Some asymptotics of topological quantum field theory via skein theory (Q2475026)

For each oriented surface \(\Sigma\) of genus \(g>1\) and for each integer level \(r\), there is a skein theory model \(V_p\) for the SU(2) Reshetikhin-Turaev TQFT due to [\textit{C. Blanchet, N. Habegger, G. Masbaum}, and \textit{P. Vogel}, Topology 34, No. 4, 883--927 (1995; Zbl 0887.57009)] (with \(p=2r\)). Let \(C(\Sigma)\) be the \(\mathbb{C}\)-vector space generated by multicurves, i.e. isotopy classes of (unoriented) one-dimensional submanifolds of \(\Sigma\) without component bounding a disc. This space is isomorphic to \(\mathcal{H}(\Sigma)\), the ring of regular functions on the \(\text{SL}(2,\mathbb{C})\) moduli space. The mapping class group \(\Gamma_g\) acts on these spaces, giving a representation \(\rho\) of \(\Gamma_g\) on \(C(\Sigma)\). The authors construct a sequence of linear maps \(\varphi_p\) from \(C(\Sigma)\) to \(\mathrm{End}(V_p(\Sigma))\) where the inner product on \(V_p(\Sigma)\) induces an inner product \(\langle\cdot,\cdot\rangle_p\) on \(\mathrm{End}(V_p(\Sigma))\). The main theorem of the paper is that for all \(v,w\in C(\Sigma)\): \[ \langle h_{v},h_{w}\rangle=\lim_{p\to\infty}\left(\frac{2}{p}\right)^{3g-3}\langle \varphi_p(v),\varphi_p(w)\rangle_p \] where \(h_v\) and \(h_w\) denote the elements in \(\mathcal{H}(\Sigma)\) corresponding to \(v\) and to \(w\) respectively and \(\langle h_{v},h_{w}\rangle=\int h_v\bar{h}_w\,dV\) where \(V\) is the volume form induced by the symplectic form on the SU(2) representation variety. This implies that the induced quantum representations \(\rho_p\otimes \bar{\rho}_p\) converge in the Fell topology to \(\rho\). As a corollary, the authors obtain a new proof for asymptotic faithfulness of quantum representations [see \textit{J. Andersen}, Ann. Math. (2) 163, No.~1, 347--368 (2006; Zbl 1157.53049)] namely that for every element \(h\) of the mapping class group except the elliptic and hyperelliptic involutions in genus \(1\) and \(2\), there exists an integer \(p_0\) such that for all \(p>p_0\) we have \(\rho_p(h)\neq\mathrm{Id}\). These results are recovered and generalized to the \(\text{SU}(n)\) case in a geometric regime via Toeplitz operators by \textit{J. Andersen} [Asymptotics of the Hilbert-Smith norm of curve operators in TQFT, arXiv:math.QA/0605291].