Kashaev invariants of twice-iterated torus knots (Q2222122)

The volume conjecture [\textit{R. M. Kashaev}, Lett. Math. Phys. 39, No. 3, 269--275 (1997; Zbl 0876.57007); \textit{H. Murakami} and \textit{J. Murakami}, Acta Math. 186, No. 1, 85--104 (2001; Zbl 0983.57009)] is one of the major open problems in knot theory. It predicts that for a knot \(K\) in the 3-sphere~\(S^3\), the following asymptotics holds \[ \lim_{n\to \infty} \frac{\log |J_n(K, e^{2i\pi/n})|}{n} = \frac{\mathrm{Vol}(S^3 \setminus K)}{2\pi}.\tag{1} \] Here \(J_n(K)\) is the \(n\)-th colored Jones polynomial of \(K\) and \(\mathrm{Vol}\) is the simplicial volume, or equivalently the sum of the hyperbolic volumes of the hyperbolic parts of \(S^3\setminus K\) in a JSJ decomposition. More generally, it is always a challenging question to build bridges between quantum invariants such as the Jones polynomial, and classical invariants. When \(K\) is a torus knot, the volume conjecture (1) has been proved in [\textit{R. M. Kashaev} and \textit{O. Tirkkonen}, J. Math. Sci., New York 115, No. 1, 2033--2036 (2000; Zbl 1030.57021); translation from Zap. Nauchn. Semin. POMI 269, 262--268 (2000)], where it is indeed shown that \[ |J_n(K, e^{2i\pi/n})| = O(n^{3/2}). \] Since torus knots have simplicial volume equal to 0, it implies the conjecture. In [\textit{J. Dubois} and \textit{R. Kashaev}, Math. Ann. 339, No. 4, 757--782 (2007; Zbl 1129.57015)], Dubois and Kashaev refined this result by providing an explicit asymptotic expansion of the \(n\)-th colored Jones polynomials of torus knots at the first \(n\)-th root of unity, involving various Reidemeister torsion and Chern-Simons invariants. In this article, the authors compute such an asymptotic expansion for the infinite family of twice iterated torus knots \(T(2,2a+1)^{(2,2b+1)}\), see Theorem 1.4 for a precise statement. Again, this expansion involves Reidemeister torsion and Chern-Simons invariants of the knots \(T(2,2a+1)^{(2,2b+1)}\). The proof goes through an explicit, but difficult computation of the asympotics, and then identifying the terms showing up.