KCH representations, augmentations, and \(A\)-polynomials (Q1747685)

If \(K\) is a knot in \(\mathbb R^3\) and \(\pi_K\) is the fundamental group of the complement \(\overline{\mathbb R^3\setminus n(K)}\), then an element of \(\pi_K\) is a meridian of \(K\) if it may be represented by the boundary of a disk \(D\) that is embedded in \(\mathbb R^3\) and intersects \(K\) at one point in the interior of \(D\). For a field \(\mathbb F\), if \(V\) is an \(\mathbb F\)-vector space, then a homomorphism \(\rho:\pi_K\to\text{GL}(V)\) is called a KCH representation of \(\pi\) if for a meridian \(m\) of \(K\), \(\rho(m)\) is diagonalizable and has an eigenvalue of \(1\) with multiplicity \(\dim V-1\), and \(\rho\) is called KCHirrep if it is irreducible as a representation. The knot contact homology \(HC_*(K)\) is a non-commutative graded algebra over \(\mathbb Z[U^{\pm1},\lambda^{\pm1},\mu^{\pm1}]\) and is defined as the homology of a certain differential graded algebra \(({\mathcal A}_K,\partial_K)\). An augmentation is a graded algebra map \(\varepsilon:{\mathcal A}_K\to\mathbb F\) such that \(\varepsilon\circ\partial=0\) and \(\varepsilon(1)=1\), where \(\mathbb F\) has grading \(0\). In [Bolyai Soc. Math. Stud. 26, 485--530 (2014; Zbl 1351.53094)], \textit{L. Ng} discussed how to associate an augmentation to a KCH representation. In this paper, the author describes a correspondence between augmentations of knot contact homology and certain representations of the knot group by showing that this correspondence makes the \(2\)-variable augmentation polynomial into a generalization of the classical \(A\)-polynomial. It is shown that if \(\varepsilon:{\mathcal A}_K\to\mathbb F\) is an augmentation such that \(\varepsilon(\mu)\neq 1\), then a KCHirrep \(\rho:\pi_K\to\text{GL}(V)\) can be constructed explicitly from \(\varepsilon\) with the property that \(\varepsilon_\rho=\varepsilon\). Moreover, any KCHirrep that induces \(\varepsilon\) is isomorphic to \((V,\rho)\). Finally, the author studies augmentations with rank equal to the braid index.