Slopes for pretzel knots (Q502167)

Let \(K\) be a knot in the 3-sphere, and let \(J_{K,n}(q)\in \mathbb{Z}[q^{\pm 1}]\) be the colored Jones function. The Jones slopes of \(K\) is a set of rational numbers determined by the growth rate of the maximal and minimal degrees of the colored Jones function. The slope conjecture affirms that any Jones slope of \(K\) is also the slope of an essential surface in the exterior of \(K\) (an orientable and properly embedded surface in the exterior of \(K\) is essential if it is incompressible, \(\partial\)-incompressible, and non-boundary parallel; a non-orientable surface is essential if its orientable double cover is essential). This conjecture was proposed by \textit{S. Garoufalidis} [Quantum Topol. 2, No. 1, 43--69 (2011; Zbl 1228.57004)]. \textit{E. Kalfagianni} and \textit{A. T. Tran} [New York J. Math. 21, 905--941 (2015; Zbl 1331.57022)] proposed a strong slope conjecture, which associates to each Jones slope a certain essential surface with a given Euler characteristic and number of boundary components. The slope conjecture has been proved for several classes of knots. In this paper the slope conjecture and strong slope conjecture are proved for pretzel knots \(P(1/r ,1/s ,1/t)\), where \(r\), \(s\), \(t\) are odd, \(r < -1\), \(s,t >1\) and either (a) \(2| r | < s,t\), or (b) \(| r | > s\) or \(| r | > t\). The proof consist of two parts. First, by a calculation the set of Jones slopes is determined. Second, by using the algorithm of \textit{A. Hatcher} and \textit{U. Oertel} for Montesinos knots [Topology 28, No. 4, 453--480 (1989; Zbl 0686.57006)], the set of boundary slopes and the corresponding surfaces are constructed, which are shown to coincide with the ones predicted by the previous computations.