Related papers: Surface group representations to $SL(2,{\mathbb C}…

We give an overview of the work of Corlette, Donaldson, Hitchin and Simpson leading to the non-abelian Hodge theory correspondence between representations of the fundamental group of a surface and the moduli space of Higgs bundles. We then…

In this paper we study the relation between parabolic Higgs bundles and irreducible representations of the fundamental group of punctured Riemann surfaces established by Simpson. We generalize a result of Hitchin, identifying those…

We introduce para-complex and pseudo-Riemannian geometric methods for the study of representations of surface groups in $\mathrm{SL}(2m+1,\mathbb{R})$. For $m=1$ our techniques allow to recover several known results for Hitchin…

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…

Given a closed, oriented surface X of genus g>1, and a semisimple Lie group G, let R_G be the moduli space of reductive representations of the fundamental group of X in G. We determine the number of connected components of R_PGL(n,R), for…

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…

For semisimple Lie groups, moduli spaces of Higgs bundles on a Riemann surface correspond to representation varieties for the surface fundamental group. In many cases, natural topological invariants label connected components of the moduli…

Let $S$ be a closed surface of genus at least $2$. For each maximal representation $\rho: \pi_1(S)\rightarrow\mathsf{Sp}(4,\mathbb{R})$ in one of the $2g-3$ exceptional connected components, we prove there is a unique conformal structure on…

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…

The character varieties of representations of a surface group into the Lie groups SL(m,H), SO(2m,H) and Sp(m,m) have a holomorphic description in terms of the moduli space of Higgs bundles. We show that the fibres of the integrable system…

We present a survey on the moduli spaces of rank 2 quadric bundles over a compact Riemann surface X. These are objects which generalise orthogonal bundles and which naturally occur through the study of the connected components of the moduli…

For a complex reductive group $G$, we consider the locus $M^d$ in the moduli stack of $G$-Higgs bundles on which the centraliser dimension of the Higgs field takes a constant value $d> rk(G)$. We describe a non-abelian structure for the…

Using the $L^2$ norm of the Higgs field as a Morse function, we study the moduli spaces of $U(p,q)$-Higgs bundles over a Riemann surface. We require that the genus of the surface be at least two, but place no constraints on $(p,q)$. A key…

In this article we give an explicit description of the Hitchin fiber of SU(1,2) Higgs bundles $(L,F,\gamma,\beta)$ over a compact Riemann surface $X$ of genus $\ge 2$ with $q=\gamma\circ\beta$ having simple zeros and Toledo invariant…

Using the L^2 norm of the Higgs field as a Morse function, we study the moduli spaces of U(p,q)-Higgs bundles over a Riemann surface. We require that the genus of the surface be at least two, but place no constraints on (p,q). A key step is…

We examine Higgs bundles for non-compact real forms of SO(4,C) and the isogenous complex group SL(2,C)XSL(2,C). This involves a study of non-regular fibers in the corresponding Hitchin fibrations and provides interesting examples of…

In this paper we introduce complex minimal Lagrangian surfaces in the bi-complex hyperbolic space and study their relation with representations in $\mathrm{SL}(3,\mathbb{C})$. Our theory generalizes at the same time minimal Lagrangian…

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…

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…

In 1992, Hitchin used his theory of Higgs bundles to construct an important family of representations of the fundamental group of a closed, oriented surface of genus at least two into the split real form of a complex adjoint simple Lie…