Ergodicity of Mapping Class Group Actions on SU(2)-character varieties
arXiv:0901.1402
Abstract
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_i) = b_i. This action preserves a symplectic structure on the open dense smooth submanifold of X. corresponding to irreducible representations. This subset has full measure and is connected. In this note we use the symplectic geometry of this space to give a new proof that this action is ergodic.
to appear in the Festschrift honoring Robert Zimmer's 60th birthday