Higgs bundles and higher Teichm\"uller spaces

This paper is a survey on the role of Higgs bundle theory in the study of higher Teichm\"uller spaces. Recall that the Teichm\"uller space of a compact surface can be identified with a certain connected component of the moduli space of representations of the fundamental group of the surface into $\mathrm{PSL}(2,{\mathbb{R}})$. Higher Teichm\"uller spaces correspond to special components of the moduli space of representations when one replaces $\mathrm{PSL}(2,{\mathbb{R}})$ by a real non-compact semisimple Lie group of higher rank. Examples of these spaces are provided by the Hitchin components for split real groups, and maximal Toledo invariant components for groups of Hermitian type. More recently, the existence of such components has been proved for $\mathrm{SO}(p,q)$, in agreement with the conjecture of Guichard and Wienhard relating the existence of higher Teichm\"uller spaces to a certain notion of positivity on a Lie group that they have introduced. We review these three different situations, and end up explaining briefly the conjectural general picture from the point of view of Higgs bundle theory.Comment: arXiv admin note: substantial text overlap with arXiv:1511.0775

Connectedness of Higgs bundle moduli for complex reductive Lie groups

We carry an intrinsic approach to the study of the connectedness of the moduli space $\mathcal{M}_G$ of $G$-Higgs bundles, over a compact Riemann surface, when $G$ is a complex reductive (not necessarily connected) Lie group. We prove that the number of connected components of $\mathcal{M}_G$ is indexed by the corresponding topological invariants. In particular, this gives an alternative proof of the counting by J. Li of the number of connected components of the moduli space of flat $G$-connections in the case in which $G$ is connected and semisimple.Comment: Due to some mistake the authors did not appear in the previous version. Fixed this. Final version; to appear in the Asian Journal of Mathematics. 19 page

The y-genus of the moduli space of PGL_n-Higgs bundles on a curve (for degree coprime to n)

Building on our previous joint work with A. Schmitt [7] we explain a recursive algorithm to determine the cohomology of moduli spaces of Higgs bundles on any given curve (in the coprime situation). As an application of the method we compute the y-genus of the space of PGL_n-Higgs bundles for any rank n, confirming a conjecture of T. Hausel.Comment: 13 page

Anti-holomorphic involutions of the moduli spaces of Higgs bundles

We study anti-holomorphic involutions of the moduli space of principal $G$-Higgs bundles over a compact Riemann surface $X$, where $G$ is a complex semisimple Lie group. These involutions are defined by fixing anti-holomorphic involutions on both $X$ and $G$. We analyze the fixed point locus in the moduli space and their relation with representations of the orbifold fundamental group of $X$ equipped with the anti-holomorphic involution. We also study the relation with branes. This generalizes work by Biswas--Garc\'{\i}a-Prada--Hurtubise and Baraglia--Schaposnik.Comment: Final version; to appear in Journal de l'\'Ecole polytechnique--Math\'ematique

Higgs bundles for the non-compact dual of the unitary group

Using Morse-theoretic techniques, we show that the moduli space of U*(2n)-Higgs bundles over a compact Riemann surface is connected.Comment: 20 pages; v2: several improvements and corrections; main results are unchange

Hitchin-Kobayashi correspondence, quivers, and vortices

A twisted quiver bundle is a set of holomorphic vector bundles over a complex manifold, labelled by the vertices of a quiver, linked by a set of morphisms twisted by a fixed collection of holomorphic vector bundles, labelled by the arrows. When the manifold is Kaelher, quiver bundles admit natural gauge-theoretic equations, which unify many known equations for bundles with extra structure. In this paper we prove a Hitchin--Kobayashi correspondence for twisted quiver bundles over a compact Kaehler manifold, relating the existence of solutions to the gauge equations to a stability criterion, and consider its application to a number of situations related to Higgs bundles and dimensional reductions of the Hermitian--Einstein equations.Comment: 28 pages; larger introduction, added references for the introduction, added a short comment in Section 1, typos corrected, accepted in Comm. Math. Phy

Higgs bundles, abelian gerbes and cameral data

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 corresponding points inside the stack of $G$-Higgs bundles are contained in the substack of points fixed by an involution induced by the Cartan involution of $G_{\mathbb{R}}$. We determine this substack of fixed points and prove that stable points are in correspondence with stable $G_{\mathbb{R}}$-Higgs bundles.Comment: 34 page

K\"ahler-Yang-Mills Equations and Vortices

The K\"ahler-Yang-Mills equations are coupled equations for a K\"ahler metric on a compact complex manifold and a connection on a complex vector bundle over it. After briefly reviewing the main aspects of the geometry of the K\"ahler-Yang-Mills equations, we consider dimensional reductions of the equations related to vortices - solutions to certain Yang-Mills-Higgs equations.Comment: Paper in honour of Jean-Pierre Bourguigno