Modularity and value distribution of quantum invariants of hyperbolic knots (Q2122075)

For an integer \(N\ge2\) and a knot \(K\) in the three-sphere \(S^3\), R.~Kashaev introduced a complex valued invariant \(\langle{K}\rangle_N\) by using the so-called quantum dilogarithm [\textit{R. M. Kashaev}, Mod. Phys. Lett. A 10, No. 19, 1409--1418 (1995; Zbl 1022.81574)]. He also conjectured [\textit{R. M. Kashaev}, Lett. Math. Phys. 39, No. 3, 269--275 (1997; Zbl 0876.57007)] that the asymptotic behavior of \(\langle{K}\rangle_N\) for a large \(N\) would give the hyperbolic volume of the knot complement \(S^3\setminus{K}\) if \(K\) is hyperbolic, that is, \(S^3\setminus{K}\) possesses a complete hyperbolic structure with finite volume. It is known that \(\langle{K}\rangle_N\) coincides with \(J_N\left(K;e^{2\pi\sqrt{-1}/N}\right)\), where \(J_N(K;q)\) is the colored Jones polynomial associated with the \(N\)-dimensional irreducible representation of the Lie algebra \(\mathfrak{sl}_2(\mathbb{C})\) [\textit{H. Murakami} and \textit{J. Murakami}, Acta Math. 186, No. 1, 85--104 (2001; Zbl 0983.57009)]. For coprime integers \(l\) and \(m\), one can define \(\mathcal{J}_{K,0}\left(e^{2\pi\sqrt{-1}l/m}\right):=J_m\left(K;e^{2\pi\sqrt{-1}l/m}\right)\), which can be regarded as a Galois conjugate of \(\langle{K}\rangle_m\) in \(\mathbb{Q}\left(e^{2\pi\sqrt{-1}/m}\right)\). \par For a hyperbolic knot \(K\), let \(\operatorname{Vol}(K)\) and \(\operatorname{cs}(K)\) be the volume and the Chern-Simons invariant, respectively, of \(S^3\setminus{K}\) with respect to the Levi-Civita connection associated with the (unique) complete hyperbolic structure. \textit{D. Zagier}'s modularity conjecture [Clay Math. Proc. 11, 659--675 (2010; Zbl 1294.11084)] states that for any \(\gamma=\left(\begin{smallmatrix}a&b\\ c&d\end{smallmatrix}\right)\in\mathrm{SL}_2(\mathbb{Z})\), there would exist \(C_K(a/c)\in\mathbb{C}\) and \(D_{K,n}(a/c)\in\mathbb{C}\) (\(n=0,1,2,\dots\)) such that for any positive integer \(M\) and any \(x\in\mathbb{Q}\) with \(x\to\infty\), it holds that \begin{multline*} \frac{\mathcal{J}_{K,0}\left(e^{2\pi\sqrt{-1}\gamma(x)}\right)}{\mathcal{J}_{K,0}\left(e^{2\pi\sqrt{-1}x}\right)} \\ = \left(\frac{2\pi}{\hbar}\right)^{3/2} \exp\left(\frac{\sqrt{-1}\operatorname{Vol}(K)+\operatorname{cs}(K)}{\hbar}\right)C_K(a/c) \left( \sum_{n=0}^{M-1} D_{K.n}(a/c)\hbar^n+O(\hbar^M) \right), \end{multline*} where \(\hbar:=\frac{2\pi\sqrt{-1}}{x+d/c}\), and \(\gamma(x):=\frac{ax+b}{cx+d}\). Note that when \(x=N\) and \(\gamma=\left(\begin{smallmatrix}0&-1\\ 1&0\end{smallmatrix}\right)\), the formula above turns out to be \begin{multline*} J_N\left(K;e^{-2\pi\sqrt{-1}/N}\right) \\ = \left(\frac{N}{\sqrt{-1}}\right)^{3/2} \exp\left(\frac{N}{2\pi\sqrt{-1}}\bigl(\sqrt{-1}\operatorname{Vol}(K)+\operatorname{cs}(K)\bigr)\right) C_K(0) \left( \sum_{n=0}^{M-1} D_{K.n}(0)\hbar^n+O(\hbar^M) \right), \end{multline*} which can be regarded as a generalization of the volume conjecture [\textit{S. Gukov}, Commun. Math. Phys. 255, No. 3, 577--627 (2005; Zbl 1115.57009)]. In the paper under review, the authors prove the modularity conjecture for hyperbolic knots with crossings less than or equal to seven, except for the knot \(7_2\). Note that \textit{S. Garoufalidis} and \textit{D. Zagier} also prove the conjecture for the case of \(4_1\) [``Knots, perturbative series and quantum modularity'', Preprint, \url{arXiv: 2111.06645}]. The authors also conjecture that there would exist \(\varepsilon_N>0\) with \(\varepsilon_N\to0\) (\(N\to\infty\)) such that \[ \log\left|\mathcal{J}_{K,0}(q)\right| = \frac{12}{\pi^2}\times\frac{\operatorname{Vol}(K)}{2\pi}\bigl(1+O(\varepsilon_N)\bigr) \log{n}\log\log{n} \] for all roots of unity \(q\) with order \(n\le N\), with at most \(\varepsilon_N N^2\) exceptions. Compare this with the volume conjecture: \(\log\left|J_N\left(K;e^{2\pi\sqrt{-1}/N}\right)\right|\sim\frac{\operatorname{Vol}(K)}{2\pi}\). They also prove their conjecture for the knot \(4_1\).