Representation and character varieties of the Baumslag-Solitar groups (Q2631140)

The authors describe various geometrical aspects of the representation varieties and the character varieties of Baumslag-Solitar groups to \(\mathrm{GL}(n,K)\) where \(K\) is algebraically closed and of characteristic zero and \(n>1\). The authors give an explicit description of the irreducible components of representation varieties and character varieties of Baumslag-Solitar groups. They compute the dimension of these components, they show that these components are not intersecting each other and that these components are rational. The representation varieties of Baumslag-Solitar groups to \(\mathrm{GL}(n,K)\) are proved to be smooth. The irreducible components in the character varieties containing characters of irreducible representations are proved to be isomorphic to \(\mathbb{A}^1\setminus\{0\}\) and, in particular, smooth as well. As mentioned by the authors the explicit parametrization thereof is given in [\textit{D. McLaury}, J. Group Theory 15, No. 4, 543--552 (2012; Zbl 1264.20010)]. Similar works for other finitely generated groups have already been done in the literature: -- for surface groups, [\textit{A. S. Rapinchuk} and \textit{V. V. Benyash-Krivets}, Russ. Acad. Sci., Dokl., Math. 47, No. 2, 1 (1993; Zbl 0840.20031); translation from Dokl. Akad. Nauk, Ross. Akad. Nauk 329, No. 2, 140--143 (1993); \textit{V. V. Benyash-Krivets} and \textit{V. I. Chernousov}, Sb. Math. 188, No. 7, 997--1039 (1997; Zbl 0960.57001); translation from Mat. Sb. 188, No. 7, 47--92 (1997)] -- for braid groups, Chapter 10 and 11 in [\textit{E. Formanek}, Proc. London Math. Soc. 73 pp 279--322 (1995)] -- for torus knots, [\textit{V. Muñoz}, Rev. Mat. Complut. 22, No. 2, 489--497 (2009; Zbl 1182.14007); \textit{V. Muñoz} and \textit{J. Porti}, Algebr. Geom. Topol. 16, No. 1, 397--426 (2016; Zbl 1333.14012)]