Symplectic Forms on Moduli Spaces of Flat Connections on 2-manifolds

Abstract

Let $G$ be a compact connected semisimple Lie group. We extend the techniques of Weinstein [W] to give a construction in group cohomology of symplectic forms $\omega$ on \lq twisted' moduli spaces of representations of the fundamental group $\pi$ of a 2-manifold $\Sigma$ (the smooth analogues of ${\rm Hom} (\pi_1(\Sigma), G)/G$) and on relative character varieties of fundamental groups of 2-manifolds. We extend this construction to exhibit a symplectic form on the extended moduli space [J1] (a Hamiltonian $G$-space from which these moduli spaces may be obtained by symplectic reduction), and compute the moment map for the action of $G$ on the extended moduli space.