SURVEY ON MCSHANE IDENTITIES FOR HIGHER

TEICHMÜLLER THEORY AND THE GONCHAROV-SHEN

POTENTIAL

ZHE SUN

Abstract. This survey summarizes my joint work with Y. Huang [HS19],

where we use Goncharov–Shen potential to obtain a family of McShane-type
identities for higher Teichmüller space. It is based on my talk at “International
Congress of Chinese Mathematicians 2019”.

1. Preliminary
In [McS98], McShane established a remarkable identity for the lengths of simple
closed geodesics on the hyperbolic surface with cusps. Let Sg,m be a topological
surface of genus g with m cusps. For a topological surface, a cusp is the same as
a hole. Given a cusped hyperbolic structure ρ on Sg,m , the length `ρ (γ) of the
homotopy class [γ] is the infimum of the set of lengths of curves homotopic to γ
with respect to ρ.
Theorem 1.1. [[McS98]] Given a cusp p, let Pp denote the collection of embedded
pair of pants with the cusp p as one boundary component up to homotopy. One
element of Pp is denoted by {β, γ} as in Figure 1. McShane identity is:
X 2
(1) 1 = 1.
{β,γ}∈P
1 + e 2 (β)+`ρ (γ))
(` ρ
p

McShane obtains the above formula by cutting the length one horocycle around
the cusp p into disjoint intervals as I1 ∪ I2 ∪ I3 ∪ I4 in Figure 1 for each embedded
pair of pants {β, γ}. To show that the compliment of these intervals is a Lebesgue
measure zero set, McShane used Birman–Series theorem [BS85] which states that
the set of points which lie on the complete simple geodesics, occupies zero area on
the hyperbolic surface.
Later on, Mirzakhani [Mir07a] extended this identity to hyperbolic surface (Sg,m , ρ)
with totally geodesic boundary by using McShane’s method. This case is also cov-
ered by the hyperbolic cone-surface[TWZ06].

2010 Mathematics Subject Classification. Primary 32G15; Secondary 57M50.

Key words and phrases. Goncharov–Shen potential, McShane identity, higher Teichmüller
space.
The author was partially supported by the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation
2018T110084 and FNR AFR bilateral grant COALAS 11802479-2.
The author also acknowledge support from U.S. National Science Foundation grants DMS-
1107452, 1107263, 1107367 “RNMS:GEometric structures And Representation varieties” (the
GEAR Network).
1
2 ZHE SUN

Figure 1. Gap function for one pair of pants.

Theorem 1.2. [[Mir07a]] Given a geodesic boundary component α of (Sg,m , ρ).

Let Sα denote the collection of embedded pair of pants with α and another hole
γ ⊂ ∂Sg,m as boundary components up to homotopy. Here Sα ⊂ Pα . Then
X X
(2) D(`ρ (α), `ρ (β), `ρ (γ)) + R(`ρ (α), `ρ (β), `ρ (γ)) = `ρ (α)
{β,γ}∈Pα {β,γ}∈Sα

Where the gap functions corresponding to Figure 1 are

x y+z
!
e2 + e 2
(3) Gap(I1 ∪ I2 ∪ I3 ∪ I4 ) := 2D(x, y, z) = 2 log −x y+z
e 2 +e 2

where Gap(I1 ) = Gap(I4 ) and Gap(I2 ) = Gap(I3 ), and

cosh( y2 ) + cosh( x+z
 
2 )
(4) Gap(I5 ) := R(x, y, z) = log .
cosh( y2 ) + cosh( x−z
2 )

Mirzakhani [Mir07a][Mir07b] used the above identity to obtain a beautiful re-

cursive formula for the volumes of the moduli spaces of Riemann surface, which
again proved Witten–Kontsevich theorem [Ko92][Wi91].
The purpose of [HS19] is to generalize the McShane-type identity to the higher
Teichmüller space such that it encodes all the simple root lengths of oriented simple
closed geodesics. One can expect a recursive formula for some geometric quantity
for the higher Teichmüller space modulo mapping class group.
The higher Teichmüller theory is the study of a special part of Hom(π1 (Sg,m ), G)/G
with rich geometric features. We only consider G = PGL(n, R) in this paper, but
most of the theorems also work for the other Lie groups. After a contractible com-
ponent Hitn (Sg ) (called PGL(n, R)-Hitchin component) was discovered by Hitchin
[Hit92], the geometric features were unravelled by Labourie [Lab06] using Anosov
flows and independently by Fock and Goncharov[FG06] using positivity [Lu94][Lu98].
SURVEY ON MCSHANE IDENTITIES FOR HIGHER TEICHMÜLLER THEORY AND THE GONCHAROV-SHEN POTENTIAL
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Thus the notion of Hitchin representation was generalized to Anosov representation

