Volume invariant and maximal representations of discrete subgroups of Lie groups (Q2454437)

For a uniform lattice \(\Gamma\) in a semisimple Lie group \(G\), W. Goldman introduced a volume invariant \(v(\rho)\) used to characterize those representations \(\rho : \Gamma \to G\) which are injective and whose image is a discrete uniform subgroup of \(G\). But for representations of nonuniform lattices it is rather difficult to define such numerical invariant, because the fundamental class of noncompact manifolds vanishes in the top dimensional homology. The authors introduce and investigate a volume invariant \(\text{Vol}(\rho)\) for representations (in the above sense) of arbitrary lattices \(\Gamma \to G\), which generalizes the volume invariant \(v(\Gamma)\). In this paper \(\Gamma\) is a lattice (which may be nonuniform) in a connected semisimple Lie group \(G\) with trivial center and without compact factors. It is shown that the maximality of this volume invariant \(V(\rho)\) characterizes discrete, faithful representations of irreducible lattices \(\Gamma\). It is interesting to remark that the proof is divided into three parts -- for semisimple Lie groups \(G\) of higher rank, for simple \(G\) of rank 1 (except \(SO(2,1)\)) and separately for the Lie group \(SO(2,1)\) (more exactly, for \(PU(1,1)\)). Also it is proved that uniform lattices \(\Gamma \subset SU(n,1)\) in \(SU(m,1) \supset SU(n,1)\) (\(m \geq n\); it is the natural imbedding of \(SU(n,1)\)) and analogously in \(Sp(m,1) \supset SU(n,1)\) are locally rigid.