Proof of the volume conjecture for Whitehead chains (Q2390675)

The volume conjecture states, roughly speaking, that the asymptotic behavior of the normalized \(N\)-colored Jones polynomial of a knot evaluated at the \(N\)-th root of unity gives the Gromov simplicial volume of the knot complement. This conjecture was proposed by \textit{H. Murakami} and \textit{J. Murakami} [Acta Math. 186, No.~1, 85--104 (2001; Zbl 0983.57009)]; an earlier version of the conjecture for hyperbolic knots was stated by \textit{R. M. Kashaev} [Lett. Math. Phys. 39, No.~3, 269--275 (1997; Zbl 0876.57007)]. This conjecture has been proved for a few classes of knots and links, but it is known that it is not valid for links in general, for example, it is not valid for splittable links. The present paper considers the volume conjecture for Whitehead chains. This is a class of links which are obtained from the composition of certain 2-string tangles, called tangles of type Belt, Twist and Clasp; examples of Whitehead chains include the Whitehead link and the Borromean rings. It is shown that some families of Whitehead chains satisfy the volume conjecture, while other families do not. However it is shown that the latter families satisfy a weaker version of the volume conjecture for links.