Dubois torsion, \(A\)-polynomial and quantum invariants (Q1948487)

The character variety \(X(K)\) of a knot \(K\subset S^3\) is the algebro-geometric quotient of the variety \(R(K)=\text{Hom}(\pi_1(S^3\setminus K),SL(2,\mathbb{C}))\) by the conjugation action of \(SL(2,\mathbb{C})\) on \(R(K)\). \textit{J. Dubois} [Ann. Inst. Fourier 55, No. 5, 1685--1734 (2005; Zbl 1077.57009)] used Reidemeister torsion to define a 1-form on the manifold which is the part of the character variety \(X(K)\) corresponding to `regular' representations. The authors show that for knots with a sufficiently regular character variety the Dubois torsion detects the \(A\)-polynomial of the knot. The authors also prove that Dubois torsion can be interpreted as the pushforward of a measure on the character variety of the double of the knot complement coming from the square root of Reidemeister torsion. Furthermore, they give a global formula for the integral of the Dubois torsion. The formula looks like the heat kernel regularization of the formula for the Witten-Reshetikhin-Turaev invariant of the double of the knot complement. This leads the authors to stating a precise conjecture relating the \(A\)-polynomial of a knot to quantum invariants.