Topological quantum computation is hyperbolic (Q6109364)

Quantum invariants of knots are a class of invariants that can be defined using quantum groups. The first and certainly most famous such invariant is the Jones polynomial. When the quantum parameter is set to be a root of unity, these invariants can produce a Topological Quantum Field Theory (TQFT) using a standard procedure outlined by Witten, Reshetikhin, and Turaev. These invariants are generally calculated using knot diagrams and the calculations are normally extremely hard, even at roots of unity. The author shows that there exists a polynomial time algorithm that converts a knot diagram to a hyperbolic one with almost identical quantum invariant. The key to his argument is Vafa's theorem: In any (2+1)-dimensional Witten-Reshetikin-Turaev TQFT determined by a modular fusion category, the square of the braiding of any two objects is a finite order linear map. Vafa's theorem allows the insertion into the knot diagram of a sequence of consecutive full twists without changing the quantum invariant. This leads the author to conclude that the hyperbolic geometry of knots can not speed-up the calculation/estimation of quantum invariants. The author also shows that it is still as hard to calculate/estimate quantum invariants from other special classes of knot diagrams such as, hyperbolic knots with minimal crossing numbers.