The geometry of maximal components of the \(\mathsf{PSp}(4, \mathbb{R})\) character variety (Q2001903)

In this paper, the authors construct a natural complex structure on the space of maximal representations into any rank two real Lie group of Hermitian type. They describe the space of maximal components of the character variety of surface group representations into $\mathsf{PSp}(4,\mathbb{R})$ and $\mathsf{Sp}(4,\mathbb{R})$. Special attention is placed on components which contain singularities. To understand the singularities, the authors describe the local topology around every singular point and they show how the type of the singularity is related with the Zariski closure of the associated representation. They also describe the quotient of the maximal components of $\mathsf{PSp}(4,\mathbb{R})$ and $\mathsf{Sp}(4,\mathbb{R})$ by the action of the mapping class group as a holomorphic submersion over the moduli space of curves. For every real rank 2 Lie group of Hermitian type, the authors construct a mapping class group invariant complex structure on the maximal components. For the groups $\mathsf{PSp}(4,\mathbb{R})$ and $\mathsf{Sp}(4,\mathbb{R})$, they give a mapping class group invariant parametrization of each maximal component as an explicit holomorphic fiber bundle over Teichmüller space. Special attention is put on the connected components which are singular: the authors give a precise local description of the singularities and their geometric interpretation. They also describe the quotient of the maximal components of $\mathsf{PSp}(4,\mathbb{R})$ and $\mathsf{Sp}(4,\mathbb{R})$ by the action of the mapping class group as a holomorphic submersion over the moduli space of curves. These results are proven in two steps: first they use Higgs bundles to give a nonmapping class group equivariant parametrization, then they prove an analog of Labourie's conjecture for maximal $\mathsf{PSp}(4,\mathbb{R})$-representations. Let $\Gamma$ be the fundamental group of a closed oriented surface $S$ of genus at least two. The subspace of maximal representations of the $\mathsf{PSp}(4,\mathbb{R})$-character variety will be denoted by $\mathcal{X}^{\text{max}}\mathsf{PSp}(4,\mathbb{R})$. This paper is organized as follows: Section 1 is an introduction to the subject. In Section 2, the authors introduce character varieties, Higgs bundles and some Lie theory for the groups $\mathsf{PSp}(4,\mathbb{R})$ and $\mathsf{Sp}(4,\mathbb{R})$. In Section 3, they describe holomorphic orthogonal bundles, with special attention to the description of the moduli space of holomorphic $O(2,\mathbb{C})$-bundles. In Section 4, Higgs bundles over a fixed Riemann surface are used to describe the topology of $\mathcal{X}^{\text{max}}\mathsf{PSp}(4,\mathbb{R})$; special attention is placed on the singular components. In Section 5, they prove analogous results for $\mathcal{X}^{\text{max}}\mathsf{Sp}(4,\mathbb{R})$. In Section 6, they prove Labourie's conjecture concerning uniqueness of minimal surfaces. In Section 7, the universal Higgs bundle moduli space is constructed and in Section 8 the authors will put everything together and describe the action of $MCG(S)$ on $\mathcal{X}^{\text{max}}\mathsf{PSp}(4,\mathbb{R})$ and $\mathcal{X}^{\text{max}}\mathsf{PSp}(4,\mathbb{R})$.