Reference number : GC-2017-Q1-02631, amendment number : , agreement type : G, recipient legal name : Charette, Virginie (Université de Sherbrooke), recipient country : CA, recipient province : nan, recipient city : Quebec|Québec, recipient postal code : nan, program name english : Discovery Grants Program - Individual, program name french : Programme de subventions à la découverte - individuelles, program purpose english : Higher Teichm&uuml;ller theory is the study of higher dimensional geometric structures arising from the action of a discrete action of a group of isometries of the hyperbolic plane. It is a beautifully developing area of research, enriched by contributions from the theory of Higgs bundles, maximal representations, dynamics, etc. Between classical two-dimensional hyperbolic geometry and this higher dimensional theory, a wealth of interesting and somewhat concrete examples abound. 
 
Over the past five years, my research focused on geometric structures emerging from hyperbolic structures on surfaces, in dimensions three and four. Specifically, I have examined proper group actions on affine Lorentzian three-space and its conformal compactification, as well as the bidisk. Geometric structures in dimensions three and four are important to study for two reasons. First, lower-dimensional examples provide valuable insights for higher dimensional cases, especially in higher Teichm&uuml;ller theory. Second, and in my view this is just as important, they readily lend themselves to experimentation and visualisation projects, which in turn offer an entry point into research for younger people, especially undergraduate and Master's students. 
 
In lower dimensions, there are ``happy accidents'' where a diversity of structures coincide, allowing observations and questions to be reformulated in a different language. Affine Lorentzian ideas, to which I have contributed, could be generalized to a wider context. For example, interesting new constructions may result from deforming discrete groups of isometries of the hyperbolic plane in higher dimensional Lie groups. 
 
Therefore, my program for the next five years will be pursued under the theme of deforming such groups in isometry groups of certain spaces, and studying the geometric structures that arise. I will place a particular emphasis on visualisation and computer experimentation, enabling a heavy component in undergraduate research., program purpose french : Higher Teichm&uuml;ller theory is the study of higher dimensional geometric structures arising from the action of a discrete action of a group of isometries of the hyperbolic plane. It is a beautifully developing area of research, enriched by contributions from the theory of Higgs bundles, maximal representations, dynamics, etc. Between classical two-dimensional hyperbolic geometry and this higher dimensional theory, a wealth of interesting and somewhat concrete examples abound. 
 
Over the past five years, my research focused on geometric structures emerging from hyperbolic structures on surfaces, in dimensions three and four. Specifically, I have examined proper group actions on affine Lorentzian three-space and its conformal compactification, as well as the bidisk. Geometric structures in dimensions three and four are important to study for two reasons. First, lower-dimensional examples provide valuable insights for higher dimensional cases, especially in higher Teichm&uuml;ller theory. Second, and in my view this is just as important, they readily lend themselves to experimentation and visualisation projects, which in turn offer an entry point into research for younger people, especially undergraduate and Master's students. 
 
In lower dimensions, there are ``happy accidents'' where a diversity of structures coincide, allowing observations and questions to be reformulated in a different language. Affine Lorentzian ideas, to which I have contributed, could be generalized to a wider context. For example, interesting new constructions may result from deforming discrete groups of isometries of the hyperbolic plane in higher dimensional Lie groups. 
 
Therefore, my program for the next five years will be pursued under the theme of deforming such groups in isometry groups of certain spaces, and studying the geometric structures that arise. I will place a particular emphasis on visualisation and computer experimentation, enabling a heavy component in undergraduate research., agreement title english : Geometric structures in low dimensions, agreement title french : Geometric structures in low dimensions, agreement number : RGPIN, agreement value : 100000.0, agreement start date : 2017-05-10, agreement end date : nan, description english : nan, description french : nan, expected results english : nan, expected results french : nan, additional information english : Grant or Award spanning more than one fiscal year. (2017-2018 to 2022-2023), additional information french : Subvention ou bourse octroyée s'appliquant à plus d'un exercice financier. (2017-2018 à 2022-2023), owner organization : nserc-crsng, owner organization title : Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada | Conseil de recherches en sciences naturelles et en génie du Canada