Related papers: Tangles, relative character varieties, and holonom…

The traceless $SU(2)$ character variety $R(S^2,\{a_i,b_i\}_{i=1}^n)$ of a $2n$-punctured 2-sphere is the symplectic reduction of a Hamiltonian $n$-torus action on the $SU(2)$ character variety of a closed surface of genus $n$. It is…

We examine the holonomy-perturbed traceless SU(2) character variety of the trivial four-stranded tangle {p_1,p_2,p_3,p_4} X [0,1] in S^2 X [0,1] equipped with a strong marking, either an earring or a bypass. Viewing these marked tangles as…

The earring tangle consists of four strands 4pt x [0,1] inside S^2 x [0,1] and one meridian around one of the strands. Equipping this tangle with a nontrivial SO(3) bundle, we show that its traceless SU(2) flat moduli space is topologically…

Given a 2-stranded tangle in a $\ZZ/2$ homology ball, $T\subset Y$, we investigate the character variety $R(Y,T)$ of conjugacy classes of traceless SU(2) representations of $\pi_1(Y\setminus T)$. In particular we completely determine the…

We introduce explicit holonomy perturbations of the Chern-Simons functional on a 3-ball containing a pair of unknotted arcs. These perturbations give us a concrete local method for making the moduli spaces of flat singular SO(3) connections…

We exhibit the traceless $SU(2)$ character variety of a 6-punctured 2-sphere as a 2-fold branched cover of ${\mathbb{C}}P^3$, branched over the singular Kummer surface, with the branch locus in $R(S^2,6)$ corresponding to the binary…

We derive some restrictions on the topology of a monotone Lagrangian submanifold $L\subset\mathbf{C}^n$ by making observations about the topology of the moduli space of Maslov 2 holomorphic discs with boundary on $L$ and then using Damian's…

We prove that the moduli space of solutions to the PU(2) monopole equations is a smooth manifold of the expected dimension for simple, generic parameters such as (and including) the Riemannian metric on the given four-manifold. In a…

In this paper, we prove a transversality theorem for the moduli space of perturbed special Lagrangian submanifolds in a 6-dimensional manifold equipped with a generalization of a Calabi-Yau structure. These perturbed special Lagrangian…

We prove that the fundamental group of any integer homology 3-sphere different from the 3-sphere admits irreducible representations of its fundamental group in SL(2,C). For hyperbolic integer homology spheres this comes with the definition,…

We define and study natural $\mathrm{SU}(2)$-structures, in the sense of Conti-Salamon, on the total space $\cal S$ of the tangent sphere bundle of any given oriented Riemannian 3-manifold $M$. We recur to a fundamental exterior…

Let k>2. We prove that the cotangent bundles of oriented homotopy (2k-1)-spheres S and S' are symplectomorphic only if the classes defined by S and S' agree up to sign in the quotient group of oriented homotopy spheres modulo those which…

Let U be a real form of a complex semisimple Lie group, and tau, sigma, a pair of commuting involutions on U. This data corresponds to a reflective submanifold of a symmetric space, U/K. We define an associated integrable system, and…

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…

Let $M$ be a four-holed sphere and $\Gamma$ the mapping class group of $M$ fixing $\partial M$. The group $\Gamma$ acts on the space ${\mathcal M}_{\mathcal B}(SU(2))$ of SU(2)-gauge equivalence classes of flat SU(2)-connections on $M$ with…

Let X be a compact 4-manifold with boundary. We study the space of hyperk\"ahler triples on X, modulo diffeomorphisms which are the identity on the boundary. We prove that this moduli space is a smooth infinite-dimensional manifold and…

We present a geometric mechanism for the emergence of spherical $3$-manifolds from the superspace of Riemannian metrics associated with flat ${\rm{SU}}(2)$-bundles over closed orientable hyperbolic surfaces. Our main result shows that any…

If a link $L$ can be decomposed into the union of two tangles $T\cup_{S^2} S$ along a 2-sphere intersecting $L$ in 4 points, then the intersections of perturbed traceless SU(2) character varieties of tangles in a space called the pillowcase…

Let $X$ be a K3 surface and let $\text{Spl}(r;c_1,c_2)$ be the moduli space of simple sheaves on $X$ of fixed rank $r$ and Chern classes $c_1$ and $c_2$. Under suitable assumptions, to a pair $(F,W)$ (respectively, $(F,V)$) where $F\in…

This paper unites the gauge-theoretic and hyperbolic-geometric perspectives on the asymptotic geometry of the character variety of SL(2,C) representations of a surface group. Specifically, we find an asymptotic correspondence between the…