The colored Jones polynomials as vortex partition functions

Abstract We construct 3D $$ \mathcal{N} $$ N = 2 abelian gauge theories on $$ \mathbbm{S} $$ S 2 × $$ \mathbbm{S} $$ 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 $$ \mathbbm{S} $$ S 3. The colored Jones polynomials are obtained as the Wilson loop expectation values along knots in SU(2) Chern-Simons gauge theories on $$ \mathbbm{S} $$ S 3, and then our construction provides an explicit correspondence between 3D $$ \mathcal{N} $$ 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.