Witten's asymptotic expansion conjecture for WRT invariants

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Let MM be a closed and oriented 33-manifold. For each positive integer kk, let Zk(M)∈CZ_k(M)\in\mathbb{C} denote the SU⁡(2)\operatorname{SU}(2) WRT invariant for MM at level kk. Let CS⁡C(M)\operatorname{CS}_{\mathbb{C}}(M) denote the set of Chern--Simons invariants defined as the image of the Chern--Simons action from the SL⁡2(C)\operatorname{SL}_2(\mathbb{C}) character variety of MM to C/Z\mathbb{C}/\mathbb{Z}. The asymptotic expansion conjecture. For each Chern--Simons invariant θ∈CS⁡C(M)\theta\in\operatorname{CS}_{\mathbb{C}}(M), there exists a Puiseux series Zθ(k)∈C[k1/p∣p∈Z>0][[k−1]]Z_\theta(k)\in\mathbb{C}[k^{1/p}\mid p\in\mathbb{Z}_{>0}][[k^{-1}]] such that

Zk(M)∼∑θ∈CS⁡C(M)∪{0}e2πikθZθ(k)as k→∞.Z_k(M)\sim\sum_{\theta\in\operatorname{CS}_{\mathbb{C}}(M)\cup\{0\}}e^{2\pi\mathrm{i}k\theta}Z_\theta(k)\quad\text{as }k\to\infty.

This conjecture predicts the asymptotic expansion of WRT invariants in terms of Chern--Simons invariants and is a central problem in quantum topology. The source gives no resolution status.

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Other statements of this same problem, merged from separate entries. Each is equivalent to the statement above — proving any one settles them all.

  1. Witten's asymptotic expansion conjecture for WRT invariants

    Let YY be a closed oriented 33-manifold. For each SU⁡(2)\operatorname{SU}(2) Chern–Simons action S∈CS⁡(Y)S\in\operatorname{CS}(Y), there exists a Puiseux series

    WS(τ)∈⋃n=1∞C⁡((τ1n))W_S(\tau)\in\bigcup_{n=1}^{\infty}\operatorname{\mathbb{C}}((\tau^{\frac{1}{n}}))

    such that the WRT invariant of YY has the following Poincaré asymptotic expansion. Witten's asymptotic expansion conjecture.

    WRT⁡k(Y)∼∑S∈CS⁡(Y)e2πikSWS(k−1)as k→∞.\operatorname{WRT}_k(Y)\sim\sum_{S\in\operatorname{CS}(Y)}e^{2\pi i kS}W_S(k^{-1})\qquad\text{as }k\to\infty.

    This conjecture predicts that the large-level asymptotics of the WRT invariant decompose into contributions from the finitely many SU⁡(2)\operatorname{SU}(2) Chern–Simons actions. The supplied status is open, although the paper's abstract states that the conjecture is proved for general Seifert fibered integral homology 33-spheres.

    source: Jørgen Ellegaard Andersen, Li Han, Yong Li, William Elbæk Mistegård, David Sauzin and Shanzhong Sun, “A proof of Witten's asymptotic expansion conjecture for WRT invariants of Seifert fibered homology spheres”, arXiv:2510.10678 (2025).

References

Primary source

Yuya Murakami, “A framework for proving quantum modularity: Application to Witten's asymptotic expansion conjecture”, arXiv:2508.21710 (2025).

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