and positive representation in two directions. The corresponding character varieties
are denoted by Anon (Sg,m ) and P osn (Sg,m ) respectively and the relation between
them is not clear. Both of them showed that these representations are discrete
and faithful. They both show that, for any Anosov/positive representation ρ in
Hom(π1 (Sg,m ), PGL(n, R)), for any non-trivial γ ∈ π1 (Sg,m ) that is not around a
cusp, the monodromy ρ(γ) is loxodromic (there is a lift into SL(n, R) such that it
is conjugate to diag(λ1 , · · · , λn ) where λ1 > · · · > λn > 0). For any non-trivial
γ ∈ π1 (Sg,m ) that is around a cusp, a lift of the monodromy ρ(γ) is conjugate to
diag(λ1 , · · · , λn ) where λ1 ≥ · · · ≥ λn > 0 for a positive representation. On the
other hand, to ensure the Anosov property, the monodromy around the boundary
component still needs to be loxodromic. Then for i = 1, . . . , n − 1, we can study
the simple root length log λλi+1i
of the Anosov/positive representation.
In [LM09, Section 9], the notion of the Hitchin component is generalized to
Hitn (Sg,m ) by doubling the surface. Actually Hitn (Sg,m ) is the same as the part of
Posn (Sg,m ) with (if any) loxodromic boundary monodromy. To work on both loxo-
dromic boundary monodromy and unipotent boundary monodromy, we will focus
on the subset Pos0n (Sg,m ) of Posn (Sg,m ) with loxodromic boundary monodromy or
unipotent boundary monodromy. Speaking about geometric structures, Pos02 (Sg,m )
is the Teichmüller space of hyperbolic structures on Sg,m . When n = 3, by work
of Goldman and Choi [CG93][G90][Mar10] Pos03 (Sg,m ) is the deformation space of
convex RP2 -structures on S. It is also related to the study affine sphere[CY77].
For n ≥ 4, the geometric structures for Hitn (Sg ) were studied by Guichard and
Wienhard [GW08][GW12].
In [GS15], Goncharov and Shen introduce a family of mapping class group invari-
ant positive regular functions on the moduli space ASLn ,Sg,m of decorated SLn -local
systems that generalizes the decorated Teichmüller space [Pen87]. For each cusp
p, there are n − 1 such regular functions {Pip }n−1 i=1 , each one of them corresponds
to a simple root length. These regular functions are used to explicitly formulate a
particular homological mirror symmetry conjecture. The tropical version of these
functions are used to parametrize the canonical bases of some representation spaces
geometrically. In [HS19], firstly by reparametrizing the horocycle length by the reg-
ular function Pip , we obtain non-strict McShane-type inequalities for Pos0n (Sg,m ).
These inequalities are granted by positivity. Anosov property ensures that each gap
term is comparable with that of hyperbolic case, thus shows that these inequalities
are equalities for Hitn (Sg,m ). Moreover, we prove that these inequalities are equal-
ities for Pos03 (Sg,m ) by generalizing the Birman–Series geodesic scarcity theorem
[BS85]. Each gap term is similar to the formula in Theorem 1.2, except the sim-
ple root lengths, these are also projective invariants. We prove boundedness and
Fuchsian rigidity results for triple ratios. We apply our identities to derive the sim-
ple spectral discreteness for the positive representation with unipotent boundary
monodromy, Collar lemmas, and generalizations of the Thurston metric.

2. Labourie–McShane identity on higher Teichmüller space

In [LM09], Labourie and McShane generalized the McShane identity for the
Hitchin component Hitn (Sg,m ) with loxodromic boundary monodromy. The gap
functions in the identity are generalized to be the log of the ordered cross ratios
[Lab07] B associated to a Hitchin representation ρ, for example, the weak cross
4 ZHE SUN

ratio. In this case, let Gap(I1 ∪ I2 ) := log B(α+ , α− , β + , γ + ). In contrast to the

hyperbolic case, for a general Hitchin representation, Gap(I1 ∪ I2 ) is not always
→
−
equal to Gap(I3 ∪ I4 ). Hence they need a finer collection than Pα . Let P α denote
the collection of embedded boundary-parallel pairs of pants with α as one boundary
component and the other two boundary components β and γ are parallel (as in
Figure 1) up to homotopy. For each element {β, γ} in Pα , there are two different
→
−
elements {β, γ} and {β −1 , γ −1 } in P α .
Definition 2.1. [period] For any y 6= α+ , α− , the period of α with respect to B,
which does not depend on y, is
`B (α) := log B(α− , α+ , α(y), y) .


