Ergodicity of mapping class group actions on representation varieties. II: Surfaces with boundary (Q1423605)

[Part I by the authors in Comment. Math. Helv. 77, 339--362 (2002; Zbl 1004.22010).] Let \(\Sigma\) be a compact oriented surface of genus \(g\) with \(n+1\) components and \(K\) a compact connected Lie group. Let \(\Gamma\) be a mapping class group of \(\Sigma\). Fix a set of conjugacy classes \(\{ C_j \subset K\} _{j=0}^n \) one for each boundary component and let \(C=\prod _{j=0}^n C_j \). The main result of the paper: Fix \(g>1\) and \(n\geq -1\). With respect to \(\mu, \Gamma\) acts ergodically on the connected components of \(\Hom_C (\pi _1 (\Sigma ),K)/K\). There is also given a variation of this proposition.