An alternative approach to hyperbolic structures on link complements (Q2444351): Difference between revisions

This paper describes a method, given a taut diagram for a hyperbolic knot or link in the \(3\)-sphere, to calculate the hyperbolic structure on the knot or link complement. Rather than using ideal tetrahedra, this method considers the geometry of the ideal polygons in hyperbolic \(3\)-space which arise from the regions of the diagram. These polygons are used, via the Wirtinger presentation for the fundamental group of the complement, to set up a system of equations which the geometric solution satisfies. The authors show that the geometric solution is isolated, and conjecture that for alternating links, the solution space is \(0\)-dimensional. The paper includes calculations of the geometric structure for some examples, including the figure-eight knot, and some results in the setting of tangles. The polygons under consideration have an edge from underpass to overpass at each crossing, and an ideal vertex for each arc of the diagram incident to the region. They are naturally part of a checkerboard surface in the diagram, and as such are closely related to the state surfaces considered by \textit{D. Futer}, \textit{E. Kalfagianni} and \textit{J.S. Purcell} [Trans. Am. Math. Soc. 366, No. 8, 4323--4343 (2014; Zbl 1350.57019)]. When considered in hyperbolic \(3\)-space, the edges and vertices are not always contained in a single hyperbolic plane, although the authors remark that in computed examples of alternating links, they are close to being planar and regular. In the paper, a polygon is specified by a collection of complex shape parameters, and a further collection of complex parameters, one for each arc and crossing, describe how the polygon sits in the link complement. It is these parameters which are used to formulate the system of equations.