The algebraic de Rham cohomology of representation varieties

Abstract

The SL(2,C)-representation varieties of punctured surfaces form natural families parameterized by holonomies at the punctures. In this paper, we first compute the loci where these varieties are singular for the cases of one-holed and two-holed tori and the four-holed sphere. We then compute the de Rham cohomologies of these varieties of the one-holed torus and the four-holed sphere when the varieties are smooth via the Grothendieck theorem. Furthermore, we produce the explicit Gauss-Manin connection on the natural family of the smooth SL(2,C)-representation variety of the one-holed torus.