Alexander polynomial, finite type invariants and volume of hyperbolic knots

Abstract

We show that given $n>0$, there exists a hyperbolic knot $K$ with trivial Alexander polynomial, trivial finite type invariants of order $\le n$, and such that the volume of the complement of $K$ is larger than $n$. This contrasts with the known statement that the volume of the complement of a hyperbolic alternating knot is bounded above by a linear function of the coefficients of the Alexander polynomial of the knot. As a corollary to our main result we obtain that, for every $m>0$, there exists a sequence of hyperbolic knots with trivial finite type invariants of order $\le m$ but arbitrarily large volume. We discuss how our results fit within the framework of relations between the finite type invariants and the volume of hyperbolic knots, predicted by Kashaev’s hyperbolic volume conjecture.