilizes skein-theoretic techniques and a careful examination of higher order stability properties for coefficients of the colored Jones polynomial.
We show that the set of colored Jones polynomials and the set of generalized Alexander polynomials defined by Akutsu, Deguchi and Ohtsuki intersect non-trivially. Moreover it is shown that the intersection is (at least includes) the set of Kashaev's quantum dilogarithm invariants for links. Therefore Kashaev's conjecture can be restated as follows: The colored Jones polynomials determine the hyperbolic volume for a hyperbolic knot. Modifying this, we propose a stronger conjecture: The colored Jones polynomials determine the simplicial volume for any knot. If our conjecture is true, then we can…
We give examples of knots with some unusual properties of the crossing number of positive diagrams or strand number of positive braid representations. In particular we show that positive braid knots may not have positive minimal (strand number) braid representations, giving a counterpart to results of Franks-Williams and Murasugi. Other examples answer questions of Cromwell on homogeneous and (partially) of Adams on almost alternating knots. We give a counterexample to, and a corrected version of a theorem of Jones on the Alexander polynomial of 4-braid knots. We also give an example of a knot…
This paper is a brief overview of recent results by the authors relating colored Jones polynomials to geometric topology. The proofs of these results appear in the papers [arXiv:1002.0256] and [arXiv:1108.3370], while this survey focuses on the main ideas and examples.
Let $K_{(m,p)}$ denote the family of double twist knots where $2m-1$ and $2p$ are non-zero integers denoting the number of half-twists in each region. Using a result of Takata, we prove a formula for the colored Jones polynomial of $K_{(-m,-p)}$ and $K_{(-m,p)}$. The latter case leads to new families of $q$-hypergeometric series generalizing the Kontsevich-Zagier series. We also use Bailey pairs and formulas of Walsh to find cyclotomic-like expansions for the colored Jones polynomials of $K_{(m,p)}$ and $K_{(m,-p)}$.
In this paper, we derive formulae for the determinant of weaving knots $W(3,n)$ and $W(p,2)$. We calculate the dimension of the first homology group with coefficients in $\mathbb{Z}_3$ of the double cyclic cover of the $3$-sphere $S^3$ branched over $W(3,n)$ and $W(p,2)$ respectively. As a consequence, we obtain a lower bound of the unknotting number of $W(3,n)$ for certain values of $n$.
We study the asymptotic behavior of the $N$-dimensional colored Jones polynomial evaluated at $\exp(ξ/N)$ for a real number $ξ$ greater than a certain constant. We prove that, from the asymptotic behavior, we can extract the $\rm{SL}(2;\mathbb{C})$ Chern--Simons invariant and the Reidemeister torsion twisted by the adjoint action both associated with a representation determined by $ξ$.
