Character varieties of double twist links (Q907780)

The paper under review computes the character variety of a family of two-bridge links in \(\mathrm{SL}(2,\mathbb C)\). These links are denoted by \(J(k,l)\), with \(k,l\) integers, and they are obtained from two tangles with \(k\) and \(l \) half-twists (they are \([k,-l]\) in Conway's notation). When the product \(kl\) is even, \(J(k,l)\) is a knot and its character variety has been studied by \textit{M. L. Macasieb} et al. [Proc. Lond. Math. Soc. (3) 103, No. 3, 473--507 (2011; Zbl 1231.57013)]. This paper deals with the case \(kl\) odd, that is when \(J(k,l)\) is a two-component link. In addition, the authors assume \(| k|, |l|>1\), which is equivalent to hyperbolicity of \(J(k,l)\). The character variety of a link has a component of abelian/reduced characters and at least one component containing irreducible characters. The paper computes the algebraic properties of the components of irreducible characters. The first result are explicit equations describing the character variety of \(J(k,l)\), which is a hypersurface in complex affine space \(\mathbb C^3\), by means of Chebyshev polynomials depending on \(k\) and \(l\). Next, the authors prove that it is birational to the product of a plane curve \(C(k,l)\) with the complex line \(\mathbb C\), with \(C(k,l)\) smooth and irreducible when \(k\neq l\). The genus of \(C(k,l)\) and the degree of irrationality of the canonical component of the character variety are computed. Finally, a smooth projective model of the character variety of \(J(3, 2n+1)\) is described as the result of several blow-ups on the product of projective lines \(\mathbb{P}^1\times \mathbb{P}^1\).