On the Deligne-Simpson problem

Abstract

The Deligne-Simpson problem is formulated like this: give necessary and sufficient conditions for the choice of the conjugacy classes $C_j\subset SL(n,{\bf C})$ or $c_j\subset sl(n,{\bf C})$ so that there exist irreducible $(p+1)$-tuples of matrices $M_j\in C_j$ or $A_j\in c_j$ satisfying the equality $M_1... M_{p+1}=I$ or $A_1+... +A_{p+1}=0$. We solve the problem for generic eigenvalues with the exception of the case of matrices $M_j$ when the greatest common divisor of the numbers $Σ_{j,l}(σ)$ of Jordan blocks of a given matrix $M_j$, with a given eigenvalue $σ$ and of a given size $l$ (taken over all $j$, $σ$, $l$) is $>1$. Generic eigenvalues are defined by explicit algebraic inequalities. For such eigenvalues there exist no reducible $(p+1)$-tuples. The matrices $M_j$ and $A_j$ are interpreted as monodromy operators of regular linear systems and as matrices-residua of fuchsian ones on Riemann's sphere.