## Theses and Dissertations

#### Title

Quantum topology and me

Dissertation

Summer 2016

#### Degree Name

PhD (Doctor of Philosophy)

Mathematics

Charles Frohman

#### Abstract

This thesis has four chapters. After a brief introduction in Chapter 1, the $AJ$-conjecture is introduced in Chapter 2. The $AJ$-conjecture for a knot $K \subset S^3$ relates the $A$-polynomial and the colored Jones polynomial of $K$. If $K$ satisfies the $AJ$-conjecture, sufficient conditions on $K$ are given for the $(r,2)$-cable knot $C$ to also satisfy the $AJ$-conjecture. If a reduced alternating diagram of $K$ has $\eta_+$ positive crossings and $\eta_-$ negative crossings, then $C$ will satisfy the $AJ$-conjecture when $(r+4\eta_-)(r-4\eta_+)>0$ and the conditions of Theorem 2.2.1 are satisfied. Chapter 3 is about quantum curves and their relation to the $AJ$ conjecture. The variables $l$ and $m$ of the $A$-polynomial are quantized to operators that act on holomorphic functions. Motivated by a heuristic definition of the Jones polynomial from quantum physics, an annihilator of the Chern-Simons section of the Chern-Simons line bundle is found. For torus knots, it is shown that the annihilator matches with that of the colored Jones polynomial. In Chapter 4, a tangle functor is defined using semicyclic representations of the quantum group $U_q(sl_2)$. The semicyclic representations are deformations of the standard representation used to define Kashaev's invariant for a knot $K$ in $S^3$. It is shown that at certain roots of unity the semicyclic tangle functor recovers Kashaev's invariant.

#### Keywords

AJ Conjecture, Chern-Simons, Colored Jones Polynomial, Quantum, Semicyclic, Tangle Functors

vi, 65 pages

#### Bibliography

Includes bibliographical references (pages 61-65).

COinS