Hyperpolygon spaces and moduli spaces of parabolic Higgs bundles (Q2437419)

Given an \(n\)-tuple of positive real numbers \(\alpha\), let \(X( \alpha)\) be the hyperpolygon space, which can be viewed as the hyperkähler quotient analogue to the Kähler moduli space of polygons in \({\mathbb R}^3\). In the present paper the authors study two families of manifolds: hyperpolygon spaces \(X(\alpha)\) and moduli spaces of stable, rank-2, holomorphically trivial parabolic Higgs bundles over \({\mathbb {CP}}^1\) with fixed determinant and trace free Higgs field, proving the existence of an isomorphism between them. Using this isomorphism they show that hyperpolygon spaces \(X(\alpha)\) undergo an elementary transformation in the sense of Mukai as \(\alpha\) crosses a wall in the space of its admissible values. They obtain a description of the changes in the core of \(X(\alpha)\) as a result of this transformation as well as the changes in the nilpotent cone of the corresponding moduli spaces of parabolic Higgs bundles. Moreover, they study the intersection rings of the core components of \(X(\alpha).\) In particular, they find generators of these rings and prove a recursion relation in \(n\) for their intersection numbers. They use this recursion relation to obtain explicit formulas for the computation of these numbers. Using the isomorphism, they obtain similar formulas for each connected component of the nilpotent cone of the corresponding moduli spaces of parabolic Higgs bundles thus determining their intersection rings. As a final application of the isomorphism they describe the cohomology ring structure of these moduli spaces of parabolic Higgs bundles and of the components of their nilpotent cone.