Gauge Theory and Skein Modules

Abstract: We study skein modules of 3-manifolds by embedding them into the Hilbert spaces of 4d ${\cal N}=4$ super-Yang-Mills theories. When the 3-manifold has reduced holonomy, we present an algorithm to determine the dimension and the list of generators of the skein module with a general gauge group. The analysis uses a deformation preserving ${\cal N}=1$ supersymmetry to express the dimension as a sum over nilpotent orbits. We find that the dimensions often differ between Langlands-dual pairs beyond the A-series, for which we provide a physical explanation involving chiral symmetry breaking and 't Hooft operators. We also relate our results to the structure of $\mathbb{C}^*$-fixed loci in the moduli space of Higgs bundles. This approach helps to clarify the relation between the gauge-theoretic framework of Kapustin and Witten with other versions of the geometric Langlands program, explains why the dimensions of skein modules do not exhibit a TQFT-like behavior, and provides a physical interpretation of the skein-valued curve counting of Ekholm and Shende.