Characteristic classes of cameral covers

Fibrations, degenerations in algebraic geometry (14D06) Stacks and moduli problems (14D23) Homotopy theory and fundamental groups in algebraic geometry (14F35) Vector bundles on curves and their moduli (14H60) Group actions on varieties or schemes (quotients) (14L30) Linear algebraic groups over arbitrary fields (20G15) Relations with arrangements of hyperplanes (32S22) Homology of classifying spaces and characteristic classes in algebraic topology (55R40) Discriminantal varieties and configuration spaces in algebraic topology (55R80)

Abstract: We study the stack M of cameral covers for a complex reductive group G, introduced by Donagi and Gaitsgory. We compute its rational cohomology ring. In the special case G=GL(n), M is the stack of spectral covers. We also compute the cohomology ring of the stack of abstract regular G-Higgs bundles.

Review text

Let $\mathfrak{t}$ be a complex vector space, and let $W\subseteq GL(\mathfrak{t})$ be a finite subgroup generated by complex reflections. Given an $S$-scheme $C \to S$ with an action of $W$ on the left that fixes the map $C \to S$, $C$ is a $(W, \mathfrak{t})$-cameral cover of $S$ if there exists an étale cover $U \to S$, a map $U \to \mathfrak{t}/W$, and a $W$-equivariant isomorphism $U \times_{\mathfrak{t}/W} \mathfrak{t} \cong U \times_S C$ over $U$. That is, a cameral cover of $S$ is an $S$-scheme with $W$-action, which is locally isomorphic to a pullback of $\mathfrak{t}\rightarrow \mathfrak{t}/W$. \par Cameral covers are slightly more general than the notion of spectral covers since $W$ need not be a real reflection group. In the case where $\mathfrak{t}$ is the Lie algebra of a maximal torus in a connected reductive affine algebraic group $G$, where $W$ is its Weyl group, $(W, \mathfrak{t})$-cameral covers are closely related to $G$-Higgs bundles. \par Let $\mathcal{M}$ be the stack of cameral covers, and assume that a group $G$ admits the pair $(W ,\mathfrak{t})$. Let $\mathcal{H}$ be the stack of $G$-Higgs bundles. \par E. Dewey defines cohomological invariants (or ``characteristic classes) of cameral covers and Higgs bundles by computing $H^*(\mathcal{M}, \mathbb{Q})$, where the main contributions in this manuscript are \begin{itemize} \item[(1)] the author computes the cup product, and \item[(2)] he identifies the elements of $H^*(\mathcal{M}, \mathbb{Q})$ concretely enough that, given a cameral cover $C\to S$, one can hope to identify its characteristic classes in $H^*(S, \mathbb{Q})$. \end{itemize} Furthermore, the author stratifies $\mathcal{M}$ into classifying spaces, also enabling one to obtain a similar description of $H^*(\mathcal{H}, \mathbb{Q})$. \par The computation of cohomological invariants is given in terms of hyperplane arrangements. Let $\mathcal{A}$ be the hyperplane arrangement in $\mathfrak{t}$ of the reflecting hyperplanes for the action of $W$, and let $L(\mathcal{A})$ be the intersection poset of $\mathcal{A}$. Let $X \in L(\mathcal{A})$, and let $\mathcal{A}_X \subset \mathcal{A}$ be the subarrangement consisting of hyperplanes that contain $X$. Define $X$ to be irreducible if $\mathcal{A}_X$ is irreducible. Let $\text{Irr } \mathcal{A}_X$ be the set of irreducible components of $\mathcal{A}_X$. Let $L^{\mu}(\mathcal{A})$ be the free abelian monoid on the tuples $(X, \mu)$, where $X \in L(\mathcal{A})$ is irreducible, $X \neq \mathfrak{t}$, and $(\text{codim } X \leq) \: \mu \in \mathbb{Z}$, modulo the relation $\prod_{i=1}^l (X_i, \mu_i) = \left( \bigcap_{i=1}^l X_i, \sum_{i=1}^l \mu_i \right) $ whenever $\bigcap_{i=1}^l X_i$ is irreducible. This monoid is graded by $\deg (X, \mu) = 2\mu$. Let $\kappa$ be a ring in which $\#W$ is a unit. The main result is Theorem 5.12 (page 19): if $\#W$ is invertible in $\kappa$, then $H^*(\mathcal{M}, \kappa) \cong \kappa[L^\mu(\mathcal{A})]^W$ as graded rings. By setting $(W, \mathfrak{t}) = (\Sigma_n, \mathbb{C}^{\oplus n})$, where $\Sigma_n$ is the symmetric group on $n$ letters, the characteristic classes of rank $n$ spectral covers are in bijection with certain weighted partitions of $n$. \par Dewey also computes the cohomology ring of the stack of abstract regular $G$-Higgs bundles (Theorem 7.16, page 29): $H^*(\mathcal{H})\cong \left( \mathbb{Q}[L^\mu(\mathcal{A})] \otimes H^*(BT) /I \right)^W$, where the ideal $I$ and the action of $W$ are defined in Proposition 7.15 (page 27); moreover, the natural map $\mathbb{Q}[L^\mu(\mathcal{A})]^W \to H^*(\mathcal{H})$ is induced by the Hitchin map.

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