(5)
Splitting the period of the ordered cross ratio the same way as McShane identity,
combining with B(α− , α+ , z, t) being Hölder monotone with respect to z in certain
interval when t is fixed using Anosov property, they obtain the following theorem.
Theorem 2.2. [[LM09, Theorem 4.1.2.1]] Let ρ ∈ Hitn (Sg,m ) with loxodromic
boundary monodromy. Let α be a boundary component of Sg,m . Then
X X
log B(α+ , α− , β + , γ + ) + log B(α+ , α− , γ + , γ − ) = `B (α),
(6) →
−
{β,γ}∈ P α {β,γ}∈Sα

where each embedded pair of pants verifies αβ −1 γ = 1.

Assuming some regularity, the identity for the cusp case can be obtained by di-
viding both sides by `B (α) when `B (α) converges to zero.
With respect to a cross ratio B, for any γ ∈ π1 (Sg,m ), the period of γ always
satisfies
`B (γ) = `B (γ −1 ).
What are the minimal conditions that we need to obtain such kind of identity?
With the above question in mind, we are going to break down the above symmetry
to generalize the identity.

3. Identities on higher Teichmüller space for simple root length

3.1. Ratio and the identity. Inspired by the ratio of (n×n)-determinants [Sun15],
we define the ordered ratio which generalizes the notion of the ordered cross ratio.
Definition 3.1. [Ratio [HS19, Section 4]] Let S be a connected oriented topo-
logical Riemann surface with negative Euler characteristic. Let ∂∞ π1 (S)4∗∗ =
{(x, y, z, t) ∈ ∂∞ π1 (S)4 | x 6= y, x 6= z, x 6= t, y 6= z}. A ratio on S is a π1 (S)-
invariant Hölder function B from ∂∞ π1 (S)4∗∗ to R which satisfies the following
rules:
(1) (Normalization): B(x, y, z, t) = 0 iff y = t,
(2) (Normalization): B(x, y, z, t) = 1 iff z = t,
(3) (cocycle): B(x, y, z, t) = B(x, y, z, w) · B(x, y, w, t),
An ordered ratio is a ratio B on S which satisfies, for four different points x, y, z, t ∈
∂∞ π1 (S):
(1) (positivity) B(x, y, z, t) > 0 if z, t are on the same side of xy,
(2) (positivity) B(x, y, z, t) > 1 if x, y, z, t are cyclically ordered.
SURVEY ON MCSHANE IDENTITIES FOR HIGHER TEICHMÜLLER THEORY AND THE GONCHAROV-SHEN POTENTIAL
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Comparing with the ordered cross ratio, the ordered ratio does not have cocycle
identity with respect to the first two entries. Thus the period `B of the ordered
ratio may have
(7) `B (γ) 6= `B (γ −1 )
for some γ ∈ π1 (Sg,m ). Actually, the ordered ratios hold the sufficient conditions
for the McShane-type identity to be hold: cocycle identity, positivity and hölder
monotone.
Theorem 3.2. [[HS19]] Given ρ ∈ Hitn (Sg,m ) with loxodromic boundary mon-
→
−
odromy. Let α be a boundary component of Sg,m . Let H α be the collection of
embedded boundary-parallel pairs of half-pants as in Figure 2 right (check [HS19,
Definition 1.25] for details). Then
(8) X X
log B(α+ , α− , β + , γ + ) + log B(α+ , α− , γ + , γ − )
→
− {β,γ}∈Sα
{β,γ}∈ P α
X X
log B(α+ , α− , δ(α− ), δ + ) + log B(α+ , α− , γ + , γ − ) = `B (α),
 
=
→
− {β,γ}∈Sα
{δ,δα− }∈ H α

where the gap function |log B(α+ , α− , δ(α− ), δ + )| corresponds to one of {I1 , I2 , I3 , I4 }
in Figure 1.

Figure 2. The boundary-parallel pair of pants {β, γ} has the

boundary components α, β, γ with αβ −1 γ = 1. And {β, γ} is cut
into {γ, γα }, {β, βα } along the simple bi-infinite curve γα− = βα−
spiralling around α (check [HS19, Figure 6]).

