Bad Representations and Homotopy of Character Varieties
Bad Representations and Homotopy of Character Varieties
Let G be a connected reductive complex affine algebraic group, and let X denote the moduli space of G-valued representations of a rank r free group. We first characterize the singularities in X, extending a theorem of Richardson and proving a Mumford-type result about topological singularities; this resolves conjectures of …