An explicit description of the relative \(\mathrm{SL}_4(\mathbb C)\)-character variety of the projective line (Q309268)

Let \(C\) be a compact Riemann surface of genus \(g\), and let \(\{t_1,\cdots, t_n\}\) be the set of \(n\)-distinct points on \(C\). For a positive integer \(r>0\), let \({\mathcal{P}}_r\) denote the set of partitions of \(r\). Fix \({\mathbf{\mu}}=(\mu^1,\cdots,\mu^n)\in ({\mathcal{P}}_r)^n\) where \(\mu^i=(\mu_1^i,\cdots,\mu_{r_i}^i)\in{\mathcal{P}}_r\). For each partition \(\mu^i\in{\mathcal{P}}_r\), fix semisimple conjugacy classes \({\mathcal{C}}_1,\cdots,{\mathcal{C}}_n\subset \mathrm{SL}_r(\mathbb C)\) and type \(\mu^1,\cdots,\mu^n\). Denote by \(\nu^i=(\nu_1^i,\nu_2^i,\cdots)\) the eigenvalues of matrices in \({\mathcal{C}}_i\), and by \({\mathbf{\nu}}\) the tuple \((\nu^1,\cdots,\nu^n)\). Consider a monodromy \(\mathrm{SL}_r(\mathbb C)\)-semisimple representation \[ \rho: \pi_1({\mathbf{C}}\setminus\{t_1,\cdots, t_n\}, \star) \to \mathrm{SL}_r(\mathbb C) \] of type \((g,{\mathbf{\mu}})\) which satisfies \(\rho(\gamma_i)\in{\mathcal{C}}_i\) where \(\gamma_i\) is a anticlockwise loop around the point \(t_i\). Definition: The \(\mathrm{SL}_r(\mathbb C)\)-\textit{character variety} \({\mathcal{R}}_{g,{\mathbf{\mu}}}\) of the \(n\)-punctured compact Riemann surface of genus \(g\) by the following categorical quotient \[ {\mathcal{R}}_{g,{\mathbf{\mu}}}({\mathbf{\nu}}):= \{\,A_1,B_1,\cdots, A_g, B_g; M_1,\cdots, M_n)\in \mathrm{SL}_r(\mathbb C)^{2g} \times{\mathcal{C}}_1\times\cdots\times {\mathcal{C}}_n\, \] \[ |\, (A_1,B_1),\cdots,(A_g,B_g)M_1\cdots M_n=I_r\}/\!/\mathrm{SL}_r(\mathbb C). \] Here \((A,B):=ABA^{-1}B^{-1}\), \(I_r\) the identity matrix. The variety \({\mathcal{R}}_{g,{\mathbf{\mu}}}\) is a nonsingular affine variety of dimension \[ d_{g,{\mathbf{\mu}}}:=r^2(2g-2+n)-\sum_{i,j}(\mu_j^i)^2+2-2g. \] When \(g=0\) and \(d_{0,{\mathbf{\mu}}}=2\), \(\mathrm{SL}_r(\mathbb C)\)-character varieties can be classified into four cases: \[ a{\mathbf{\mu}}_I=((a,a),(a,a),(a,a),(a,a)); \] \[ a{\mathbf{\mu}}_{II}=((a,a,a),(a,a,a),(a,a,a))); \] \[ a{\mathbf{\mu}}_{III}=((a,a,a,a). (a,a,a,a),(2a,2a)); \] \[ a{\mathbf{\mu}}_{IV}=((a,a,a,a,a,a),(2a,2a,2a),(3a,3a)) \] where \(a\) is any positive integer. If \(a=1\), the four cases are denoted by \({\mathbf{\mu}}_I,\,{\mathbf{\mu}}_{II},\, {\mathbf{\mu}}_{III}\) and \({\mathbf{\mu}}_{IV}\), respectively. For types \({\mathbf{\mu}}_I\) and \({\mathbf{\mu}}_{II}\), the character varieties have been described explicitly by the classical invariant theory. The goal of this article is to give an explicit description of the character variety of type \[ {\mathbf{\mu}}_{III}=((1,1,1,1),(1,1,1,1),(2,2)), \] and its compactification, using a different method from invariant theory. Theorem: Let \({\mathcal{R}}\) be the character variety of type \({\mathbf{\mu}}_{III}\). There is a compactification \(\overline{\mathcal{R}}\) of \({\mathcal{R}}\) which is a del Pezzo surface with a canonical singularity of degree \(1\) (it is realized as a hypersurface of degree \(6\) in the weighted projective space \({\mathbf{WP}}(1,1,2,3)\).) The compactification \(\overline{\mathcal{R}}\) has a singularity of type \(A_1\) in the boundary \(\overline{\mathcal{R}}\setminus {\mathcal{R}}\). The boundary is a nodal rational curve passing through the singularity. A motivation of this work stems from various conjectures on the mixed Hodge structures for character varieties. Proof of the results are purely of computational nature using \texttt{Mathematica}.