Related papers: Character varieties for real forms

Given $G$ an algebraic reductive group over an algebraically closed field of characteristic zero and $\Gamma$ a finitely generated group, we provide a stratification of the $G$-character variety of $\Gamma$ in terms of conjugacy classes of…

We describe the geometry of the character variety of representations of the fundamental group of the complement of a Hopf link with $n$ twists, namely $\Gamma_{n}=\langle x,y \,| \, [x^n,y]=1 \rangle$ into the group $\mathrm{SU}(r)$. For…

Let $k$ be a field, let $H \subset G$ be (possibly disconnected) reductive groups over $k$, and let $\Gamma$ be a finitely generated group. Vinberg and Martin have shown that the induced morphism of character varieties \[…

We obtain an explicit characterization of the stable points of the action of G=SL(2,C) on the cartesian product G^n by simultaneous conjugation on each factor, in terms of the corresponding invariant functions, and derive from it a simple…

A $\mathbf{GL}$-variety is a (typically infinite dimensional) variety modeled on the polynomial representation theory of the general linear group. In previous work, we studied these varieties in characteristic 0. In this paper, we obtain…

A $GL_d$-pseudocharacter is a function from a group $\Gamma$ to a ring $k$ satisfying polynomial relations which make it "look like" the character of a representation. When $k$ is an algebraically closed field, Taylor proved that…

We give explicit equations that describe the character variety of the figure eight knot for the groups SL(3,C), GL(3,C) and PGL(3,C). This has five components of dimension 2, one consisting of totally reducible representations, another one…

Answering a question of J. Rosenberg, we construct the first examples of infinite characters on $GL_n(\mathbf{K})$ for a global field $\mathbf{K}$ and $n\geq 2.$ The case $n=2$ is deduced from the following more general result. Let $G$ a…

Let $M_C(G)$ be the moduli space of semistable principal $G-$bundles over a smooth curve $C$. We show that a flat degeneration of this space $M_{C_{\Gamma}}(G)$ associated to a singular stable curve $C_{\Gamma}$ contains the free group…

Let X be the moduli space of SL(n,C), SU(n), GL(n,C), or U(n)-valued representations of a rank r free group. We classify the algebraic singular stratification of X. This comes down to showing that the singular locus corresponds exactly to…

We show that the algebraic automorphism group of the SL(2,C) character variety of a closed orientable surface with negative Euler characteristic is a finite extension of its mapping class group. Along the way, we provide a simple…

We study some basic properties of the variety of characters in PSL(2,C) of a finitely generated group. In particular we give an interpretation of its points as characters of representations. We construct 3-manifolds whose variety of…

With G=GL(n,C), let $\mathcal{X}_{\Gamma}G$ be the G-character variety of a given finitely presented group $\Gamma$, and let $\mathcal{X}^{irr}_{\Gamma}G \subset \mathcal{X}_{\Gamma}G$ be the locus of irreducible representation conjugacy…

Let $G$ be a finite group isomorphic to $SL_n(q)$ or $SU_n(q)$ for some prime power $q$. In this paper, we give an explicit description of the action of automorphisms of $G$ on the set of its irreducible complex characters. This is done by…

For any complex affine reductive group G and a fixed choice of maximal compact subgroup K, we show that the G-character variety of a free group strongly deformation retracts to the corresponding K-character space, which is a real…

An element of a group is called $\textit{strongly reversible}$ or $\textit{strongly real}$ if it can be expressed as a product of two involutions. We provide necessary and sufficient conditions for an element of $\mathrm{SL}(n,\mathbb{C})$…

Let $g, n \geq 0$ and $\Sigma = \Sigma_{g, n}$ be a connected oriented surface of genus $g$ with $n$ punctures. The $\mathrm{SL}_2$-character variety of $\Sigma$ has a rigid relative automorphism group, whose elements fix each monodromies…

Let X be an irreducible, primitive complex character of the finite solvable group G, and let X* denote the complex conjugate character. If the degree X(1) is odd, then we show how to associate to X in a unique way, a conjugacy class of…

Let $\Gamma$ be a finite simple graph. If for some integer $n\geqslant 4$, $\Gamma$ is a $K_n$-free graph whose complement has an odd cycle of length at least $2n-5$, then we say that $\Gamma$ is an $n$-exact graph. For a finite group $G$,…

Let $\mathbb{F}_q$ be a finite field with $q$ elements, where $q$ is the power of an odd prime, and let $\mathrm{GSp}(2n, \mathbb{F}_q)$ and $\mathrm{GO}^{\pm}(2n, \mathbb{F}_q)$ denote the symplectic and orthogonal groups of similitudes…