Intersection cohomology of rank two character varieties of surface groups

Abstract: For $G = \mathrm{GL}_2, \mathrm{SL}_2, \mathrm{PGL}_2$ we compute the intersection E-polynomials and the intersection Poincar\'e polynomials of the $G$-character variety of a compact Riemann surface $C$ and of the moduli space of $G$-Higgs bundles on $C$ of degree zero. We derive several results concerning the P=W conjectures for these singular moduli spaces.