The \(\operatorname{SL}(2,\mathbb{C})\)-character variety of \(8_{18}\) (Q6937025)

Character varieties have been playing a significant role in low dimensional topology, but are still considered notoriously difficult to compute. For a knot \(K\subset S^3\), the focus is on the variety of irreducible characters, \(\chi ^{irr}(K)\), discarding reducible characters, as these are relatively easy to investigate. An effective method of computing \(\chi ^{irr}(K)\) for arborescent knots \(K\) was developed by the author in previous work [\textit{H. Chen}, ``The $\mathrm{SL}(2,\mathbb{C})$-character variety of an arborescent knot'', Preprint, \url{arXiv:2304.10345}]. The knot \(T=8_{18}\) is the first non-arborescent knot in Rolfsen's table, and it is hyperbolic.\N\NIn this article, the author determines the character variety of \(T\) using a software-free, easy to follow, and instructive procedure. He adopts a \(4\)-generator presentation compatible with the rotational symmetry, in order to describe \(\chi ^{irr}(T)\) as a symmetric affine algebraic set. Beneficially, he is able to parameterize each component in a moderately succinct way, and to present \(\chi ^{irr}(T)\) explicitly.