Related papers: Hitchin characters and geodesic laminations

Let $S$ be a closed surface of genus at least $2$. For each maximal representation $\rho: \pi_1(S)\rightarrow\mathsf{Sp}(4,\mathbb{R})$ in one of the $2g-3$ exceptional connected components, we prove there is a unique conformal structure on…

We provide a geometric construction of the unitary structure which is projectively preserved by the Hitchin connection. We analyze the asymptotic behavior of it and we establish that it is uniformly in the level equivalent to the Hermitian…

We study the character variety of representations of the fundamental group of a closed surface of genus $g\geq2$ into the Lie group SO(n,n+1) using Higgs bundles. For each integer $0<d\leq n(2g-2),$ we show there is a smooth connected…

We prove that given a Hitchin representation in a real split rank 2 group $\mathsf G_0$, there exists a unique equivariant minimal surface in the corresponding symmetric space. As a corollary, we obtain a parametrization of the Hitchin…

In 1992, Hitchin used his theory of Higgs bundles to construct an important family of representations of the fundamental group of a closed, oriented surface of genus at least two into the split real form of a complex adjoint simple Lie…

We prove that generic Hitchin representations are strongly dense: every pair of non commuting elements in their image generate a Zariski-dense subgroup of SL_n(R). The proof uses a theorem of Rapinchuk, Benyash-Krivetz and Chernousov, to…

Given a reductive representation $\rho: \pi_1(S)\rightarrow G$, there exists a $\rho$-equivariant harmonic map $f$ from the universal cover of a fixed Riemann surface $\Sigma$ to the symmetric space $G/K$ associated to $G$. If the Hopf…

A gauge theoretic description of the Morgan-Shalen compactification of the $\SL$ character variety of the fundamental group of a hyperbolic surface is given in terms of a natural compactification of the moduli space of Higgs bundles via the…

In this paper, we explore the structure of the Hitchin map for higher dimensional varieties with emphasis on the case of algebraic surfaces.

We give the first part of a proof of Thurston's Ending Lamination conjecture. In this part we show how to construct from the end invariants of a Kleinian surface group a ``Lipschitz model'' for the thick part of the corresponding hyperbolic…

We prove that the Hitchin parametrization provides geodesic coordinates at the Fuchsian locus for the pressure metric in the Hitchin component $\mathcal{H}_{3}(S)$ of surface group representations into $PSL(3,\mathbb{R})$. The proof…

In this paper we construct a Hitchin connection in a setting, which significantly generalizes the setting covered by the first author previously, which in turn was a generalisation of the moduli space case covered by Hitchin in his original…

Let $S$ be a closed oriented surface and $G$ a finite group of orientation preserving automorphisms of $S$ whose orbit space has genus at least $2$. There is a natural group homomorphism from the $G$-centralizer in $Diff^+(S)$ to the…

The theory of Hitchin systems is something like a "global theory of Lie groups", where one works over a Riemann surface rather than just at a point. We'll describe how one can take this analogy a few steps further by attempting to make…

In this paper, we study the geometric and dynamical properties of maximal representations of surface groups into Hermitian Lie groups of rank 2. Combining tools from Higgs bundle theory, the theory of Anosov representations, and…

The first part of this paper surveys several characterizations of Teichm\"uller space as a subset of the space of representation of the fundamental group of a surface into PSL(2,R). Special emphasis is put on (bounded) cohomological…

We study the Weyl chamber length boundary both of the Hitchin and of the maximal character varieties and determine therein an open set of discontinuity for the action of the mapping class group. This result is obtained as consequence of a…

The SL(2)-character variety X of a closed surface M enjoys a natural complex-symplectic structure invariant under the mapping class group G of M. Using the ergodicity of G on the SU(2)-character variety, we deduce that every G-invariant…

Given a finite connected graph $\Lambda$, the space of $SU(2)$ lattice gauge-fields on $\Lambda$, modulo gauge transformations, is a Lagrangian submanifold -- with mild singularities -- of the $SU(2)$ character variety (= phase-space of…

We prove that if $\Sigma$ is a closed surface of genus at least 3 and $G$ is a split real semisimple Lie group of rank at least $3$ acting faithfully by isometries on a symmetric space $N$, then there exists a Hitchin representation…