Representation growth of linear groups (Q2425583)

The representation zeta function associated to a group \(\Gamma\) is given by \(\mathcal Z_\Gamma (s) = \sum^\infty_{n=1} r_n (\Gamma) n^{-s}\), where \(r_n (\Gamma)\) is the number of \(n\)-dimensional irreducible complex representations of \(\Gamma\). When \(\Gamma\) is an arithmetic group satisfying the congruence subgroup property \(\mathcal Z_\Gamma (s)\) has an Euler factorization. The factor at infinity is known as the Witten zeta function, which counts the rational representations of the given algebraic group and whose abscissa of convergence is determined in this paper. The local factor at a finite place counts the finite representations of suitable open subgroups of the associated simple group over a local field. The authors prove that the abscissa of convergence goes to 0 for an anisotropic group but is bounded away from 0 for an isotropic group. This result shows that there is an unconditional positive lower bound for the abscissa for an arbitrary finitely generated linear group.