Singularities of free group character varieties (Q1928796)

Let \(F_r\) denote the free group with \(r\) generators and let \(G\) be a complex linear algebraic group or a maximal compact subgroup of such a group. Then \(\Hom(F_r,G)\cong G^r\) parametrizes group homomorphisms \(\rho:F_r\to G\). If one identifies homomorphisms which differ only by conjugation by an element \(g \in G\), one has to study ``character varieties'' \(X_{F_r}(G)\) arising as quotients with respect to the diagonal action by conjugation of \(G\) (the categorical quotient if \(G\) is a complex algebraic group and the geometric quotient if \(G\) is compact). The paper deals with smoothness and singular loci of such character varieties \(X_{F_r}(G)\) for \(G=\mathrm{GL}_n({\mathbb C})\), \(\mathrm{SL}_n({\mathbb C})\), \(\mathrm{SU}_n({\mathbb C})\) and \(\mathrm{U}_n({\mathbb C})\). With few (explicitly listed) exceptions a point in the character variety is singular if and only if the corresponding linear representation is reducible. The authors also deduce a list of all cases in which these character varieties are homeomorphic to a manifold with boundary.