Minimal affine coordinates for SL\((3,\mathbb C)\) character varieties of free groups (Q958997)

Let \(F_{r}\) be a free group of rank \(r\), and let \(\mathfrak{R}_{r} =\)Hom\(\left( F_{r},\text{SL}\left( 3,\mathbb{C}\right) \right) \cong \)SL\(\left( 3,\mathbb{C}\right) ^{\times r}.\) Then SL\(\left( 3,\mathbb{C} \right) \) acts on \(\mathfrak{R}_{r}\) by conjugation. For \(\rho\in \mathfrak{R}_{r}\) we let \(\left[ \rho\right] \) denote its orbit closure, and say \(\rho_{1}\sim\rho_{2}\) if \(\left[ \rho_{1}\right] \cap\left[ \rho_{2}\right] \) is nonempty. This is an equivalence relation, and we let \(\mathfrak{X}_{r}\) be the set of equivalence classes \(\overline{\left[ \rho\right] }.\) In the work under review, the authors give minimal generators of the coordinate ring of \(\mathfrak{X}_{r}.\) There are \(N_{r}=\left( r/240\right) \left( 396+65r^{2}-5r^{3}+19r^{4}+5r^{5}\right) \) such generators. An explicit theorem describes how \(\mathbb{C}\left[ \mathfrak{R}_{r} //\text{SL}\left( 3,\mathbb{C}\right) \right]\) is generated by invariants of the form tr\(\left( \pmb{\Pi}\right) ,\) where \(\pmb{\Pi}\) is a product of (up to six) words, obtained by replacing words in \(F_{r}\) with the corresponding product of generic matrices. For each \(\pmb{\Pi}\) the number of invariants in the generating set are given, for example the generating set has \(\binom{r}{1}\) invariants of the form tr\(\left( {\mathbf{X}}\right) ,\) \(\binom{r}{1}\) invariants of the form tr\(\left( {\mathbf{X}}^{-1}\right) ,\) and \(2\binom{r}{3}\) invariants of the form tr\(\left( {\mathbf{XYZ}}\right) .\) Note that not all products of up to six words need to be considered due to cyclic equivalence, e.g. tr\(\left( {\mathbf{XY}}^{-1}\right) =\)tr\(\left( {\mathbf{Y}}^{-1}{\mathbf{X}}\right) .\) There is a considerable amount of counting needed to prove this theorem -- much of the latter half of the paper is devoted to this task. We have that \(\mathfrak{X}_{r}=\)Spec\(_{\max}\left( \mathbb{C}\left[ t_{1},\dots,t_{N_{r}}\right] /\mathcal{J}\right) \) for some ideal \(\mathcal{J}.\) Thus there is an affine embedding \(\mathfrak{X}_{r}\rightarrow\mathbb{C} ^{N_{r}},\) and \(N_{r}\) is the smallest exponent for which an embedding exists, giving the minimality. A minimal generating set for \(\mathbb{C}\left[ \mathfrak{X}_{r}\right] \) is thus given by a set of words \(\left\{ w_{1},\dots,w_{N_{r}}\right\} \) in \(F_{r}.\) Then the map \(\overline{\left[ \rho\right] }\mapsto\left( \text{tr}\left( \rho\left( w_{1}\right) \right) ,\dots,\text{tr}\left( \rho\left( w_{N_{r}}\right) \right) \right) \) provides the embedding. The choice of the \(w_{i}\) is not unique, even up to cyclic equivalence (for example tr\(\left( {\mathbf{UX}} ^{2}{\mathbf{V}}\right) =\)tr\(\left( {\mathbf{UX}}^{-1}{\mathbf{V}}\right) \)). However, formulas are given to change the variables and thus the coordinate system, corresponding to the induced polynomial mapping \(\mathbb{C}^{N_{r} }\rightarrow\mathbb{C}^{N_{r}.}.\)