Maximal representations of complex hyperbolic lattices into \(\mathrm{SU}(m,n)\) (Q496180)

Let \(\Gamma\) be a lattice (not necessarily uniform) in the Hermitian group \(\mathrm{SU}(1, p)\), where \(p > 1\). This paper is devoted to Hermitian representations of such lattices. The maximal representation can be defined as such a representation which maximizes some invariant (a generalized Toledo invariant), which can be defined in terms of bounded cohomology. Such representations are always discrete and faithful. It was conjectured that every maximal representation of a complex hyperbolic lattice \(\Gamma \subset \mathrm{SU}(1,p)\) to a Hermitian Lie group is superrigid, i.e. it extends, up to a representation of \(\Gamma\) in the compact centralizer of the image, to a representation of the group \(\mathrm{SU}(1, p)\). In this article it is shown that this conjecture is true for Zariski dense representations in \(\mathrm{SU}(m, n)\), with \(m \neq n\). It is proved that if \(m \neq n\), then every Zariski dense maximal representation of \(\Gamma\) into \(\mathrm{SU}(m, n)\) is the restriction of a representation of \(\mathrm{SU}(1, p)\). So there are no Zariski dense maximal representations of \(\Gamma\) into \(\mathrm{SU}(m, n)\), if \(1 < m < n\). The proof is geometric.