An ergodic action of the outer automorphism group of a free group (Q2458414)

For any compact Lie group \(G\), the outer automorphism group \(\text{Out}(F_n)\) of the free group of rank \(n\geq 2\) acts on the character variety \(\Hom(F_n,G)/G\). The natural \(\Aut(F_n)\)-invariant volume form on \(\Hom(F_n,G)\) descends to an invariant measure on the character variety. The main result of this paper is that when \(n>2\) and \(G\) is a connected group locally isomorphic to a product of copies of \(\text{SU}(2)\) and \(U(1)\), the \(\text{Out}(F_n)\)-action on \(\Hom(F_n,G)/G\) is ergodic. This is a case of the general conjecture that the action on each component of \(\Hom(F_n,G)/G\) is ergodic for any compact Lie group \(G\). The analogous statement with a closed surface group in place of \(F_n\) is known by work of the author [Ann. Math. (2) 146, No.~3, 475--507 (1997; Zbl 0907.57009)] and \textit{D. Pickrell} and \textit{E. Z. Xia} [Comment. Math. Helv. 77, No.~2, 339--362 (2002; Zbl 1004.22010)]. The action is not ergodic when \(n=2\), as the trace of the commutator of the elements associated to a pair of generators of \(F_2\) is an invariant of the action. A corollary of the main result is that the only invariant finite-dimensional subrepresentation of the induced unitary representation of \(\text{Out}(F_n)\) on \(L^2(\Hom(F_n,G)/G)\) consists of constants. The proof is reduced to the case \(n=3\), for which there are explicit descriptions of the \(\text{SL}(2,\mathbb{C})\) character variety of \(F_3\) as a hypersurface in \(\mathbb{C}^7\), and the \(\text{SU}(2)\) character variety as a subset of the \(\text{SL}(2,\mathbb{C})\) character variety and also as a certain solid in \(\mathbb{R}^3\). Using these descriptions, the action of a specific automorphism of \(F_3\) can be analyzed and shown to preserve certain subsets on which it acts ergodically. A second automorphism mixes these invariant subsets sufficiently to give the ergodicity.