Related papers: Maximal Sp(4,R) surface group representations, min…

For any maximal surface group representation into $\mathrm{SO}_0(2,n+1)$, we introduce a non-degenerate scalar product on the the first cohomology group of the surface with values in the associated flat bundle. In particular, it gives rise…

We define the notion of a hierarchically cocompact classifying space for a family of subgroups of a group. Our main application is to show that the mapping class group $\mbox{Mod}(S)$ of any connected oriented compact surface $S$, possibly…

Using the $L^2$-norm of the Higgs field as a Morse function, we count the number of connected components of the moduli space of parabolic $U(p,q)$-Higgs bundles over a Riemann surface with a finite number of marked points, under certain…

This paper is about cohomology of mapping class groups from the perspective of arithmetic groups. For a closed surface $S$ of genus $g$, the mapping class group $Mod(S)$ admits a well-known arithmetic quotient $Mod(S)\rightarrow Sp(2g, Z)$,…

Let $X$ be an arbitrary non-compact hyperbolic Riemann surface, that is, not $\mathbb C$ or $\mathbb C^*$. Given a tuple of holomorphic differentials $\boldsymbol q=(q_2,\cdots,q_n)$ on $X$, one can define a Higgs bundle…

Let $\Sigma_g \to E \to \Sigma_h$ be a surface bundle over a surface with monodromy representation $\rho: \pi_1 \Sigma_h \to \operatorname{Mod}(\Sigma_g)$ contained in the Torelli group $\mathcal{I}_g$. In this paper we express the cup…

We develop the theory of maximal representations of the fundamental group of a compact connected oriented surface with boundary, into a group of Hermitian type. For any such representation we define the Toledo invariant, for which we…

We study which representations $\rho$ of the fundamental group of a compact oriented surface $X$ admit Higgs data that depend holomorphically on the Riemann surface $\Sigma\,=\, (X,\, J)$ via non-abelian Hodge correspondence. For…

We study representations of lattices of PU(m,1) into PU(n,1). We show that if a representation is reductive and if m is at least 2, then there exists a finite energy harmonic equivariant map from complex hyperbolic m-space to complex…

Meyer showed that the signature of a closed oriented surface bundle over a surface is a multiple of $4$, and can be computed using an element of $H^2(\mathsf{Sp}(2g, \mathbb{Z}),\mathbb{Z})$. Denoting by $1 \to \mathbb{Z} \to…

This thesis is dedicated to the study of certain loci of the Higgs bundle moduli space on a compact Riemann surface. Motivated by mirror symmetry, we give a detailed description of the fibres of the $G$-Hitchin fibration containing…

For $S$ a closed surface of genus $g\geq2$, we construct a canonical diffeomorphism from the degree $3$ Fock-Thomas space $\mathcal{T}^3(S)$ of higher complex structures to the $\text{SL}(3,\mathbb{R})$ Hitchin component. Our construction…

This expository paper details the theory of rank one Higgs bundles over a closed Riemann surface X and their relationship to representations of the fundamental group of X. We construct an equivalence between the deformation theories of flat…

We give an explicit minimal graded free resolution, in terms of representations of the symmetric group $S_d$, of a Galois-theoretic configuration of $d$ points in $\mathbb{P}^{d-2}$ that was studied by Bhargava in the context of ring…

We consider conformal immersions of Riemann surfaces in $\bb{S}^4$ and study their Gauss maps with values in the Grassmann bundle $\mathcal{F} = SO_5/T^2 \to \mathbb{S}^4$. The energy of maps from Riemann surfaces into $\mathcal{F}$ is…

We show that any element of the universal Teichm\"uller space is realized by a unique minimal Lagrangian diffeomorphism from the hyperbolic plane to itself. The proof uses maximal surfaces in the 3-dimensional anti-de Sitter space. We show…

We define the Toledo invariant of a G-Higgs bundle on a Riemann surface, where G is a real semisimple group of Hermitian type, and we prove a Milnor-Wood type bound for this invariant when the bundle is semistable. We prove rigidity results…

We view all smooth metrics $g$ on a closed surface $\Sigma$ through their Nash isometric embeddings $f_g: (\Sigma,g) \rightarrow (\mathbb{S}^{\tilde{n}}, \tilde{g})$ into a standard sphere of large, but fixed, dimension $\tilde{n}$. We…

We calculate the characteristic classes for flat SL(n,R) and Sp(2m,R)-bundles over a compact surface as functions of the spectral data in the Higgs bundle description, which consists of the points of order 2 in an abelian variety. Using…

We prove that all lattices of Sp(2n,R), except those commensurable with Sp(4k+2,Z) when n=2k+1, contain the image of infinitely many mapping class group orbits of Zariski-dense maximal representation that are continuous deformations of…