Positive formula for the product of conjugacy classes on the unitary group

The convolution product of two generic conjugacy classes of the unitary group $U_n$ is described by a probability distribution on the space of central measures which admits a density. Relating the convolution to the quantum Littlewood-Richardson coefficients and using recent results describing those coefficients, we give a manifestly positive formula for this density. In the same flavor as the hive model of Knutson and Tao, this formula is given in terms of a subtraction-free sum of volumes of explicit polytopes. As a consequence, this expression also provides a positive formula for the volume of moduli spaces of $SU_n$-valued flat connections on the three-holed two dimensional sphere, which was first given by Witten in terms of an infinite sum of characters.
Comment: 46 pages, 30 figures with colors