arXiv research

Study of pseudo-Anosov actions on $SU(2)$-character variety for genus 2 surfaces.

Study of SU(2,1) character varieties on one-holed torus.

Character varieties of knot groups into SU(3) are stratified and analyzed.

Researchers describe the dual of cohomology generators for SU(2) character varieties of surfaces.

Researchers describe character varieties for Hopf links, proving geometric properties.

The study examines dynamics on SU(2)-representation varieties for surfaces and non-orientable surfaces.

Let $Γ$ be a finitely generated group and $G$ a real form of $\mathrm{SL}_n(\mathbb{C})$. We propose a definition for the $G$-character variety of $Γ$ as a subset of the $\mathrm{SL}_n(\mathbb{C})$-character variety of $Γ$. We consider two anti-holomorphic involutions of the $\mathrm{SL}_n(\mathbb{C})$ character variet…

New method to compute tangle sums in character varieties.

In this paper, we address the issue of quaternionic Toledo invariant to study the character variety of two dimensional complex hyperbolic uniform lattices into $SU(n,2)$. We construct four distinct representations to prove that the character variety contains at least four distinct components. We also address the existe…

We study relations between special elliptic isometries in the complex hyperbolic plane. Relations of lengths 2, 3, and 4 are fully classified. Some relative SU(2,1)-character varieties of the quadruply punctured sphere are described and applied to the study of length 5 relations.

We provide infinitely many rational homology 3-spheres with weight-one fundamental groups which do not arise from Dehn surgery on knots in $S^3$. In contrast with previously known examples, our proofs do not require any gauge theory or Floer homology. Instead, we make use of the $SU(2)$ character variety of the fundame…

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 stratified with a finite singular stratum and a top smooth symplectic stratum of dimens…

Proof that $SU(2)$ character variety of genus 2 surface is ${\mathbb C} P^3$.

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 dihedral representations. This follows from an analysis of the map induced on $SU(2)$ c…

New proof shows almost all surface group actions are dense.

For n>2, the action of the outer automorphism group of the rank n free group F_n on the SU(2)-character variety Hom(F_n,SU(2))/SU(2)$ is ergodic with respect to the Lebesgue measure class.

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 $π_1(Y\setminus T)$. In particular we completely determine the subspace of binary dihedral representations, and identify all of $R(Y,T)$ for many t…

In this paper, we prove that the Reidemeister torsion twisted by the adjoint representation, which is considered as a 1-form, on the SU(2)-character variety of a knot exterior is invariant under mutation along a Conway sphere.

In this paper we use the Morse theory of the Yang-Mills-Higgs functional on the singular space of Higgs bundles on Riemann surfaces to compute the equivariant cohomology of the space of semistable U(2,1) and SU(2,1) Higgs bundles with fixed Toledo invariant. In the non-coprime case this gives new results about the topo…

The paper studies symplectic structures on character varieties of Sasakian threefolds.

Study character varieties of tangles to map immersed curves in the pillowcase.

We prove that some relative character varieties of the fundamental group of a punctured sphere into the Hermitian Lie groups $\mathrm{SU}(p,q)$ admit compact connected components. The representations in these components have several counter-intuitive properties. For instance, the image of any simple closed curve is an …

Let S be a compact orientable surface with genus g and n boundary components d_1,...,d_n. Let b = (b_1, ..., b_n) where b_n lies in [-2,2]. Then the mapping class group of S acts on the relative SU(2)-character variety X comprising conjugacy classes of representations f of the fundamental group F of S, where trace f(d_…

We describe a minimal global coordinate system of order 30 on the SL(4,C)-character variety of a rank 2 free group. Using symmetry within this system, we obtain a smaller collection of 22 coordinates subject to 5 further real relations that determine conjugation classes of generic pairs of matrices in SU(3,1).

