Non-Hitchin Borel Anosov representations from surface groups to $\mathrm{SL}_{3k}\mathbb{R}$

Abstract

We use the Labourie--Wentworth's formula and the thermodynamic formalism to show that, along the slice constructed by Bronstein--Davalo, the logarithmic top-eigenvalue length spectrum has a uniformly positive second variation near the Barbot representation. As a major application, we show that every closed surface group admits a non-Hitchin Borel Anosov representation into $\mathrm{SL}_{3k}\mathbb{R}$ for every $k\geqslant 1$. In particular, we obtain the first such examples in the even dimensions $6k$. We also study the local behavior of related objects of this slice around the Barbot representation, including the Lyapunov exponent of the flat bundle, the Hausdorff dimension of the limit set, and the Hilbert entropy of the representation.