Representations of the quantum Teichmüller space and invariants of surface diffeomorphisms (Q2464814)

For \(S\) a surface of genus \(g\) with \(p\geq 1\) punctures, the Teichmüller space \(\mathcal{T}(S)\) can be defined as the space of isotopy classes of complete hyperbolic metrics on \(S\). The paper is concerned with the representation theory of Liu's exponential version of Chekhov, Fock, and Kashaev's quantization of Teichmüller space [\textit{X. Liu}, The quantum Teichmüller space as a noncommutative algebraic object, arXiv:math.GT/0408361 (preprint, 2004)], denoted by \(\mathcal{T}^q_S\). Given an ideal triangulation \(\lambda\) of \(S\) and a number \(q=e^{\pi i\hbar}\in\mathbb{C}\), the Chekhov-Fock algebra \(\mathcal{T} \lambda^q\) is the algebra of formal Laurent polynomials in non-commuting variables \(X_1^{\pm1},\dots,X_n^{\pm1}\) corresponding to edges in \(\lambda\), modulo skew-commutativity relations \(X_i X_j= q^{2\sigma_{ij}}X_j X_i\) where \(\sigma_{ij}\in \mathbb{Z}\) are constants determined by \(\lambda\). The algebra of rational functions on the same variables is denoted by \(\widehat{\mathcal{T}}_\lambda^q\). The space \(\mathcal{T}_\lambda^q\) depends strongly on \(\lambda\), but moving from one ideal triangulation to another, \(\lambda\) to \(\lambda^\prime\), induces a canonical coordinate change isomorphism on the corresponding fraction algebras \(\widehat{\mathcal{T}}_\lambda^q\) to \(\widehat{\mathcal{T}}_{\lambda^\prime}^q\). Such a fraction algebra \(\widehat{\mathcal{T}}_\lambda^q\) modulo the coordinate change isomorphisms gives quantum Teichmüller space \(\widehat{\mathcal{T}}^q_S\), which is independent of the ideal triangulation \(\lambda\) used to define it. The purpose of the paper under review is to establish a new conceptual connection between quantum algebra and three-dimensional hyperbolic geometry by way of the representation theory of quantum Teichmüller space. The goal is to understand how hyperbolic geometric information is detected by quantum invariants. A first result in this direction was given in work of the authors and \textit{H. Bai} [Local representation of the quantum Teichmüller space, arXiv:0707.2151 (preprint, 2007)] where link invariants of Kashaev and Baseilhac-Benedetti are interpreted via representations of (the polynomial core of) \(\widehat{\mathcal{T}}^q_S\). This is an intriguing line of research. It turns out that although \(\mathcal{T}_\lambda^q\) has a rich finite-dimensional representation theory, the fraction algebra \(\widehat{\mathcal{T}}^q_S\) has no finite-dimensional representations. To obtain a finite-dimensional representation theory independent of coordinate changes, the paper considers the polynomial core \(\mathcal{T}_S^q\) of \(\widehat{\mathcal{T}}^q_S\), a natural counterpart to \(\mathcal{T}_\lambda^q\) when we modulo out by coordinate changes, which again has many finite-dimensional representations. The polynomial core \(\mathcal{T}_S^q\) depends only on the combinatorics of the ideal triangulation \(\lambda\) by work of \textit{H. Bai [Quantum hyperbolic geometry in dimensions 2 and 3 (PhD thesis, Univ. of South California, 2006)]. The main result in the paper is that the irreducible finite dimensional representations of \(\mathcal{T}_S^q\) are classified up to a finite choice by homomorphisms from \(\pi_1(S)\) to \(PSL_2(\mathbb{C})\), the isometry group of hyperbolic \(3\)--space. Diffeomorphisms of \(S\) act on the polynomial core \(\mathcal{T}_S^q\) and on its space of irreducible finite dimensional representations, allowing the authors to construct quantum invariants of surface diffeomorphisms. These invariants are calculated for certain examples in [\textit{X. Liu}, Quantum hyperbolic invariants for diffeomorphisms of small surfaces, arXiv:math.GT/0603467 (preprint, 2006)].}