Given a compact Riemann surface $Σ$ of genus $g_Σ\, \geq\, 2$, and an effective divisor $D\, =\, \sum_i n_i x_i$ on $Σ$ with $\text{degree}(D)\, <\, 2(g_Σ-1)$, there is a unique cone metric on $Σ$ of constant negative curvature $-4$ such that the cone angle at each $x_i$ is $2πn_i$ (see McOwen and Troyanov [McO,Tr]). We describe the Higgs bundle corresponding to this uniformization associated to the above conical metric. We also give a family of Higgs bundles on $Σ$ parametrized by a nonempty open subset of $H^0(Σ,\,K_Σ^{\otimes 2}\otimes{\mathcal O}_Σ(-2D))$ that correspond to conical metrics of the above type on moving Riemann surfaces. These are inspired by Hitchin's results in [Hi1], for the case $D\,=\, 0$.
Let $S$ be a surface with a metric $d$ satisfying an upper curvature bound in the sense of Alexandrov (i.e. via triangle comparison). We show that an almost conformal harmonic map from a surface into $(S,d)$ is a branched covering. As a consequence, if $(S,d)$ is homeomorphically equivalent to the 2-sphere $\mathbb S^2$, then it is conformally equivalent to $\mathbb S^2$.
The Quillen connection on ${\mathcal L} \rightarrow {\mathcal M}_g$, where ${\mathcal L}^*$ is the Hodge line bundle over the moduli stack of smooth complex projective curves curves ${\mathcal M}_g$, $g \geq 5$, is uniquely determined by the condition that its curvature is the Weil--Petersson form on ${\mathcal M}_g$. The bundle of holomorphic connections on ${\mathcal L}$ has a unique holomorphic isomorphism with the bundle on ${\mathcal M}_g$ given by the moduli stack of projective structures. This isomorphism takes the $C^\infty$ section of the first bundle given by the Quillen connection o…
We prove a criterion for the existence of harmonic metrics on Higgs bundles that are defined on smooth loci of klt varieties. As one application, we resolve the quasi-etale uniformisation problem for minimal varieties of general type to obtain a complete numerical characterisation of singular quotients of the unit ball by discrete, co-compact groups of automorphisms that act freely in codimension one. As a further application, we establish a nonabelian Hodge correspondence on smooth loci of klt varieties.
This paper is a continuation of the paper F. A. Arias and M. Malakhaltsev "A generalization of the Gauss-Bonnet and Hopf-Poincaré theorems", ArXiv:1510.01395 [MathDG] 5 Oct 2015. Let $π: E \to M$ be a locally trivial fiber bundle over a two-dimensional manifold $M$, and $Σ\subset M$ be a discrete subset. A subset $Q \subset E$ is called an $n$-sheeted branched section of the bundle $π$ if $Q' = π^{-1}(M \setminus Σ) \cap Q$ is a $n$-sheeted covering of $M \setminus Σ$. The set $Σ$ is called the singularity set of the branched section $Q$. We define the index of a singularity point of a branche…
In this paper, we derive a maximum principle for a type of elliptic systems and apply it to analyze the Hitchin equation for cyclic Higgs bundles. We show several domination results on the pullback metric of the (possibly branched) minimal immersion $f$ associated to cyclic Higgs bundles. Also, we obtain a lower and upper bound of the extrinsic curvature of the image of $f$. As an application, we give a complete picture for maximal $Sp(4,\mathbb{R})$-representations in the $2g-3$ Gothen components and the Hitchin components.
Donaldon constructed a hyperkähler moduli space $\mathcal{M}$ associated to a closed oriented surface $Σ$ with $\textrm{genus}(Σ) \geq 2$. This embeds naturally into the cotangent bundle $T^*\mathcal{T}(Σ)$ of Teichmüller space or can be identified with the almost-Fuchsian moduli space associated to $Σ$. The later is the moduli space of quasi-Fuchsian threefolds which contain a unique incompressible minimal surface with principal curvatures in $(-1,1)$. Donaldson outlined various remarkable properties of this moduli space for which we provide complete proofs in this paper: On the cotangent-bun…
