Transience of algebraic varieties in linear groups and application to generic Zariski density

Abstract

We study the transience of algebraic varieties in linear groups. In particular, we show that a "non elementary" random walk in SL_2(R) escapes exponentially fast from every proper algebraic subvariety. We also treat the case where the random walk is on the real points of a semi-simple split algebraic group and show such a result for a wide family of random walks. As an application, we prove that generic subgroups (in some sense) of linear groups are Zariski dense.