Length-convexity and domination for Hitchin representations

Abstract

Let $S$ be a closed oriented surface of genus $g\geq 2$. For any $n\geq 3$, let $\text{Hit}_n(S)$ be the Hitchin component and let $\text{Hit}_n(S)^\prime$ be the subset of representations that take values in $\mathrm{PSp}_{2m}(\mathbb{R})$ if $n=2m$ and $\mathrm{PSO}(m,m+1)$ if $n=2m+1$. In this note we prove that for any Hitchin representation $ρ\in \text{Hit}_n(S)$ there is $j \in \text{Hit}_n(S)^\prime$ such that $ρ$ dominates $j$ in the Hilbert length spectrum; this confirms a conjecture of Lee-Zhang and, independently, Tholozan who had proved this for $n=3$. The key step is establishing a convexity of the Hilbert length function in the Bonahon-Dreyer parametrization of $\text{Hit}_n(S)$; this uses a result from the recent work of Barman-Gupta. We also prove these convexity and domination results for translation length functions and their spectra.