Later on, we will focus on giving explicit formulas using Goncharov–Shen poten-
tials.
3.2. Goncharov–Shen potential and the identity for cusp case.
Definition 3.3. [Flags and the decorated flags] A flag F in E is a nested
sequence of vector subspaces of E:
{0} = F0 ⊂ F1 ⊂ · · · ⊂ Fn−1 ⊂ Fn = E, dim Fi = i.
6 ZHE SUN

A basis for a flag F is an ordered basis (f1 , . . . , fn ) for the vector space E such that
the first i basis vectors form a basis for Fi , for i = 1, . . . , n.
A decorated flag (F, ϕ) is pair consisting of a flag F and a collection ϕ of (n − 1)
non-zero vectors
ϕ = fˇi ∈ Fi /Fi−1 i=1,...,n−1 .


A basis for a decorated flag (F, ϕ) is an ordered basis (f1 , . . . , fn ) for the vector
space E such that
fi + Fi−1 = fˇi ∈ Fi /Fi−1 for i = 1, . . . , n − 1.
We refer to the set B of flags on E as the flag variety and the set A of decorated
flags on E as the principal affine space. We note the forget decoration map
(9) π : A → B, (F, ϕ) 7→ F.
Fock and Goncharov [FG06, Section 2] introduced the moduli spaces XPGLn ,Sg,m
(ASLn ,Sg,m resp.) by adding the monodromy invariant flag on each boundary compo-
nent (a spin structure plus monodromy invariant decorated flag on each boundary
component where the boundary monodromy is restricted to be parabolic resp.).
Deck transform the invariant flags ξ with respect to the representation ρ, we ob-
tain a ρ-invariant map ξρ from all the lifts mfp of vertices of ideal triangulation
in the universal cover to B (A resp.). In [FG06, Section 9], using ξρ , Fock and
Goncharov parametrized ASLn ,Sg,m by determinants of n vectors from the bases for
triple of decorated flags, called Fock–Goncharov A coordinates. And XPGLn ,Sg,m
is parametrized by the following projective invariants, called Fock–Goncharov X
coordinates. These invariants are also studied in [BD14] for closed surface.
Definition 3.4. [Edge functions [FG06]] Let (X, Y, Z, T ) be quadruple of flags
in generic position. Choose their bases
(x1 , · · · , xn ), (y1 , · · · , yn ), (z1 , · · · , zn ), (t1 , · · · , tn ),
respectively. Let ∆ be the volume form of Rn . For the positive integer i < n, the
edge function



∆ xn−i ∧ y i−1 ∧ z 1 ∆ xn−i−1 ∧ y i ∧ t1
Di (X, Y, Z, T ) := − · .
∆ (xn−i−1 ∧ y i ∧ z 1 ) ∆ (xn−i ∧ y i−1 ∧ t1 )
Definition 3.5. [Triple ratios [FG06]] Consider a triple of flags (F, G, H) in
generic position, with bases
(f1 , · · · , fn ), (g1 , · · · , gn ), (h1 , · · · , hn ),
respectively. Then for any triple of positive integers (i, j, k) sum to n, the triple
ratio Ti,j,k (F, G, H) is defined by:




∆ f i+1 ∧ g j ∧ hk−1 ∆ f i−1 ∧ g j+1 ∧ hk ∆ f i ∧ g j−1 ∧ hk+1
Ti,j,k (F, G, H) := .
∆ (f i+1 ∧ g j−1 ∧ hk ) ∆ (f i ∧ g j+1 ∧ hk−1 ) ∆ (f i−1 ∧ g j ∧ hk+1 )
Definition 3.6. [positivity] The positive real points XPGLn ,Sg,m (R>0 ) are the real
points of XPGLn ,Sg,m such that, given any ideal triangulation T , the triple ratios are
always positive for any ideal triangle, the edge functions Di (ξρ (x), ξρ (y), ξρ (z), ξρ (t))
are always positive for any two adjacent ideal triangles (x, y, z) and (x, t, y) in the
universal cover. The Laurent phenomenon of the cluster ensemble structure on
XPGLn ,Sg,m ensures that the positivity does no depend on the ideal triangulation.
The underlying representations are called positive representations.
SURVEY ON MCSHANE IDENTITIES FOR HIGHER TEICHMÜLLER THEORY AND THE GONCHAROV-SHEN POTENTIAL
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Goncharov and Shen observed the following key fact:

