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Super-A-polynomial for knots and BPS states. (English) Zbl 1262.81170

Summary: We introduce and compute a 2-parameter family deformation of the A-polynomial that encodes the color dependence of the superpolynomial and that, in suitable limits, reduces to various deformations of the A-polynomial studied in the literature. These special limits include the t-deformation which leads to the “refined A-polynomial” introduced in the previous work of the authors and the Q-deformation which leads, by the conjecture of Aganagic and Vafa, to the augmentation polynomial of knot contact homology. We also introduce and compute the quantum version of the super-A-polynomial, an operator that encodes recursion relations for \(S^{\gamma}\)-colored HOMFLY homology. Much like its predecessor, the super-A-polynomial admits a simple physical interpretation as the defining equation for the space of SUSY vacua (= critical points of the twisted superpotential) in a circle compactification of the effective 3d \(N=2\) theory associated to a knot or, more generally, to a 3-manifold \(M\). Equivalently, the algebraic curve defined by the zero locus of the super-A-polynomial can be thought of as the space of open string moduli in a brane system associated with \(M\). As an inherent outcome of this work, we provide new interesting formulas for colored superpolynomials for the trefoil and the figure-eight knot.

MSC:

81T60 Supersymmetric field theories in quantum mechanics
53D55 Deformation quantization, star products
57Q45 Knots and links in high dimensions (PL-topology) (MSC2010)
14D21 Applications of vector bundles and moduli spaces in mathematical physics (twistor theory, instantons, quantum field theory)