Holonomy invariants of links and nonabelian Reidemeister torsion (Q2125353)

The results of this paper are mostly algebraic, not topological. The authors show how to reproduce a known invariant, the torsion, in terms of quantum groups. More precisely, their first major result is to show that the reduced \(SL_2(\mathbb{C})\)-twisted Bureau representation can be obtained from the quantum group \(\mathcal{U}_q(sl_2)\) for \(q=i\) a fourth root of unity and that representations of \(\mathcal{U}_q(sl_2)\) satisfy a type of Schur-Weyl duality with the Bureau representation. As a consequence of this duality, they show that the \(SL_2(\mathbb{C})\)-twisted torsion of a link can be obtained as a quantum holonomy invariant. Their construction is closely related to the quantum holonomy invariant of Blanchet-Geer-Patureau-Mirand-Reshetikhin [\textit{C. Blanchet} et al., Sel. Math., New Ser. 26, No. 2, Paper No. 19, 58 p. (2020; Zbl 1441.57010)].