Topology of moduli spaces of free group representations in real reductive groups

DOI10.1515/FORUM-2014-0049zbMATH Open1349.14187arXiv1403.3603OpenAlexW2056414401MaRDI QIDQ254053FDOQ254053

Authors: Sean Lawton, Ana Cristina Casimiro, Carlos Florentino, André G. Oliveira 

Publication date: 8 March 2016

Published in: Forum Mathematicum (Search for Journal in Brave)

Abstract: Let $G$ be a real reductive algebraic group with maximal compact subgroup $K$, and let $F_r$ be a rank $r$ free group. We show that the space of closed orbits in $mathrmHom(F_r,G)/G$ admits a strong deformation retraction to the orbit space $mathrmHom(F_r,K)/K$. In particular, all such spaces have the same homotopy type. We compute the Poincar'e polynomials of these spaces for some low rank groups $G$, such as $mathrmSp(4,mathbbR)$ and $mathrmU(2,2)$. We also compare these real moduli spaces to the real points of the corresponding complex moduli spaces, and describe the geometry of many examples.

Full work available at URL: https://arxiv.org/abs/1403.3603

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zbMATH Keywords

character varietiesreal reductive groupsrepresentation varieties

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Algebraic moduli problems, moduli of vector bundles (14D20) Group actions on varieties or schemes (quotients) (14L30) Topology of real algebraic varieties (14P25) Free nonabelian groups (20E05) Linear algebraic groups over the reals, the complexes, the quaternions (20G20) Complex-analytic moduli problems (32G13)

Cited In (10)

• Rank 1 character varieties of finitely presented groups
• Serre polynomials of \(\mathrm{SL}_n\)- and \(\mathrm{PGL}_n\)-character varieties of free groups
• Character varieties for real forms
• Invariants of pairs in \(\mathrm{SL}(4, \mathbb {C})\) and \(\mathrm{SU}(3, 1)\)
• Geometry of \(\mathrm{SU}(3)\)-character varieties of torus knots
• Flawed groups and the topology of character varieties
• Dimension of representation and character varieties for two- and three-orbifolds
• The topology of nilpotent representations in reductive groups and their maximal compact subgroups.
• Fundamental groups of character varieties: surfaces and tori
• Fundamental group of moduli spaces of representations

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