Schottky presentations of positive representations (Q2122078)

The paper under review deals with higher Teichmüller spaces for an oriented surface \(\Sigma\) of negative Euler characteristic, \(\Gamma = \pi_1(\Sigma)\) its fundamental group, and \(G\) a simple real Lie group. These spaces are open subsets of \(\mathrm{Hom}(\Gamma, G)/\hspace{-1mm}/G\). For closed surfaces the first such spaces were obtained by \textit{N. J. Hitchin} in [Topology 31, No. 3, 449--473 (1992; Zbl 0769.32008)] and are now called Hitchin components. Taking \(G = \text{PSL}(n,\mathbb{R})\), those components were studied by \textit{V. Fock} and \textit{A. Goncharov} in [Publ. Math., Inst. Hautes Étud. Sci. 103, 1--211 (2006; Zbl 1099.14025)] and \textit{F. Labourie} in [Invent. Math. 165, No. 1, 51--114 (2006; Zbl 1103.32007)]. In this last paper, and for surfaces with boundary, the space of positive representations, analog to the Hitchin components, was defined. Later, \textit{M. Burger} et al. studied in [Ann. Math. (2) 172, No. 1, 517--566 (2010; Zbl 1208.32014)] a new family of higher Teichmüller spaces, that of maximal representations, for both bordered and unbordered surfaces. A feature appearing to connect these higher Teichmüller theories is the cyclic structure on the boundary of \(G\). Then, the authors of the present paper defined the concept of a generalized Schottky group of automorphisms of a space admitting a partial cyclic order, and proved that maximal representations for bordered surfaces are an example of it, [\textit{J.-P. Burelle} and \textit{N. Treib}, Geom. Dedicata 195, 215--239 (2018; Zbl 1400.22011)]. In the paper under review, a partial cyclic order on the space of complete oriented flags in \(\mathbb{R}^n\) is defined, and the Fock-Goncharov positive representations into \(\text{PSL}(n,\mathbb{R})\) are shown to be generalized Schottky groups acting on that cyclically ordered space (Theorem 1.1). If the Schottky group is purely hyperbolic, that is to say, the intervals defining it do not share endpoints, then the representation \(\rho : F_g \rightarrow \mathrm{PSL}(n,\mathbb{R})\) is \(B\)-Anosov, for \(F_g\) the free group on \(g\) generators, and \(B\) a Borel subgroup (Theorem 1.3). Then, for even \(n = 2k\), a fundamental domain is built in the projective space \(\mathbb{RP}^{2k-1}\). If the Schottky representation is purely hyperbolic Anosov, the orbit of that fundamental domain is the cocompact domain of discontinuity \(D \subset \mathbb{RP}^{2k-1}\). In Theorem 1.4 the fundamental domain is proved to be bounded by finitely many polynomial hypersurfaces. A similar result is obtained in Theorem 1.5 for \(n = 4k+3\), but then \(D\) is a subset of the sphere \(S^{4k+2}\). No analog result, neither in projective space nor in sphere, holds for \(n = 4k+1\).