Related papers: Various generalizations and deformations of $PSL(2…

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…

This is a survey article whose main goal is to explain how many components of the character variety of a closed surface are either deformation spaces of representations into the maximal compact subgroup or deformation spaces of certain…

Given a closed, oriented surface X of genus g>1, and a semisimple Lie group G, let R_G be the moduli space of reductive representations of the fundamental group of X in G. We determine the number of connected components of R_PGL(n,R), for…

We classify the connected components of the space of representations of the fundamental group of a closed oriented surface of genus $\geq 2$ in $Sp(4,{\mathbf R})$. We prove that this is equivalent to classifying the connected components of…

In this paper we complete the topological description of the space of representations of the fundamental group of a punctured surface in SL(2,R) with prescribed behavior at the punctures and nonzero Euler number, following the strategy…

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…

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…

We consider the moduli spaces of representations of the fundamental group of a surface of genus g greater than 2 in the Lie groups SU(2,2) and Sp(4,R). It is well known that there is a characteristic number of such a representation, whose…

In this article we give a geometric interpretation of the Hitchin component for PSL(4,R) in the representation variety of a closed oriented surface of higher genus. We show that representations in the Hitchin component are precisely the…

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…

For an oriented surface of genus g with b boundary components, we construct a rational map from a subset of C^{6g-6+3b} onto an open algebraic subset of the PSL(2,C)-character variety as an analogue of the Fenchel-Nielsen coordinates. After…

This paper is a survey on the role of Higgs bundle theory in the study of higher Teichm\"uller spaces. Recall that the Teichm\"uller space of a compact surface can be identified with a certain connected component of the moduli space of…

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…

For every integer $g \,\geq\, 2$ we show the existence of a compact Riemann surface $\Sigma$ of genus $g$ such that the rank two trivial holomorphic vector bundle ${\mathcal O}^{\oplus 2}_{\Sigma}$ admits holomorphic connections with…

Considering an integer $d>0$, we show the existence of convex-cocompactrepresentations of surface groups into SO(4,1) admitting an embedded minimal map withcurvatures in $(-1,1)$ and whose associated hyperbolic 4-manifolds are disk bundles…

In this paper we describe the space of maximal components of the character variety of surface group representations into PSp(4,R) and Sp(4,R). For every rank 2 real Lie group of Hermitian type, we construct a mapping class group invariant…

In this paper we study the relation between parabolic Higgs bundles and irreducible representations of the fundamental group of punctured Riemann surfaces established by Simpson. We generalize a result of Hitchin, identifying those…

Let $e$ denote the Euler class on the space $Hom(\Gamma_g, PSL(2,\mathbb R))$ of representations of the fundamental group $\Gamma_g$ of the closed surface $\Sigma_g$ of genus $g$. Goldman showed that the connected components of…

We give a new lower bound on the number of connected components of the space of representations of a surface group into the group of orientation preserving homeomorphisms of the circle. Precisely, for the fundamental group of a genus g…

In this paper we introduce complex minimal Lagrangian surfaces in the bi-complex hyperbolic space and study their relation with representations in $\mathrm{SL}(3,\mathbb{C})$. Our theory generalizes at the same time minimal Lagrangian…