Eigenvalues and entropy of a Hitchin representation (Q2407545)

Let \(\Sigma\) be a closed orientable surface of genus greater than 1. A representation \(\pi_{1}\Sigma \rightarrow \mathrm{PSL}(d, \mathbb R)\) is Fuchsian if it factors as \[ \pi_{1}\Sigma \rightarrow \mathrm{PSL}(2, \mathbb R) \rightarrow \mathrm{PSL}(d, \mathbb R), \] where the first arrow is a choice of a hyperbolic metric on \(\Sigma\), and the second arrow is the irreducible linear action of \(\mathrm{SL}(2, \mathbb R)\) on \({\mathbb R}^{d}\). A Hitchin component of \(\mathrm{PSL}(d, \mathbb R)\) is a connected component of \[ X(\pi_{1}\Sigma, \mathrm{PSL}(d, \mathbb R)) = \mathrm{hom}(\pi_{1}\Sigma, \mathrm{PSL}(d, \mathbb R))/\mathrm{PSL}(d, \mathbb R) \] that contains a Fuchsian representation. Hitchin proved that there are either one, or two Hitchin components and that each of these components is diffeomorphic to an open finite-dimensional Euclidean ball. The authors show that the critical exponent of a representation \(\rho\) in the Hitchin component of \(\mathrm{PSL}(d, \mathbb R)\) is bounded above, the least upper bound being attained only in the Fuchsian locus. This provides a rigid inequality for the area of a minimal surface on \(\rho X\), where \(X\) is the symmetric space of \(\mathrm{PSL}(d, \mathbb R)\). The proof relies on a construction useful to proof a regularity statement: if the Frenet equivariant curve of \(\rho\) is smooth, then \(\rho\) is Fuchsian.