Ergodicity of mapping class group actions on representation varieties. I: Closed surfaces (Q699682)

Let \(\Sigma\) be a closed oriented surface with fixed basepoint and \({\Gamma_\Sigma}\) its mapping class group. Let \(K\) be a compact Lie group and \({\Hom(\pi_1\Sigma,K)}\) the \(\mathbb R\)-algebraic set of representations of \(\pi_1\Sigma\) into \(K\) . Then \({\Gamma_\Sigma}\) acts on \({\Hom(\pi_1\Sigma,K)}\), preserving the Lebesgue measure class of the open subset of smooth points. The quotient \(H^1(\Sigma,K)\) of \({\Hom(\pi_1\Sigma,K)}\) by conjugation has a \({\Gamma_\Sigma}\)-invariant symplectic structure, and hence an invariant smooth measure. The main result of this paper is that \({\Gamma_\Sigma}\) acts ergodically on \({\Hom(\pi_1\Sigma,K)}\) and on \(H^1(\Sigma,K)\). When the simple factors of \(K\) are \(\text{SU}(2)\), this result follows from work of the reviewer [Ann. Math. (2) 146, 475-507 (1997; Zbl 0907.57009)]. The proof involves a sewing procedure for surfaces-with-boundary. The authors introduce a somewhat nonstandard boundary condition for bounded surfaces: namely, the group element boundary condition is a choice of generator of \(\pi_1(b_i)\) for each boundary component \(b_i\subset \partial \Sigma\) and an element \(k_i\in K\). Introducing such boundary conditions gives a natural decomposition of the space \({\Hom(\pi_1\Sigma,K)}\) of representations as a product over \(K\) of the components of \(\Sigma\) split along a separating simple closed curve. In this way the main theorems can be proved inductively. The first stage of the induction is the 1-holed torus. Here the space of representations with group element boundary condition consists simply of pairs \((g_\alpha,g_\beta)\in K\times K\) with commutator \([g_\alpha,g_\beta] = k\). Using harmonic analysis to decompose \(L^2(K\times K)\) the authors prove ergodicity of the action of \({\Gamma_\Sigma}\) by embedding the generators (induced by Dehn twists on \(\Sigma\)) in a connected group \(A\), so that \({\Gamma_\Sigma}\)-invariant functions are \(A\)-invariant. Transitivity is easier to prove for \(A\), since it can be reduced to questions about the Lie algebra of \(K\). After dealing with the case of the 2-holed torus, the sewing lemma is used to prove the general case with group element boundary condition. Several facts about the topology of the commutator map \([,]:K\times K\rightarrow K\) are used, and their proofs are discussed in two appendices.