For any triple of decorated flags (F, G, H) ∈ A3 if (F, G, H) are in generic posi-
tion, there is a unique upper triangular unipotent matrix g with respect to any basis
for F , such that (F, π(G)) · g = (F, π(H)).
Definition 3.7. [i-th character] Let the above linear transformation g take the
form (gij ) with respect to any basis for the decorated flag F . For i = 1, · · · , n − 1,
we define the i-th character
Pi (F ; G, H) of (F, G, H) to be gn−i,n−i+1 .
The i-th character satisfies the following additive properties:
Pi (F ; G, H) = Pi (F ; G, W ) + Pi (F ; W, H);
Pi (F ; G, H) = −Pi (F ; H, G).
One can think Pi (F ; G, H) as a geometric quantity associated to the “angle”
(F ; G, H).
Notation 3.8. Consider (ρ, ξ) ∈ ASLn ,Sg,m and an ideal triangulation T of Sg,m .
For any marked triangle (f, g, h) in Te (T resp.), we denote the i-th character
Pi (ξρ (f ); ξρ (g), ξρ (h)) (Pi (ξ(f ); ξ(g), ξ(h)) resp.) by Pi (f ; g, h). Similarly the triple
ratio Ti,j,k (ξρ (f ), ξρ (g), ξρ (h)) is denoted by Ti,j,k (f, g, h) and the edge function
Di (ξρ (x), ξρ (y), ξρ (z), ξρ (t)) is denoted by Di (x, y, z, t).
Sum the geometric quantities associated to the “angles” around the cusp, we get
the mapping class group invariant regular function.
Definition 3.9. [Goncharov–Shen potential [GS15]] Given p ∈ mp , let Θp
denote the set of marked anticlockwise-oriented ideal triangles (p, g, h) of T . For
each i = 1, · · · , n − 1, the i-th Goncharov–Shen potential at p, denoted by Pip , on
the moduli space ASLn ,Sg,m is given by:
X
(10) Pip := Pi (p; g, h).
(p,g,h)∈Θp
→
−
For [µ] ∈ H p , let Θµ be a subset of Θp that contained in µ. We define (µ, i)-
Goncharov–Shen potential to be
X
(11) Piµ := Pi (p, g, h).
(p,g,h)∈Θµ

Theorem 3.10. [[GS15, Theorem 10.7]] These m(n−1) Goncharov–Shen potentials

{Pip }p,i generate the algebra of mapping class group invariant regular functions on
the moduli space ASLn ,Sg,m .
Using [GS15, Lemma 3.1] (or [HS19, Section 4]), one can express Pi (F ; G, H)
explicitly as a regular function of Fock–Goncharov A coordinates.
For the case (n, g, m) = (2, 1, 1), the equation P1p = 6 gives the classical Markoff
equation:
x y z
(12) + + = 3.
yz xz xy
For the case (n, g, m) = (3, 1, 1), the “generalized Markoff equation” has eight
variables [HS19, Section 5].
8 ZHE SUN

Another way to obtain the gap term from the classical Markoff equation is orig-
inally due to Bowditch [Bow97] (in [Hua14] for general surface). Splitting the
Goncharov–Shen potential similar to Bowditch, we obtain the following theorem.

Theorem 3.11. [[HS19, Theorem 5.10, 7.1]] Let ρ ∈ Pos3 (Sg,m ) with unipotent
boundary monodromy and let p be a distinguished cusp of Sg,m . Then,
X 1
d2 (β,γ)
cosh 1
→
− 1+ 2
·e 2 (τ (γ,γp )+`1 (γ)+τ (β,βp )+`1 (β))
{β,γ}∈ P p cosh
d1 (β,γ)
2
(13) X B1 (γ, γp )
= = 1.
→
− 1 + e`1 (γ)+τ (γ,γp )
{γ,γp }∈ H p

Here
(14) di (β, γ) = log Di (x, γx, β + , γ + )
for i = 1, 2. And
(15) p, γ pe, γ + )
τ (γ, γp ) = log T1,1,1 (e
where {γ, γp } is the boundary-parallel pair of half-pants and (e p, γ pe, γ + ) is a lift of
the ideal triangle obtained by cutting {γ, γp } along the geodesic shooting out from p
and spiralling around γ. And we define
{γ,γ }
P1 p
(16) B1 (γ, γp ) =
P1p
inspired by [Hua14]. When (g, m) = (1, 1), we have
X 1
(17) = 1.
→
− 1 + e`1 (γ)+τ (γ,γp )
{γ,γp }∈ P p

→
−
In 3-Fuchsian case, for any {β, γ} ∈ P p , we have τ (γ, γp ) = τ (β, βp ) = 0 and

cosh d2 (β,γ)
2
= 1.
cosh d1 (β,γ)
2

Thus recover Theorem 1.1.

