Fundamental groups of moduli of principal bundles on curves (Q2230990)

Let $X$ be an irreducible smooth complex curve of genus \(g \ge 2\). Denote by $G$ a connected reductive affine algebraic group defined over $C$. By a result of [\textit{A. Beauville} et al., Compos. Math. 112, No. 2, 183--216 (1998; Zbl 0976.14024)], the topological types of holomorphic principal $G$-bundles over $X$ are parametrised by $\pi_1(G)$. For $\delta\in\pi_1(G)$, denote by $MG_\delta$ the moduli space of semistable principal $G$-bundles over $X$ of topological type $\delta$. The goal of the article is to compute the fundamental group of $MG_\delta$. The authors show that the fundamental group is isomorphic to $Z^{2gd}$, where d is the complex dimension of the center of $G$. Denote by $M_\delta G$ a component of the moduli stack of principal $G$-bundles on the smooth complex projective curve $X$, where $\delta\in\pi_1(G)$. The authors prove that the rank as an abelian group of the fundamental group of $M_\delta G$ is $2gd$. In particular, the fundamental groups of $M_G\delta$ and $M_\delta G$ differ only on their torsion parts. The authors also show that in the case when $G$ is semisimple, $M_G\delta$ is simply connected and the fundamental group $\pi_1(M_\delta G)$ is isomorphic to $H^1(X,\pi_1(G))$.