Unitary monodromies of rank two Fuchsian systems with $(n+1)$ singularities

Abstract

We study the unitarity of monodromies of rank two Fuchsian systems of SL type with $(n+1)$ regular singularities on the Riemann sphere, namely, we give a sufficient and necessary condition for the monodromy group to be conjugate to a subgroup of a special unitary group $\mathrm{SU}(p,q)$. When $n\ge 3$, the moduli space of irreducible monodromies can be realized as an affine algebraic set in $\mathbb{C}^m$ for some $m \in \mathbb{N}$. In this paper, we give a characterization and construction of unitary monodromies in terms of this affine algebraic set. The signatures of unitary monodromies are also classified.