Related papers: A Brief Survey of Higgs Bundles

These notes have been prepared as reading material for the mini-course given by the author at the "2019 Graduate Summer School" at Park City Mathematics Institute - Institute for Advanced Study. We begin by introducing Higgs bundles and…

Geometric structures on manifolds became popular when Thurston used them in his work on the geometrization conjecture. They were studied by many people and they play an important role in higher Teichm\"uller theory. Geometric structures on…

We study the $2k$-Hitchin equations introduced by Ward \cite{Ward 2} from the geometric viewpoint of Higgs bundles. After an introduction on Higgs bundles and $2k$-Hitchin's equations, we review some elementary facts on complex geometry and…

Given a compact Riemann surface $\Sigma$ of genus $g_\Sigma\, \geq\, 2$, and an effective divisor $D\, =\, \sum_i n_i x_i$ on $\Sigma$ with $\text{degree}(D)\, <\, 2(g_\Sigma -1)$, there is a unique cone metric on $\Sigma$ of constant…

Co-Higgs bundles are Higgs bundles in the sense of Simpson, but with Higgs fields that take values in the tangent bundle instead of the cotangent bundle. Given a vector bundle on P^1, we find necessary and sufficient conditions on its…

Using the Morse-theoretic methods introduced by Hitchin, we prove that the moduli space of $\SO_0(1,n)$-Higgs bundles when $n$ is odd has two connected components.

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 discuss geometrical aspects of Higgs systems and Toda field theory in the framework of the theory of vector bundles on Riemann surfaces of genus greater than one. We point out how Toda fields can be considered as equivalent to Higgs…

The moduli space of stable bundles of rank 2 and degree 1 on a Riemann surface has rational cohomology generated by the so-called universal classes. The work of Baranovsky, King-Newstead, Siebert-Tian and Zagier provided a complete set of…

Higgs fields are attributes of classical gauge theory on a principal bundle $P\to X$ whose structure Lie group $G$ if is reducible to a closed subgroup $H$. They are represented by sections of the quotient bundle $P/H\to X$. A problem lies…

We introduce a class of Higgs bundles called cyclic which lie in the Hitchin component of representations of a compact Riemann surface into the split real form of a simple Lie group. We then prove that such a Higgs bundle is equivalent to a…

By studying the Higgs bundle equations with the gauge group replaced by the group of symplectic diffeomorphisms of the 2-sphere we encounter the notion of a folded hyperkaehler 4-manifold and conjecture the existence of a family of such…

In this paper, we study triples of the form (E, theta, phi) over a compact Riemann Surface, where (E, theta) is a Higgs bundle and phi is a global holomorphic section of the Higgs bundle. Our main result is a description of a birational…

We study moduli spaces of Higgs bundles with two poles on an elliptic curve. We describe all singular fibers of the Hitchin map, including the nilpotent cone. To achieve this, we consider a modular map that lifts Higgs bundles with five…

This thesis contains work which appeared in several papers. Additionally to the results in the papers it contains a detailed introduction and some further proofs and remarks. The dissertation gives a description of the topology and…

We investigate the moduli space of holomorphic $GL(1|1)$ Higgs bundles over a compact Riemann surface. The supergroup $GL(1|1)$, the simplest non-trivial example beyond abelian cases, provides an ideal setting for developing supergeometric…

We define homogeneous principal Higgs and co-Higgs bundles over irreducible Hermitian symmetric spaces of compact type. We provide a classification for each type of object up to isomorphism, which in each case can be interpreted as defining…

We introduce real structures on $L$-twisted Higgs pairs over a compact Riemann surface equipped with an anti-holomorphic involution, and prove a Hitchin--Kobayashi correspondence for them. Real $G$-Higgs bundles, where $G$ is a real form of…

Given a tuple of holomorphic differentials on a Riemann surface, one can define a Higgs bundle in the Hitchin section and a natural symmetric pairing of the Higgs bundle. We study whether a Higgs bundle of rank 3 in the Hitchin section has…

We study Higgs bundles over an elliptic curve with complex reductive structure group, describing the (normalization of) its moduli spaces and the associated Hitchin fibration. The case of trivial degree is covered by the work of Thaddeus in…