The colored Jones polynomials as vortex partition functions

Abstract

We construct 3D $\mathcal{N}=2$ abelian gauge theories on $\mathbb{S}^2 \times \mathbb{S}^1$ labeled by knot diagrams whose K-theoretic vortex partition functions, each of which is a building block of twisted indices, give the colored Jones polynomials of knots in $\mathbb{S}^3$. The colored Jones polynomials are obtained as the Wilson loop expectation values along knots in $SU(2)$ Chern-Simons gauge theories on $\mathbb{S}^3$, and then our construction provides an explicit correspondence between 3D $\mathcal{N}=2$ abelian gauge theories and 3D $SU(2)$ Chern-Simons gauge theories. We verify, in particular, the applicability of our constructions to a class of tangle diagrams of 2-bridge knots with certain specific twists.