Representation and character varieties of the Baumslag-Solitar groups

Representation and character varieties of the Baumslag–Solitar groups BS(p, q) are analyzed. Irreducible components of these varieties are found, and their dimension is calculated. It is proved that all irreducible components of the representation variety R_n(BS(p, q)) are rational varieties of dimension n², and each irreducible component of the character variety X_n(BS(p, q)) is a rational variety of dimension k ≤ n. The smoothness of irreducible components of the variety R_n^s (BS(p, q)) of irreducible representations is established, and it is proved that all irreducible components of the variety R_n^s (BS(p, q)) are isomorphic to A¹ {0}.