\(A\)-polynomials of a family of two-Bridge knots (Q887792)

This paper is concerned with the computation of the \(A\)-polynomial for the double twist knots \(J(k,l)\) which are a subclass of two-bridge knots. It is known that the \(A\)-polynomial of a \(3\)-manifold \(M\) with a single torus cusp is a two-variable polynomial which encodes how eigenvalues of a fixed meridian and longitude are related under representations from the fundamental group of \(M\) into \(\mathrm{SL}_2(\mathbb C)\). This polynomial has proven to be difficult to compute; data has been collected for some families of knots. In this paper, the author shows that the \(A\)-polynomial of the \(J(k,l)\) knots can be computed as an explicit resultant. In addition, the author performs explicit computations in some special cases and gives a recursive definition for the \(A\)-polynomial of the \(J(4,2n)\) and \(J(5,2n)\) knots and for the canonical component of the \(A\)-polynomials of the \(J(2n,2n)\) knots. This work recovers some previous results.