Knots and their related \(q\)-series (Q6063899)

This paper reveals some interesting relations between \(q\)-series and quantum invariants, for the three simplest hyperbolic knots. For the \(4_1\) knot, it was proved in [\textit{S. Garoufalidis} and \textit{D. Zagier}, ``Knots, perturbative series and quantum modularity'', Preprint, \url{arXiv:2111.06645}] that the \textit{Kashaev invariant} has a precise asymptotic formula \(\langle 4_1\rangle_N\sim N^{3/2}\widehat{\Phi}\big(2\pi i/N\big),\) for a certain power series \(\widehat{\Phi}\) which can be explicitly written down. Empirically discovered are two surprising observations: as \(\tau\) tends to \(0\) in the interior of the upper half-plane, \begin{align*} G_0(e^{2\pi i\tau})&\sim\sqrt{\tau}\big(\widehat{\Phi}(2\pi i\tau)-i\widehat{\Phi}(-2\pi i\tau)\big), \\ G_1(e^{2\pi i\tau})&\sim\frac{1}{\sqrt{\tau}}\big(\widehat{\Phi}(2\pi i\tau)+i\widehat{\Phi}(-2\pi i\tau)\big). \end{align*} Here \(G_0,G_1\) are \(q\)-series determined by the \textit{state integral} \(Z_{4_1}\) of the Andersen-Kashaev invariant [\textit{J. E. Andersen} and \textit{R. Kashaev}, Commun. Math. Phys. 330, No. 3, 887--934 (2014; Zbl 1305.57024)], through \[2i(\tilde{q}/q)^{1/24}Z_{4_1}(\tau)=\tau^{1/2}G_1(q)G_0(\tilde{q})-\tau^{-1/2}G_0(q)G_1(\tilde{q}),\] where \(q=e^{2\pi i\tau}\) and \(\tilde{q}=e^{-2\pi i\tau}\); actually, such a factorization holds in general [\textit{S. Garoufalidis} and \textit{R. Kashaev}, Math. Res. Lett. 24, No. 3, 781--801 (2017; Zbl 1407.57010)]. Moreover, it is observed that \(\mathrm{Ind}_{4_1}(q)=G_0(q)G_1(q)\), where \(\mathrm{Ind}_{4_1}\) is the \textit{3d index}, another topological invariant from mathematical physics. Such coincidences linking several quantum invariants together are also found for the \(5_2\) knot and the \((-2,3,7)\)-pretzel knot. Additionally, some new phenomena are also discussed. These discoveries as well as further thoughts lead the authors to propose a notion of matrix-valued \(\mathrm{PSL}_2(\mathbb{Z})\)-cocycle \(W^{\mathbb{R}}\) for a knot. They conjecture \(W^{\mathbb{R}}\) to coincide with another cocycle given in [\textit{S. Garoufalidis} and \textit{D. Zagier}, loc. cit.], and prove the conjecture for \(4_1\).