Collar lemma for Hitchin representations (Q2356964)

For the hyperbolic structures in the Teichmüller space of a surface \(S\), there is a classical result due to \textit{L. Keen} [in: Discontin. Groups Riemann Surf., Proc. 1973, Conf. Univ. Maryland, 263--268 (1974; Zbl 0304.30014)] known as the collar lemma. It gives an effective lower bound on the width of the maximal collar neighborhood of a simple closed curve in the hyperbolic surface. A consequence of this lemma is that if two closed curves in a hyperbolic surface have nonvanishing geometric intersection number and one is simple, then there is an explicit lower bound on the length of the other one in terms of the length of the first one. This result holds for every hyperbolic structure on the surface and is a powerful tool that has been used to understand and classify surfaces. In this article, the authors prove an analog of this classical collar lemma in the setting of Hitchin representations where the second Hitchin component corresponds to the Teichmüller space of the surface.