Recently, E.Martinengo obtained results on obstructions to deformations of Higgs pairs by describing an L-infinity morphism inducing the Hitchin map. In this note we show that analogous results hold for principal G-Higgs bundles, where G is a complex reductive group. We show that the L-infinity morphism has a Lie-algebraic analogue inducing the adjoint quotient morphism.
We identify dglas that control infinitesimal deformations of the pairs (manifold, Higgs bundle) and of Hitchin pairs. As a consequence, we recover known descriptions of first order deformations and we refine known results on obstructions. Secondly we prove that the Hitchin map is induced by a natural L-infinity morphism and, by standard facts about L-infinity algebras, we obtain new conditions on obstructions to deform Hitchin pairs.
We analyze and completely describe the four cases when the Hitchin fibration on a $2$-dimensional moduli space of irregular Higgs bundles over $\mathbb{C}P^{1}$ has a single singular fiber. The case when the fiber at infinity is of type $I_0^*$ is further analyzed, and we give constructions of all the possible configurations of singular curves inelliptic fibrations having this type of singular fiber at infinity.
We consider the problem of finding the limit at infinity (corresponding to the downward Morse flow) of a Higgs bundle in the nilpotent cone under the natural $\mathbb{C}^*$-action on the moduli space. For general rank we provide an answer for Higgs bundles with regular nilpotent Higgs field, while in rank three we give the complete answer. Our results show that the limit can be described in terms of data defined by the Higgs field, via a filtration of the underlying vector bundle.
In this paper we give a complete description of the Hitchin fibration on all 2-dimensional moduli spaces of rank 2 irregular Higgs bundles with two poles on the projective line. We describe the dependence of the singular fibers of the fibration on the eigenvalues of the Higgs fields, and describe the corresponding motivic wall-crossing phenomenon in the parameter space of parabolic weights.
We set up a BNR correspondence for moduli spaces of Higgs bundles over a curve with a parabolic structure over any algebraically closed field. This leads to a concrete description of generic fibers of the associated strongly parabolic Hitchin map. We also show that the global nilpotent cone is equi-dimensional with half dimension of the total space. As a result, we prove the flatness and surjectivity of this map and the existence of very stable parabolic vector bundles.
In this paper, we explore the structure of the Hitchin morphism for higher dimensional varieties. We show that the Hitchin morphism factors through a closed subscheme of the Hitchin base, which is in general a non-linear subspace of lower dimension. We conjecture that the resulting morphism, which we call the spectral data morphism, is surjective. In the course of the proof, we establish connections between the Hitchin morphisms for higher dimensional varieties, the invariant theory of the commuting schemes, and Weyl's polarization theorem. We use the factorization of the Hitchin morphism to c…
Given any line bundle L of positive degree, on a compact Riemann surface, let $M_L^Λ$ be the moduli space of L-twisted Higgs pairs of rank 2 with fixed determinant isomorphic to $Λ$ and traceless Higgs field. We give a description of the singular fibre of the Hitchin map $H:M^L_Λ\to H^0(L^2)$, when the corresponding spectral curve has any singularity of type $A_{m-1}$. In particular, we prove directly that this fibre is connected.
