Title
DOI
10.17077/etd.8xz610tq
Document Type
Dissertation
Date of Degree
Summer 2016
Degree Name
PhD (Doctor of Philosophy)
Degree In
Mathematics
First Advisor
Charles Frohman
First Committee Member
Ben Cooper
Second Committee Member
Maggy Tomova
Third Committee Member
Gerhard Strohmer
Fourth Committee Member
Oguz Durumeric
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
Pages
vi, 65 pages
Bibliography
Includes bibliographical references (pages 61-65).
Copyright
Copyright © 2016 Nathan Druivenga
Recommended Citation
Druivenga, Nathan. "Quantum topology and me." PhD (Doctor of Philosophy) thesis, University of Iowa, 2016.
https://doi.org/10.17077/etd.8xz610tq