To complete the proof of the above theorem, we need to prove the compliment
of the gap terms is a Lebesgue measure zero set. For a positive representation
with loxodromic boundary monodromy, the Anosov property ensures the Hölder
monotone property. The Hölder monotone property allows us to compare each
cross ratio with each hyperbolic cross ratio. Thus we can use the original Birman–
Series theorem to show the compliment of the gap terms is a Lebesgue measure
zero set. But for a positive representation with unipotent boundary monodromy,
the Anosov property fails. Thus we cannot use Hölder monotone property without
proving it. Instead, we generalize the Birman–Series geodesic scarcity theorem for
ρ ∈ Pos3 (Sg,m ) with unipotent boundary monodromy in [HS19, Section 6].
There is another identity for the simple root length `2 . We will not state it, but
the geometric expression is contained in the general n case in the next subsection.
SURVEY ON MCSHANE IDENTITIES FOR HIGHER TEICHMÜLLER THEORY AND THE GONCHAROV-SHEN POTENTIAL
9

3.3. The i-th ratio and the identity for boundary case.
Definition 3.12. [i-th ratio [HS19]] Given (ρ, ξ) ∈ XPGLn ,Sg,m (R>0 ) and x, y, z, t ∈
m
e p , suppose that (ξρ (x), ξρ (y), ξρ (z)) and (ξρ (x), ξρ (y), ξρ (t)) are in generic posi-
tion. Choose respective bases
(x1 , · · · , xn ), (y1 , · · · , yn ), (z1 , · · · , zn ), (t1 , · · · , tn )
for (ξρ (x), ξρ (y), ξρ (z), ξρ (t)) and fix a lift X of ξρ (x) to A. For any i = 1, · · · , n−1,
we define the i-th ratio of (x, y, z, t) as:
Pi (x; y, t) Pi (X; ξρ (y), ξρ (t))
(18) Bi (x; y, z, t) := := .
Pi (x; y, z) Pi (X; ξρ (y), ξρ (z))
The i-th ratio is independent of the choice of X.
Given any ρ ∈ Posn (Sg,m ) with loxodromic boundary monodromy, there are
finitely many lifts into the space XPGLn ,Sg,m (R>0 ). We need a canonical one to
work with.
Definition 3.13. [Canonical lift] For any ρ ∈ Posn (Sg,m ) with loxodromic
boundary monodromy, there is a canonical lift (ρ, ξ) into XPGLn ,Sg,m (R>0 ) such
that for any homotopy class δ ∈ π1 (Sg,m ) representing a boundary component of
Sg,m , there exist a lift of ρ(δ) into SLn with eigenvectors δ1 , · · · , δn and eigenvalues
λ1 , · · · , λn respectively satisfying λ1 > . . . > λn > 0, and (δ1 , · · · , δn ) ((δn , · · · , δ1 )
resp.) is a basis for the flag ξρ (δ + ) (ξρ (δ − ) resp.).
By [HS19, Proposition 4.19], the period
λi (ρ(α))
`Bi (α) := log Bi (α− ; α+ , α(y), y) = log


(19) = `i (α).
λi+1 (ρ(α))
Since i-th ratio is an ordered ratio, we can apply Theorem 3.2 to Bi . The
following result for Sg,1 follows from the computations in [HS19, Section 8.3]. To
write the formula for general Sg,m , one needs to combine the computation in [HS19,
Proposition 8.22].
Theorem 3.14. [Identity for the i-th ratio[HS19]] Let ρ ∈ Hitn (Sg,m ) with
loxodromic boundary monodromy. Let α be a distinguished boundary component of
Sg,1 . For any i = 1, · · · , n − 1, we have
 1 d (β,γ) 
cosh 2 2
2 (κi (γ,γα− )+`i (γ)+κi (β,βα− )+`i (β))
1
e 2 `i (α) + · e
d (β,γ)
X cosh 1 2
log 
 
d (β,γ) 
− 1
` (α) cosh 2 2 1
(κ (γ,γ )+` (γ)+κ (β,β )+` (β))
→
− e 2 i + · e 2 i α− i i α − i

(20) {β,γ}∈ P α
d (β,γ)
cosh 1 2
  R (γ,γ )·` (α)
+ e`i (γ)+κi (γ,γα− ) 

X  e i α− i
= log

 = `i (α).
→
− 1 + e`i (γ)+κi (γ,γα− )
(γ,γα− )∈ H α

Here
(21)
Pi−1 Qc Qn−i−1 !
1+ c=1 j=1 Tn−i,j,i−j (δx, δ + , x) j=1 Tn−i−j,j,i (x, δx, δ + )
κi (δ, δx ) = log Pi−1 Qc · Qi−1 .
1+ c=1 j=1 Tn−i,j,i−j (x, δx, δ + ) j=1 Tj,n−i,i−j (x, δx, δ + )
10 ZHE SUN

