Asymptotics of Nahm sums at roots of unity (Q829649)

Nahm sums are expressions of the form \[ F_Q(q) = F_{A,B,C}(q) = \sum_{n\in \mathbb{Z}_{\geq 0}^N} \frac{q^{\frac{1}{2}n^t An + Bn + C}}{(q)_{n_1}\dots (q)_{n_N}} \in \mathbb{Z}((q^{\frac{1}{d}})), \] where \(A\) is a symmetric positive definite \(N\times N\) matrix with rational entries, \(B\in \mathbb{Q}^N\) is a column vector, \(C\in \mathbb{Q}\), and \(d\) is any denominator of the quadratic form \(Q(n) = \frac{1}{2}n^t An + Bn + C\). The main result (Theorem 3.1) of this paper is a formula for the all-order radial asymptotics of Nahm sums near roots of unity. The explicit yet complicated formula can be found in equations (17, 18, 19, 14, 7) in the paper. Roughly, the formula is given in terms of the unique solution \((z_1,\dots,z_N)\) in \((0,1)^N\) of Nahm's equation \[ 1-z_i = \prod_{j=1}^{N}z_j^{A_{ij}}\quad(i=1,\dots, N), \] and the formal power series in the radial asymptotics is given in terms of a formal Gaussian integration. The asymptotic formula has a number of applications. One is a proof [\textit{F. Calegari} et al., ``Bloch groups, algebraic K-theory, units, and Nahm's conjecture'', Preprint, \url{arXiv:1712.04887}] of Nahm's conjecture relating the modularity of Nahm sums to the vanishing of the associated element of the Bloch group of \(\overline{\mathbb{Q}}\). Another is a connection between Nahm sums and \(q\)-series invariants of knots, which is explained in a recent preprint by the authors.