Boundedness of Dehn surgery slopes admitting hyperbolic $\mathrm{PSL}(2,\mathbb{R})$-representations for two-bridge knots

Abstract

We study Dehn fillings on two-bridge knots via non-abelian representations into $\mathrm{PSL}(2,\mathbb{R})$ whose meridian image is hyperbolic. For each fixed nontrivial two-bridge knot, we prove that the set of surgery slopes admitting such representations is bounded. Equivalently, Dehn fillings along slopes with sufficiently large absolute value admit no non-abelian $\mathrm{PSL}(2,\mathbb{R})$ representations with hyperbolic meridian image. The proof combines the Riley polynomial with Khoi's surgery-slope formula. On each admissible real algebraic branch, we express the meridian and longitude translation parameters as functions of the branch parameter and derive uniform endpoint estimates for their quotient. The resulting bound is effective in principle but not optimized. We also provide examples illustrating the parameter sets and endpoint behavior.