Narrow Results

The colored Jones function of a knot is a sequence of Laurent polynomials. It was shown by Le and the author that such sequences are q-holonomic, that is, they satisfy linear q-difference equations with coefficients Laurent polynomials in q and qⁿ. We show from first principles that q-holonomic sequences give rise to modules over a q-Weyl ring. Frohman–Gelca–LoFaro have identified the latter ring with the ring of even functions of the quantum torus, and with the Kauffman bracket skein module of the torus. Via this identification, we study relations among the orthogonal, peripheral and recursion ideal of the colored Jones function, introduced by the above mentioned authors. In the second part of the paper, we convert the linear q-difference equations of the colored Jones function in terms of a hierarchy of linear ordinary differential equations for its loop expansion. This conversion is a version of the WKB method, and may shed some information on the problem of asymptotics of the colored Jones function of a knot.

With the exception of q-hypergeometric summation, the use of computer algebra packages implementing Zeilberger’s “holonomic systems approach” in a broader mathematical sense is less common in the field of q-series and basic hypergeometric functions. A major objective of this chapter is to popularize the usage of such tools also in these domains. Concrete case studies showing software in action introduce to the basic techniques. An application highlight is a new computer-assisted proof of the celebrated Ismail–Zhang formula, an important q-analog of a classical expansion formula of plane waves in terms of Gegenbauer polynomials.