Geodesic coordinates for the pressure metric at the Fuchsian locus (Q6157236)

The pressure metric for Anosov representations was introduced by \textit{M. Bridgeman} et al. [Geom. Funct. Anal. 25, No. 4, 1089--1179 (2015; Zbl 1360.37078)] using the thermodynamic formalism, and entails in particular a mapping class group invariant Riemannian metric on the Hitchin components which restricts to the Weil-Petersson metric on the Teichmüller space. It is defined on the tangent space of a Hitchin component by taking the variance of the first variations of appropriately defined reparameterized geodesic flows to a Hitchin representation using Hölder functions. Several \(C^0\)-properties of the pressure metric have been identified by \textit{F. Labourie} and \textit{R. Wentworth} [Ann. Sci. Éc. Norm. Supér. (4) 51, No. 2, 487--547 (2018; Zbl 1404.37036)] and the author of this article sets to investigate variational \(C^1\)-properties of the pressure metric by further expanding the use of tools in the thermodynamic formalism. The results obtained in the article are about the Hitchin component \(\mathcal{H}^3(S)\) of surface group representations into the group \(\mathrm{PSL}(3,\mathbb{R})\); this space coincides with the space of convex real projective structures on the surface \(S\). The coordinates the author is choosing in order to find and evaluate expressions for the derivatives of the pressure metric in this case come from the parameterization of \(\mathcal{H}^3(S)\) using Higgs bundles, as pioneered by \textit{N. J. Hitchin} [Topology 31, No. 3, 449--473 (1992; Zbl 0769.32008)]. The main result obtained is that for any point in the Fuchsian locus this parameterization gives \textit{geodesic coordinates} for the pressure metric at this point. Restricting attention to the case \(\mathcal{H}^3(S)\) amounts to the fact that there are two types of tangential directions, those given by quadratic differentials and those given by cubic differentials; this is derived from the Hitchin parameterization. The author then completes a careful computation of the derivatives of the metric tensor according to the different cases appearing. In particular, there are in total six types of first derivative of metric tensors that need to be treated and it is carefully shown that they all vanish. For the proof, the author develops a general method for computing first derivatives of the pressure metric using further tools from the thermodynamic formalism. The first variations of the reparameterization functions on closed geodesics are studied using a gauge-theoretic formula in [F. Labourie and R. Wentworth, loc. cit.], thus interpreting the resulting formula by means of a system of homogeneous ordinary differential equations. The second variations of these functions are, in turn, understood via the first variation of this gauge-theoretic formula. The article stands out for a very meticulous treatment of each tangential direction along the Fuchsian locus in \(\mathcal{H}^3(S)\) and for the explicitness in the computations leading to the result that these coordinates are indeed geodesic. The method followed could be used to study the variational \(C^1\)-properties of the pressure metric for Hitchin components of higher rank, however, the analysis is expected to be more demanding there since more cases of tangential directions along the Fuchsian locus must be carefully studied. The author's expectation is that also in these higher rank cases, the Hitchin parameterization still provides geodesic coordinates for the pressure metric.