Density of integral points in the Betti moduli of quasi-projective varieties

Abstract: Let $Y$ be a smooth quasi-projective complex variety equipped with a simple normal crossings compactification. We show that integral points are potentially dense in the (relative) character varieties parametrizing $SL_2$-local systems on $Y$ with fixed algebraic integer traces along the boundary components. The proof proceeds by using work of Corlette-Simpson to reduce to the case of Riemann surfaces, where we produce an integral point with Zariski-dense orbit under the mapping class group.