Compactification of the SL(3,R)-Hitchin component

Hitchin components are natural generalizations of the classical Teichmüller space. In the setting of SL(3,R), the Hitchin component parameterizes the holonomies of convex real projective structures. By
studying Blaschke metrics, which are Riemannian metrics associated to such structures, along with their limits, we obtain a compactification of the SL(3,R) Hitchin component. We show the boundary objects are hybrid structures, which are in part flat metric and in part laminar. These hybrid objects are natural generalizations of measured laminations, which are the boundary objects in Thurston's compactification of Teichmüller space. (joint work with Andrea Tamburelli)