Maximal Representations of Surface Groups: Symplectic Anosov Structures

Abstract

Let G be a connected semisimple Lie group such that the associated symmetric space X is Hermitian and let Gamma be the fundamental group of a compact orientable surface of genus at least 2. We survey the study of maximal representations, that is the subset of Hom(Gamma,G) which is a union of components characterized by the maximality of the Toledo invariant. Then we concentrate on the particular case G=SP(2n,R), and we show that the image of Gamma under any maximal representation is a discrete faithful realization of Gamma as a Kleinian group of complex motions in X with an associated Anosov system, and whose limit set in an appropriate compactification of X is a rectifiable circle.