Homogeneous Dynamics and Anosov Representations: Fractal closures of geodesic planes in higher rank
Presenter
April 20, 2026
Keywords:
- discrete subgroups
- semisimple Lie groups
- Anosov representations
- convex projective geometry
- entropy
- geometric structures
- Hitchin representations
- homogeneous dynamics
- mixing
- thermodynamic formalism
- thin subgroups
MSC:
- 20-XX - Group theory and generalizations
- 22-XX - Topological groups
- Lie groups
- 37-XX - Dynamical systems and ergodic theory
- 53-XX - Differential geometry
- 57-XX - Manifolds and cell complexes
Abstract
Ratner’s theorem implies strong topological rigidity for immersed totally geodesic submanifolds in finite-volume locally symmetric spaces. In infinite-volume settings, however, the topological behavior of totally geodesic submanifolds is much less understood: while it has been studied in certain rank-one cases, the higher-rank setting has remained unexplored.
In this talk, I will describe a construction of the first higher-rank examples exhibiting a failure of such rigidity using floating geodesic planes, joint work with Hee Oh. More precisely, we construct a Zariski-dense Hitchin surface group inside $\mathrm{SL}_3(\mathbb{Z})$ whose associated locally symmetric space contains floating geodesic planes whose closures have non-integer Hausdorff dimension.