Geometry, Topology and Dynamics Seminar
Michael Zshornack
Northwestern University
Twist flows on character varieties of surfaces
Abstract: The twist flow on the character variety of a surface group arises in many different guises. For two, as the Fenchel—Nielsen twist flow on Teichmüller space and in constructing examples of quasi-Fuchsian groups by “bending” along a simple closed curve. We will discuss settings in which these flows “generically” connect arbitrary characters of a surface group and applications of this fact to the algebraic structure of character varieties, generalizing work of Rapinchuk, Benyash-Krivetz and Chernousov, and to positivity in higher-rank Teichmüller theory. This is joint work in progress with Jacques Audibert and Vasily Rogov.
Wednesday April 22, 2026 at 3:00 PM in 636 SEO