And
(22)
Pi (α− ; γ + , γ(α− )) Pi (α− ; γ −1 (β + ), γ −1 (α− ))
d1 (β, γ) := log , d2 (β, γ) := log .
Pi (α− ; β(α− ), β + ) Pi (α− ; γ −1 (α− ), γ + )
And
 
log Bi (α− ; α+ , γ(α− ), γ −1 (α− ))
(23) Ri (γ, γα− ) := .
`i (α)
→
−
In n-Fuchsian case, for any {β, γ} ∈ P p , we have κi (γ, γα− ) = κi (β, βα− ) = 0
and
cosh d2 (β,γ)
2
= 1.
cosh d1 (β,γ)
2
Thus recover Theorem 1.2.
The following proposition shows that the Labourie–McShane identity for the
weak cross ratio can be expressed as a sum of (n − 1) identities for the i-th ratio
plus some rational function of triple ratios. Thus our identities are related to theirs.
Proposition 3.15. [[HS19, Corollary 4.15]] The weak cross-ratio and the i-th ratio
is related by:
Y 1 + i−1
n−1 n−1
P Qc 1
!
Y c=1 j=1 Tn−i,i−j,j (x,y,z)
(24) B(x, y, z, t) = Bi (x; y, z, t) · Pi−1 Qc 1
.
i=1 i=1 1 + c=1 j=1 Tn−i,i−j,j (x,y,t)

Taking an analytic path in XPGLn ,Sg,m (R>0 ) where each point has loxodromic
boundary monodromy except that the end point of the path has unipotent boundary
monodromy, we obtain the following theorem.
Theorem 3.16. [unipotent case[HS19, Theorem 8.5]] Let ρ ∈ Posn (Sg,m ) with
unipotent boundary monodromy. Let p be a distinguished cusp of Sg,m . For any
i = 1, · · · , n − 1, we have
−1
cosh( 1 d (β,γ))
X  1
1 + cosh( 21 d2 (β,γ)) · e 2 (κi (β,βp )+`i (β)+κi (γ,γp )+`i (γ))
2 1
→
−
{β,γ}∈ P p
(25) X Bi (γ, γp )
≤ 1.
→
− 1 + eκi (γ,γp )+`i (γ)
(γ,γp )∈ H p

4. properties of projective invariants in the gap term

To investigate deeper into the identities in Theorems 3.11, 3.14 and 3.16, we
need to understand the new projective invariants in the formulas. Firstly, we want
to know how they behave.
4.1. Boundedness. Except the simple root length `i in Theorems 3.14 and 3.16,
d2 (β,γ)
cosh
the other projective invariants are κi (δ, δx ), 2
d1 (β,γ) , Ri (γ, γα− ) and Bi (γ, γp ).
cosh 2
Here κi (δ, δx ) is a positive rational function of triple ratio.
Theorem 4.1. [[HS19, Theorem 3.4]] Let ρ ∈ Pos0n (Sg,m ). For the positive integers
ρ
i, j, k that sum to n, let Ti,j,k be the triple ratio function from Tri (S̃) to R>0 . Then
ρ
the restriction of Ti,j,k to the set of l-intersecting ideal triangles on S̃, is bounded
ρ ρ
within some interval [Tmin,l , Tmax,l ] ⊂ R>0 .
SURVEY ON MCSHANE IDENTITIES FOR HIGHER TEICHMÜLLER THEORY AND THE GONCHAROV-SHEN POTENTIAL
11

As a consequence, the collection of κi (δ, δx ) in all the gap functions is bounded

within some positive interval.
Theorem 4.2. [[HS19, 7.3, 7.19]] Given ρ ∈ Posn (Sg,m ) with unipotent boundary
→
− →
−
monodromy, let H p (γ) be the subset of H p with γ as one boundary component.
There is a universal constant bρ > 0 such that for every oriented simple closed
→
−
curve γ ∈ π1 (Sg,m ), there exists an embedded pair of half-pants (γ, γp ) ∈ H p (γ)
such that:
(26) Bi (γ, γp ) ≥ bρ .
Moreover
X
(27) Bi (γ, γp ) ≤ 1.
→
−
{γ,γp }∈ H p (γ)

Similarly for ρ ∈ Hitn (Sg,m ) and Ri (γ, γα− ).

