$Z$-critical connections and Bridgeland stability conditions

We associate geometric partial differential equations on holomorphic vector bundles to Bridgeland stability conditions. We call solutions to these equations $Z$-critical connections, with $Z$ a central charge. Deformed Hermitian Yang--Mills connections are a special case. We explain how our equations arise naturally through infinite dimensional moment maps. Our main result shows that in the large volume limit, a sufficiently smooth holomorphic vector bundle admits a $Z$-critical connection if and only if it is asymptotically $Z$-stable. Even for the deformed Hermitian Yang--Mills equation, this provides the first examples of solutions in higher rank.