Arithmetic harmonic analysis on character and quiver varieties. II (Q1935182)

Given a \(k\)-punctured Riemann surface \(M\) of genus \(g\), a generic character variety \({\mathcal M}_\mu\) is an algebraic variety whose points parametrize representations of the fundamental group of \(M\) into \(\mathrm{GL}_n({\mathbb K})\), with images in generic semisimple \(k\)-tuple of conjugacy classes \({\mathcal C}_1,\ldots, {\mathcal C}_k\) of type \({\mathbb \mu}=(\mu^1,\ldots,\mu^k)\), at the punctures (here \(\mu^i\) denotes a partition of \(n\) counting the multiplicity of each eigenvalue of \({\mathcal C}_i\)). This paper is the continuation of a previous one by the same authors [Duke Math. J. 160, 323--400 (2011; Zbl 1246.14063)]. There it was shown that \({\mathcal M}_\mu\) is nonsingular of pure dimension \(d\mu\), provided it is not empty. Moreover, a certain rational function \({\mathbb H}_\mu(z,w)\in{\mathbb Q}(z,w)\) was defined in terms of Macdonald symmetric functions. It was conjectured that the compactly supported mixed Hodge numbers \(\{h_c^{i,j;k}({\mathcal M}_\mu)\}_{i,j,k}\) satisfy \(h_c^{i,j;k}({\mathcal M}_\mu)=0\), unless \(i=j\), and \[ H_c({\mathcal M}_\mu;q,t)=(t\sqrt q)^{d_\mu}{\mathbb H}_\mu(-t\sqrt q,{1\over \sqrt q}),\eqno(1) \] where \(H_c({\mathcal M}_\mu;q,t)=:\sum_{i,j}h_c^{i,i;j}({\mathcal M}_\mu)q^it^j\) is the compactly supported mixed Hodge polynomial. A special case of the conjecture proved in [Duke Math. J. 160, 323--400 (2011; Zbl 1246.14063)] is used here to show that a non-empty character variety \(M_\mu\) is connected. For \(g=k=1\), set \(X={\mathbb C}^\times\times {\mathbb C}^\times\) and denote by \(X^{[n]}\) the Hilbert scheme of \(n\) points in \(X\). It is known from \textit{L. Göttsche} and \textit{W. Soergel} [Math. Ann., 296, 235--245 (1993; Zbl 0789.14002)] that the mixed Hodge polynomial of \(X^{[n]}\) is given by \(H_c(X^{[n]};1,t)=(qt^2)^n {\mathbb H}^{[n]}(-t\sqrt q,{1\over \sqrt q})\), where \({\mathbb H}^{[n]}(z,w)\) is a certain rational function in \({\mathbb Q}(z,w)\), and it is conjectured that \({\mathbb H}^{[n]}(z,w)={\mathbb H}_{(n-1,1)}(z,w)\). This conjecture together with (1) implies that \(X^{[n]}\) and \({\mathcal M}_{(n-1,1)}\) have the same mixed Hodge polynomial. Here some cases of the conjecture are proved, namely \({\mathbb H}^{[n]}(-0,w)={\mathbb H}_{(n-1,1)}(0,w)\) and \({\mathbb H}^{[n]}(w^{-1},w)={\mathbb H}_{(n-1,1)}(w^{-1},w)\). In addition, the following relation between character varieties and quasi-modular forms is deduced: \[ 1+\sum_{n\geq 1}{\mathbb H}_{(n-1,n)}(e^{u/2},e^{-u/2})T^n={1\over u}(e^{u/2}-e^{-u/2})\exp (2\sum_{k\geq 2}G_k(T){{u^k}\over {k!}}, \] where \(G_k(T)\) is the classical Eisenstein series for \(\mathrm{SL}(2,{\mathbb R})\). In particular, the coefficient of any power of \(u\) in the left hand side is in the ring of quasi-modular forms, generated by the \(G_k\), for \(k\geq 2\), over \({\mathbb Q}\). The paper is also concerned with further connections between the topology of generic character varieties \({\mathcal M}_\mu\), quiver representation and multiplicities in tensor products of irreducible characters of finite general linear groups. It is proved that \[ A_\mu(q)={\mathbb H}_\mu(0,\sqrt q), \] where \(A_\mu(q)\) is the value of a certain monic polynomial \(A_\mu(T)\in{\mathbb Z}[T]\) of degree \(d_\mu/2\), value which coincides with the number of absolutely indecomposable representations over \({\mathbb F}_q\) (up to isomorphism) of a \(v_\mu\)-dimensional comet-shaped quiver \(\Gamma_\mu\).