Recurrence relations and asymptotics of colored Jones polynomials (Q2241347)

For an oriented knot \(K\) in the three-dimensional sphere \(S^3\), let \(J_K(n,q)\in\mathbb{Z}[q^{\pm1/2}]\) be the colored Jones polynomial of \(K\) associated with the \(n\)-dimensional irreducible representation of the Lie algebra \(\mathfrak{sl}_2\), normalized so that \(J_{U}(n;q)=1\). Let \(\langle K\rangle_n\) be the Kashaev invariant of \(K\) [\textit{R. M. Kashaev}, Mod. Phys. Lett. A 10, No. 19, 1409--1418 (1995; Zbl 1022.81574)], which turns out to coincide with \(J_{K}(n,e^{2\pi\sqrt{-1}/n})\) [\textit{H. Murakami} and \textit{J. Murakami}, Acta Math. 186, No. 1, 85--104 (2001; Zbl 0983.57009)]. Kashaev conjectured that for any hyperbolic knot the asymptotic behavior of \(\langle K\rangle_n\) would determine the hyperbolic volume of the knot complement \(S^3\setminus{K}\) [\textit{R. M. Kashaev}, Lett. Math. Phys. 39, No. 3, 269--275 (1997; Zbl 0876.57007)]. J.~Murakami and the reviewer generalized Kashaev's conjecture for any knot and proposed the volume conjecture [\textit{H. Murakami} and \textit{J. Murakami}, loc. cit.], by replacing the hyperbolic volume with the Gromov norm (also known as the simplicial volume) [\textit{M. Gromov}, Publ. Math., Inst. Hautes Étud. Sci. 56, 5--99 (1982; Zbl 0516.53046)]. It is known that the colored Jones polynomial satisfies a \(q\)-difference equation of the form \(\sum_{j=1}^{d}b_j(q^n,q)J_K(n+j,q)=0\) for smooth functions \(b_j(u,v)\) [\textit{S. Garoufalidis} and \textit{T. T. Q. Lê}, Geom. Topol. 9, 1253--1293 (2005; Zbl 1078.57012)]. In this paper, the authors review the volume conjecture and suggest a new approach by using the \(q\)-difference equation.