We show that the first Johnson subgroup of the mapping class group of a surface S of genus greater than one acts ergodically on the moduli space of representations of the fundamental group of S in SU_2. Our proof relies on a local description of the latter space around the trivial representation and on the Taylor expan…

Consider the Chern-Simons topological quantum field theory with gauge group SU(2) and level k. Given a knot in the 3-sphere, this theory associates to the knot exterior an element in a vector space. We call this vector the knot state and study its asymptotic properties when the level is large. The latter vector space b…

This paper proves a symplectic formula for SU(n) generalized Casson invariants.

New nonacyclic Reidemeister torsions defined for odd-dimensional manifolds.

Study shows how tangle moduli spaces relate to boundary surfaces.

We describe a scheme for constructing generating sets for Kronheimer and Mrowka's singular instanton knot homology for the case of knots in lens spaces. The scheme involves Heegaard-splitting a lens space containing a knot into two solid tori. One solid torus contains a portion of the knot consisting of an unknotted ar…

We study the relationship between Ng's abelian cord ring and SL(2,C) characters of the two-fold branched cover $Σ(K)$. Augmentations, and their corresponding rank, play a central role in the relationship. Our study also leads to a correspondence between trace-free SL(2,C) characters of a knot complement and augmentatio…

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 meromorphic function on X is constant. The trace functions of closed curves on M de…

We describe the moduli space of stable rank 2 parabolic bundles over an elliptic curve with 3 marked points.

When $G$ is a connected compact Lie group, and $π$ is a closed surface group, then $Hom(π,G)$ contains an open dense $Out(π)$-invariant subset which is a smooth symplectic manifold. This symplectic structure is $Out(π)$-invariant and therefore defines an invariant measure $μ$, which has finite volume. The corresponding…

For each closed, orientable surface F, we construct a local, diffeomorphism invariant trace on the Kauffman bracket skein module K_t(F x [0,1]). The trace is defined when |t| is neither 0 nor 1, and at certain roots of unity. At t = - 1, the trace is integration against the symplectic measure on the SU(2) character var…

Defines quantum intersection number on pants decompositions and relates it to hyperbolic geometry.

Given a knot K and an irreducible metabelian SL(n,C) representation we establish an equality for the dimension of the first twisted cohomology. In the case of equality, we prove that the representation must have finite image and that it is conjugate to an SU(n) representation. In this case we show it determines a smoot…

For a diagram of a 2-stranded tangle in the 3-ball we define a twisted complex of compact Lagrangians in the triangulated envelope of the Fukaya category of the smooth locus of the pillowcase. We show that this twisted complex is a functorial invariant of the isotopy class of the tangle, and that it provides a factoriz…

We give a surgery formula for the asymptotic behavior of the sequence given by the logarithm of the higher dimensional Reidemeister torsion. Applying the resulting formula to Seifert fibered spaces, we show that the growth of the sequences has the same order as the indices and we give the explicit values for the limits…

We define an elementary relatively $\mathbb Z/4$ graded Lagrangian-Floer chain complex for restricted immersions of compact 1-manifolds into the pillowcase, and apply it to the intersection diagram obtained by taking traceless $SU(2)$ character varieties of 2-tangle decompositions of knots. Calculations for torus knots…

For any n>1 we define an isotopy invariant, <Gamma>_n, for a certain set of n-valent ribbon graphs Gamma in R^3, including all framed oriented links. We show that our bracket coincides with the Kauffman bracket for n=2 and with the Kuperberg's bracket for n=3. Furthermore, we prove that for any n, our bracket of a link…

The abstract describes a strategy to construct reduced Khovanov homology for links in lens spaces.

Paper connects geometric and analytic aspects of Higgs bundles and pleated surfaces.

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 reducible representations if there exist singularities at all. Then by relating a…

Character varieties get a natural Poisson structure.

Quantum character varieties unify four construction methods.

Character variety of Borromean link solved, Alexander polynomial formula found.

Researchers prove positivity of skein algebra structure constants for specific surfaces.