Hitchin's connection, Toeplitz operators, and symmetry invariant deformation quantization (Q436021)

Summary: We introduce the notion of a rigid family of Kähler structures on a symplectic manifold. We then prove that a Hitchin connection exists for any rigid holomorphic family of Kähler structures on any compact pre-quantizable symplectic manifold which satisfies certain simple topological constraints. Using Toeplitz operators we prove that the Hitchin connection induces a unique formal connection on smooth functions on the symplectic manifold. Parallel transport of this formal connection produces equivalences between the corresponding Berezin-Toeplitz deformation quantizations. In the cases where the Hitchin connection is projectively flat, the formal connections will be flat and we get a symmetry-invariant formal quantization. If a certain cohomological condition is satisfied a global trivialization of this algebra bundle is constructed. As a corollary we get a symmetry-invariant deformation quantization. Finally, these results are applied to the moduli space situation in which Hitchin originally constructed his connection. First we get a proof that the Hitchin connection in this case is the same as the connection constructed by Axelrod, Della Pietra, and Witten. Secondly, we obtain in this way a mapping class group invariant formal quantization of the smooth symplectic leaves of the moduli space of flat \(\mathrm{SU}(n)\)-connections on any compact surface.