Volumes of \(\operatorname{SL}_n(\mathbb{C})\)-representations of hyperbolic 3-manifolds (Q1757332)

Let $M$ be a compact, connected, oriented three-manifold with a union of tori as boundary such that the interior of $M$ admits a complete finite-volume hyperbolic structure, and let $\pi_1 M$ be the fundamental group of $M$. Then there exists a well-defined notion of volume of a representation $\rho$ of $\pi_1 M$ in $\mathrm{SL}_n \mathbb{C}$, which we denote by $\mathrm{vol}(M,\rho)$. \par In this paper, the authors give an infinitesimal formula for the variation of the volume in the representation variety $\mathrm{Hom}(\pi_1 M, \mathrm{SL}_n \mathbb{C})$ for arbitrary $n$ and for differentiable deformations of any representation, independently of the existence of decorated triangulations. This formula recovers Hodgson's formula in the Dehn filling space for $n=2$, and the variation on the space of decorated triangulations obtained by \textit{N. Bergeron}, \textit{E. Falbel} and \textit{A. Guilloux} [Geom. Topol. 18, No. 4, 1911--1971 (2014; Zbl 1365.57023)] for $n=3$ and by \textit{T. Dimofte}, \textit{M. Gabella} and \textit{A. B. Goncharov} [J. High Energy Phys. 2016, No. 11, Paper No. 151, 147 p. (2016; Zbl 1390.81320)] for general $n$. \par More precisely, let the boundary $\partial M$ of $M$ consist of $k$ oriented tori $T_1^2, \dotsc, T_k^2$ and choose ordered generators $\ell_i$ and $m_i$ of $\pi_1 T_i^2$ with the orientation of $T_i^2$. Assume that $\rho_t$ is a differentiable path of representations in $\mathrm{Hom}(\pi_1 M, \mathrm{SL}_n \mathbb{C})$, which guarantees the existence of paths of matrices $A_i(t) \in \mathrm{SL}_n \mathbb{C}$ and of upper-triangular matrices $a_i(t), b_i(t) \in \mathfrak{sl}_n \mathbb{C}$ such that $\rho_t(\ell_i) = A_i(t) \, \mathrm{exp}(a_i(t)) \, A_i(t)^{-1}$ and $\rho_t(m_i) = A_i(t) \, \mathrm{exp}(b_i(t)) \, A_i(t)^{-1}$, and assume that $A_i(t)$, $a_i(t)$ and $b_i(t)$ are differentiable. Then \[ \frac{d}{dt} \mathrm{vol}(M,\rho_t) = \sum_{i=1}^{k} \mathrm{tr}( \mathfrak{R}(b_i)\mathfrak{I}(\dot{a}_i) - \mathfrak{R}(a_i)\mathfrak{I}(\dot{b}_i) ),\] where $\mathfrak{R}(z)$ and $\mathfrak{I}(z)$ denote the real and imaginary parts of a complex matrix $z \in \mathfrak{sl}_n \mathbb{C}$, respectively.