Mahler Measure and the Vol-Det Conjecture

The Vol-Det Conjecture relates the volume and the determinant of a hyperbolic alternating link in $S^3$. We use exact computations of Mahler measures of two-variable polynomials to prove the Vol-Det Conjecture for many infinite families of alternating links. We conjecture a new lower bound for the Mahler measure of certain two-variable polynomials in terms of volumes of hyperbolic regular ideal bipyramids. Associating each polynomial to a toroidal link using the toroidal dimer model, we show that every polynomial which satisfies this conjecture with a strict inequality gives rise to many infinite families of alternating links satisfying the Vol-Det Conjecture. We prove this new conjecture for six toroidal links by rigorously computing the Mahler measures of their two-variable polynomials.