We conjecture the following
d2 (β,γ)
cosh
Conjecture 4.3. Let ρ ∈ Pos0n (Sg,m ), the collection of 2
d1 (β,γ) in all the gap
cosh 2
functions is bounded within some positive interval.
4.2. Fuchsian rigidity. Using cluster mutations, we prove the following theorems.
Theorem 4.4. [[HS19, Theorem 3.10]] For n = 3, 4, the underlying representation
of a positive point (ρ, ξ) ∈ XPGLn ,Sg,m (R>0 ) is n-Fuchsian if and only if for any
ideal triangulation every triple ratio coordinate is equal to 1.
Theorem 4.5. [[HS19, Theorem 3.12]] For n = 3, the underlying representation
of a positive point (ρ, ξ) ∈ XPGLn ,Sg,m (R>0 ) is n-Fuchsian if and only if for any
ideal triangulation the two edge functions along any ideal edge are the same.
The above two theorems are also true for any decorated surface Ŝ.
Using the continuity of the limit curve ξρ , we prove the following general theorem.
Theorem 4.6. [[HS19, Theorem 3.16]] The representation ρ ∈ Posn (Sg,m ) with
(if any) unipotent boundary monodromy is n-Fuchsian if and only if for any ideal
triangulation every triple ratio coordinate is equal to 1.

5. Further development
Using the two sides of the identity in Theorem 1.2, Mirzakhani [Mir07a] inte-
grated over the moduli space Mg,m (L1 , · · · , Lm ) of Riemann surfaces with fixed
boundary lengths with respect to the Weil–Petersson symplectic form. Then she
got a recursive formula where one side is the volume of Mg,m (L1 , · · · , Lm ), the
other side consists of volumes of the moduli spaces of Riemann surfaces that cut-
ting out a pair of pants from Sg,m . She used the symplectic reduction of the circle
action on the boundary to cut out a pair of pants.
In her computation, a beautiful formula of the Weil–Petersson symplectic form
due to Wolpert was used. Actually, in [Wol82][Wol83], Wolpert provided an explicit
description of the Weil–Petersson symplectic structure on the Teichmüller space in
terms the Fenchel–Nielsen coordinates, which are global Darboux coordinates. To
generalize Mirzakhani’s trick to the higher Teichmüller space, firstly, we need to un-
derstand the Darboux coordinates geometrically in that case. A nature symplectic
12 ZHE SUN

structure on the character variety which generalizes the Weil–Petersson symplectic

structure is introduced in [AB83][G84], called(Atiyah–Bott–)Goldman symplectic
structure. In [Kim99], Kim generalized the Wolpert’s formula for G = PGL3 (R),
and the general twist functions were fixed in [CJK19]. For G = PGLn (R), in
[SWZ17][SZ17][WZ18], the Hamiltonian deformations of the limit curves ξρ are in-
vestigated for understanding the deformations of the representations, and a global
Darboux coordinate system was obtained for general n.
By [Lab08], the mapping class group M od(Sg,m ) acts properly on the Hitchin
component Hit3 (Sg,m )(`1 (α1 ), `2 (α1 ), · · · , `1 (αm ), `2 (αm )) with described boundary
simple root lengths. Thus we can consider the quotient space
H3 (Sg,m )(`1 (α1 ), · · · , `2 (αm )) = Hit3 (Sg,m )(`1 (α1 ), · · · , `2 (αm ))/Mod(Sg,m ).
Recently we obtain
Theorem 5.1. [[Sun]] Let
H3t (Sg,m )(`1 (α1 ), · · · , `2 (αm ))
be the subset of H3 (Sg,m )(`1 (α1 ), · · · , `2 (αm )) where the Hilbert area of the convex
projective surface is bounded by t > 0. Then the Goldman symplectic volume of
H3t (Sg,m )(`1 (α1 ), · · · , `2 (αm )) is bounded above by a polynomial of t.
Instead of a lower or upper bound, an explicit formula for the Goldman symplec-
tic volume of H3t (Sg,m )(`1 (α1 ), · · · , `2 (αm )) will be more interesting. Moreover, We
expect some other geometric quantity that can be computed explicitly.
On the other hand, we expect some other directions of development.
(1) We try to show that the inequality in Theorem 3.16 is actually an equality.
(2) By applying these identities, in [HS19, Section 7.3], we obtain a Collar
lemma for Hilbert lengths similar to [LZ17] for P os03 (Sg,m ) with m ≥ 1.
We expect to find the Collar lemma for simple root length using the i-th
ratio.
(3) We expect to fully understand the geometry underlying the generalized
Thurston metric [HS19, Section 7.4] that we find.
All these proposed directions are related to the understanding of the i-th ratio. In
a word, we suggest to use the i-th ratio as a tool to investigate the geometry of the
higher Techmüller space for any semisimple Lie group.

Acknowledgements
I thank Yau Mathematical Sciences Center at Tsinghua University and IHES
their hospitality.

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Department of mathematics, University of Luxembourg

Email address: zhe.sun@uni.lu