On character varieties of singular manifolds (Q6173687)

The representation variety of \(X\), a topological space with finitely generated fundamental group, is the variety \(\mathfrak{X}_{G}(X)\) of its representations in a reductive algebraic group \(G\). Its GIT quotient by the natural action of \(G\) is the character variety \(\mathcal{R}_{G}(X)\). A parabolic structure on \(X\) is given by a finite collection of punctures with conjugacy classes of \(G\), called holonomies, assigned to them, and the parabolic character variety is defined analogously. The paper aims to study the class of \(\mathcal{R}_{G}(X)\) in the Grothendieck ring of algebraic varieties, the so-called virtual class, for a generalization of topological manifolds that the authors termed nodefolds. Those are locally modeled on cones over closed manifolds and so can have nodal singularities. They come up in connection with mirror symmetry and computation of their invariants is complicated by the breakdown of the non-Adelian Hodge correspondence with the moduli of Higgs bundles because the standard arithmetic techniques cannot be used. The virtual class is the most general invariant preserving disjoint unions and products. The first author initiated a TQFT approach to computing virtual classes of representation varieties over closed manifolds and without holonomies. In this paper, the approach is extended to nodefolds and parabolic structures. Specifically, the authors construct a lax monoidal symmetric functor from the category of nodefold bordisms (equipped with a parabolic structure, if any) with a finite number of base points to the category of modules over the ground ring. This functor turns out to be, naturally, a functor of \(2\)-categories. In particular, it allows them to relate virtual classes of representation varieties of 2D nodefolds to those of smooth surfaces via conic degenerations that collapse several points into nodes. When, moreover, \(G=SL_r(k)\), the results are extended from representation varieties to character varieties using the first author's theory of pseudo-quotients. Those are weaker than GIT quotients but have the same virtual class and are compatible with convenient stratifications of \(\mathfrak{X}_{G}(X)\) with simpler action of \(G\) on the strata. The virtual class of \(\mathcal{R}_{G}(X)\) can then be assembled from those of the strata. In this case, the authors decompose \(\mathfrak{X}_{G}(X)\) into the loci of reducible and irreducible representations. On the latter, \(\mathfrak{X}_{G}(X)\) reduces to the orbit space, and on the former it is equivalent to a product of lower rank representations with \(G\) permuting those of the same rank. For \(G=SL_2(k)\) the closures of reducible orbits contain diagonal representations, so the authors' calculations lead to explicit formulas for the virtual class of \(\mathcal{R}_{SL_2(k)}(X)\). The results are extended to parabolic structures with holonomies of Jordan and semi-simple type.