Related papers: Homotopy groups of moduli spaces of representation…

The Betti numbers of moduli spaces of representations of a universal central extension of a surface group in the groups U(2,1) and SU(2,1) are calculated. The results are obtained using the identification of these moduli spaces with moduli…

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…

Higgs bundles and non-abelian Hodge theory provide holomorphic methods with which to study the moduli spaces of surface group representations in a reductive Lie group G. In this paper we survey the case in which G is the isometry group of a…

Let $G$ be a compact connected Lie group with $\pi_1(G)\cong\mathbb{Z}$. We study the homotopy types of gauge groups of principal $G$-bundles over Riemann surfaces. This can be applied to an explicit computation of the homotopy groups of…

We count the connected components in the moduli space of PU(p,q)-representations of the fundamental group for a closed oriented surface. The components are labelled by pairs of integers which arise as topological invariants of the flat…

We compute the homotopy groups of the spaces of self maps of Lie groups of rank 2, SU(3), Sp(2), and G_2. We use the cell structures of these Lie groups and the standard methods of homotopy theory.

A holomorphic triple over a compact Riemann surface consists of two holomorphic vector bundles and a holomorphic map between them. After fixing the topological types of the bundles and a real parameter, there exist moduli spaces of stable…

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…

The purpose of this paper is to describe a method for computing homotopy groups of the space of $\alpha$-stable representations of a quiver with fixed dimension vector and stability parameter $\alpha$. The main result is that the homotopy…

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…

Let S be a surface of genus g with n points removed, G a connected Lie group, and X(G) the moduli space of representations of the fundamental group of S into G. We compute the fundamental group of X(G) when n>0 and G is a real or complex…

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…

We construct Lie algebras of derivations (and identify their geometrical realization) whose Maurer-Cartan sets provide moduli spaces describing the classes of homotopy types of rational spaces sharing either the same homotopy Lie algebra,…

We describe a homotopy-theoretic approach to the theory of moduli of realizations of Blanc-Dwyer-Goerss, reproducing their obstructions to realizing a given $\Pi$-algebra as homotopy groups of a pointed space. Our techniques are based on…

We classify the connected components of the space of representations of the fundamental group of a closed oriented surface of genus $\geq 2$ in $Sp(4,{\mathbf R})$. We prove that this is equivalent to classifying the connected components of…

In this paper we study the moduli space of representations of a surface group (i.e., the fundamental group of a closed oriented surface) in the real symplectic group Sp(2n,R). The moduli space is partitioned by an integer invariant, called…

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…

Let $X$ be a smooth projective curve of genus $g \geq 3$, and let $G$ be a nontrivial connected reductive affine algebraic group over $\mathbb{C}$. Examining the moduli spaces of regularly stable $G$-Higgs bundles and holomorphic…

We determine the number of connected components of the moduli space for representations of a surface group in the general linear group.

We analyse the homotopy types of gauge groups for principal $U(n)$-bundles over lens spaces.