Fuchsian affine actions of surface groups. (Q1609838)

Let \(\lambda_q\) be the irreducible representation of \(SL(2,\mathbb R)\) in \(SL(q,\mathbb R)\). The author calls a subgroup of \(SL(q,\mathbb R)\) Fuchsian if it is conjugate to a discrete subgroup of \(\lambda_q(SL(2,\mathbb R))\). He proves that the fundamental group of a compact surface does not act properly on the affine space of dimension \(q\) by affine transformations if its linear part is Fuchsian. The interesting cases are the dimensions of the form \(q=4p+3\). For the case \(q=3\) this was known before. The author's proof uses a holomorphic interpretation of Margulis' invariant and a result on Anosov flows. Note that this result is in sharp contrast to the behavior of free groups.