Joint study group of MPI Leipzig, Leipzig University, and Paderborn University
Organisers: Jacques Audibert, Benjamin Delarue, Guenda Palmirotta, Tobias Weich
Thursday 10:50-12:10, online via zoom or at the MPI in room A3 01.
Start: October 23, 2025
In this study group, we first want to get an overview of various different definitions
of character varieties, the topologies on them, and the most important subspaces. Then,
we contrast the “most flexible” and the “most rigid” cases: discrete and faithful or quasi-
Fuchsian representations, where the character varieties are large and rich in structure, vs.
examples where it is not clear if the character variety contains more than just a few isolated
points. We want to focus on instructive examples, which besides the already mentioned
classical quasi-Fuchsian representations could include representations of free groups or
Coxeter groups. We also would like to understand compactification techniques and their
interpretation as group actions on trees or buildings.
This is a hybrid event. If you are interested in taking part, please contact me.