Multiplicative Hitchin systems are analogues of Hitchin's integrable system based on moduli spaces of G-Higgs bundles on a curve C where the Higgs field is group-valued, rather than Lie algebra valued. We discuss the relationship between several occurences of these moduli spaces in geometry and supersymmetric gauge theory, with a particular focus on the case where C = CP1 with a fixed framing at infinity. In this case we prove that the identification between multiplicative Higgs bundles and periodic monopoles proved by Charbonneau and Hurtubise can be promoted to an equivalence of hyperkähler …
We present a description of the moduli space of holomorphic vector bundles over Riemann curves as a double coset space which is differ from the standard loop group construction. Our approach is based on equivalent definitions of holomorphic bundles, based on the transition maps or on the first order differential operators. Using this approach we present two independent derivations of the Hitchin integrable systems. We define a "superfree" upstairs systems from which Hitchin systems are obtained by three step hamiltonian reductions. A special attention is being given on the Schottky parameteriz…
We study the Hitchin map for $G_{\mathbb{R}}$-Higgs bundles on a smooth curve, where $G_{\mathbb{R}}$ is a quasi-split real form of a complex reductive algebraic group $G$. By looking at the moduli stack of regular $G_{\mathbb{R}}$-Higgs bundles, we prove it induces a banded gerbe structure on a slightly larger stack, whose band is given by sheaves of tori. This characterization yields a cocyclic description of the fibres of the corresponding Hitchin map by means of cameral data. According to this, fibres of the Hitchin map are categories of principal torus bundles on the cameral cover. The co…
In this paper we determine the spectral data parametrizing Higgs bundles in a generic fiber of the Hitchin map for the case where the structure group is the special Clifford group with fixed Clifford norm. These are spin and "twisted" spin Higgs bundles. The method used relates variations in spectral data with respect to the Hecke transformations for orthogonal bundles introduced by Abe. The explicit description also recovers a result from the geometric Langlands program which states that the fibers of the Hitchin map are the dual abelian varieties to the corresponding fibers of the moduli spa…
In this paper we consider a canonical compactification of Hitchin's moduli space of stable Higgs bundles with fixed determinant of odd degree over a Riemann surface, producing a projective variety by gluing in a divisor at infinity. We give a detailed study of the compactified space, the divisor at infinity and the moduli space itself. In doing so we reprove some assertions of Laumon and Thaddeus on the nilpotent cone.
In this article we give an explicit description of the Hitchin fiber of SU(1,2) Higgs bundles $(L,F,γ,β)$ over a compact Riemann surface $X$ of genus $\ge 2$ with $q=γ\circβ$ having simple zeros and Toledo invariant $τ=2 \rm{deg} L$ satisfying $|\rm{deg} L|<g-1$. In particular we identify the data in an SU(1,2) Higgs bundle as a Hecke transformation $ι: F\to L^{-2}K\oplus LK$ at $Z(q)$. The Hitchin fiber is identified with a fiber bundle over $\text{Pic}^d X$ with unirational fiber, which is a GIT-quotient of a $\mathbb{C}^\times$-action on $\left(\mathbb{P}^1\right)^{4g-4}$. The base parametr…
We define and study spectral data associated to U(m,m)-Higgs bundles through the Hitchin fibration. We give a new interpretation of the topological invariants involved, as well as a geometric description of the moduli space.
In this paper we complete the topological description of the space of representations of the fundamental group of a punctured surface in SL(2,R) with prescribed behavior at the punctures and nonzero Euler number, following the strategy employed by Hitchin in the unpunctured case and exploiting Hitchin-Simpson correspondence between flat bundles and Higgs bundles in the parabolic case. This extends previous results by Boden-Yokogawa and Nasatyr-Steer. A relevant portion of the paper is intended to give an overview of the subject.
We study Bogomolny equations on $R^2\times S^1$. Although they do not admit nontrivial finite-energy solutions, we show that there are interesting infinite-energy solutions with Higgs field growing logarithmically at infinity. We call these solutions periodic monopoles. Using Nahm transform, we show that periodic monopoles are in one-to-one correspondence with solutions of Hitchin equations on a cylinder with Higgs field growing exponentially at infinity. The moduli spaces of periodic monopoles belong to a novel class of hyperkähler manifolds and have applications to quantum gauge theory and s…
Through Cayley and Langlands type correspondences, we give a geometric description of the moduli spaces of real orthogonal and symplectic Higgs bundles of any signature in the regular fibres of the Hitchin fibration. As applications of our methods, we complete the concrete abelianization of real slices corresponding to all quasi-split real forms, and describe how extra components emerge naturally from the spectral data point of view.