The bounded Borel class and 3-manifold groups (Q1756018)

The purpose of this paper is to study representations of torsion-free lattices $\Gamma$ in $\mathrm{PSL}(2,\mathbb{C})$ (i.e. fundamental groups of complete hyperbolic 3-manifolds of finite volume $M=\mathbb{H}^3/\Gamma$) into $\mathrm{PSL}(n,\mathbb{C})$. \par Note that the continuous cohomology group $H^3_c(\mathrm{PSL}(n,\mathbb{C}),\mathbb{R})$ is generated by a single class $\beta$, which the authors call Borel class (it is normalized so as to get the volume form of the hyperbolic metric when $n=2$). Given a representation $\rho:\Gamma\rightarrow\mathrm{PSL}(n,\mathbb{C})$, the authors define an invariant $\mathcal{B}(\rho)$ by evaluating the pull-back of $\rho^*\beta$ on $M$ (this is well-defined when $\Gamma$ cocompact, and is given a precise meaning via bounded cohomology in the non-cocompact case). They call the corresponding number the Borel invariant of the representation. \par The authors prove that the Borel invariant satisfies $|\mathcal{B}(\rho)|\leq \frac{n(n^2-1)}{6}\mathrm{Vol}(M)$, with equality if and only if $\rho$ is conjugate to the geometric representation (i.e. the one obtained from the unique representation of $\mathrm{PSL}(2,\mathbb{C})$ into $\mathrm{PSL}(n,\mathbb{C})$, possibly composed with complex conjugation). A key ingredient in the proof is the construction of an extension to degenerated configuration of flags of a cocycle defined by Goncharov. \par The Borel invariant coincides with the volume invariant computed from triangulations that appears in the works of \textit{N. Bergeron} et al. [Geom. Topol. 18, No. 4, 1911--1971 (2014; Zbl 1365.57023)], \textit{S. Garoufalidis} et al. [Duke Math. J. 164, No. 11, 2099--2160 (2015; Zbl 1335.57034)], \textit{T. Dimofte} et al. [J. High Energy Phys. 2016, No. 11, Paper No. 151, 147 p. (2016; Zbl 1390.81320)].