The topology of parabolic character varieties of free groups (Q2439340)

``Let \(G\) be a complex affine algebraic reductive group, and let \(K\) be a maximal compact subgroup of \(G\). Take any integer \(m \geq 0\), fix elements \(h_1,\dots,h_m\) in \(K\), and denote by \(C_j^G\) resp. by \(C_j^K\), the conjugacy class of \(h_j\) in \(G\) resp. in \(K\). For any \(n \geq 0\), let \(F_{m+n}\) be the free group on \(m+n\) generators; the \(i\)-th generator of \(F_{m+n}\) will be denoted by \(e_i\). Define the parabolic character varieties of \(F_{m+n}\) by \[ H_{\mathbf{h},n}^{G}:=\{ \rho \in \mathrm{Hom}(F_{m+n},G) \mid \rho(e_j) \in C_j^G, \forall 1 \leq j \leq m\} \] and \[ H_{\mathbf{h},n}^{K}:=\{ \rho \in \mathrm{Hom}(F_{m+n},K) \mid \rho(e_j) \in C_j^K, \forall 1 \leq j \leq m\}.\text{''} \] In Sections 2 and 3, the authors proves the main result of the paper (Theorem 1) stating that the categorical quotient \(H_{\mathbf{h},n}^{G}/\!/G\) is a strong deformation retraction of \(H_{\mathbf{h},n}^{K}/K\). In particular, these quotients are thus homotopy equivalent. This generalizes the main result of [\textit{C. Florentino} and \textit{S. Lawton}, Math. Ann. 345, No. 2, 453--489 (2009; Zbl 1200.14093)], where it was shown that there is a strong deformation retraction from \(\mathrm{Hom}(F_n,G)/\!/G\) to \(\mathrm{Hom}(F_n,K)/K\). In Sections 4 and 5, the authors ``consider various examples of parabolic character varieties and show how they relate to relative character varieties.''