Zeros of Jones polynomials of graphs (Q490409)

Summary: In this paper, we introduce the Jones polynomial of a graph \(G=(V,E)\) with \(k\)~ components as the following specialization of the Tutte polynomial: \[ J_G(t)=(-1)^{|V|-k}t^{|E|-|V|+k}T_G(-t,-t^{-1}). \] We first study its basic properties and determine certain extreme coefficients. Then we prove that \((-\infty, 0]\) is a zero-free interval of Jones polynomials of connected bridgeless graphs while for any small \(\epsilon>0\) or large \(M>0\), there is a zero of the Jones polynomial of a plane graph in \((0,\epsilon)\), \((1-\epsilon,1)\), \((1,1+\epsilon)\) or \((M,+\infty)\). Let \(r(G)\) be the maximum moduli of zeros of \(J_G(t)\). By applying Sokal's result on zeros of Potts model partition functions and Lucas's theorem, we prove that \[ \frac{q_s-|V|+1}{|E|}\leq r(G)<1+6.907652 \Delta_G \] for any connected bridgeless and loopless graph \(G=(V,E)\) of maximum degree \(\Delta_G\) with \(q_s\) parallel classes. As a consequence of the upper bound, X.-S. Lin's conjecture holds if the positive checkerboard graph of a connected alternating link has a fixed maximum degree and a sufficiently large number of edges.