Rank two quadratic pairs and surface group representations (Q691064)

Let \(X\) be a compact Riemann surface of genus \(g\geq 2\), and let \(U\) be fixed holomorphic line bundle over \(X\). A \(U\)-quadratic pair on \(X\) (sometimes called a conic bundle) is a pair \((V,\gamma )\), where \(V\) is a holomorphic vector bundle over \(X\) and \(\gamma \in H^0(X, S^2V^*\otimes U)\). The rank and degree of a quadratic pair are the rank and degree of the underlying bundle \(V\), respectively. Moduli spaces of quadratic pairs of rank \(n\leq 3\) were studied in [\textit{T. L. Gómez} and \textit{I. Sols}, Int. J. Math. 11, No. 8, 1027--1055, appendix 1051--1055 (2000; Zbl 1026.14009)] and, in a more general setup and for general rank, in [\textit{A. Schmitt}, Transform. Groups 9, No. 2, 167-209 (2004; Zbl 1092.14042)]. As it was shown in the article of Gómez and Sols [loc. cit.], the stability condition used for constructing moduli depends on a real parameter \(\alpha\) and for each value of this parameter there is a moduli space \(N_{\alpha}(n,d)\) (where \(d\) denotes the degree of a pair). The authors of the paper under review study carefully the moduli spaces \(N_{\alpha}(2,d)\). First, they analyse the variation of the moduli space with the parameter \(\alpha\) and establish that the moduli spaces are isomorphic for parameter values in intervals and only change at a discrete set of critical values. In these cases the authors describe explicitly the flip loci. They establish that \(\alpha \leq d/2\) is a necessary condition for the non-emptiness of \(N_{\alpha }(2,d)\). Moreover, if \(d>d_U=\deg (U)\), then \(N_{\alpha}(2,d)\) is empty unless \(\alpha =d/2\) and \(N_{\alpha}(2,d)\) is the moduli space of semistable rank 2 and degree \(d\) vector bundles. Then they show that there is an \(\alpha_m\) such that the \(N_{\alpha}(2,d)\)'s for \(\alpha <\alpha_m\) are all isomorphic and connected. For every \(\alpha \leq d/2\) they show the connectedness of \(N_{\alpha}(2,d)\), whenever \(d_U-d> g-1\) holds. At last, the authors apply their results to complete the count of connected components of the disjoint closed subsets \(R_{a,w}(\pi_1(X), SO_0(2,3))\) (these are subsets of the moduli space \(R (\pi_1(X), SO_0(2,3))\) of reductive homomorphisms from \(\pi_1(X)\) to \(SO_0(2,3)\) modulo conjugation), see the survey on this topic in [\textit{S. B. Bradlow, O. Garcia-Prada} and \textit{P. B. Gothen}, Geom. Dedicata 122, 185--213 (2006; Zbl 1132.14029)]. In particular, they show that for each \((a,w) \in \mathbb{Z} \times \mathbb{Z} /2\) such that \(0< |a|< 2g-2\), the space \(R_{a,w}(\pi_1(X), SO_0(2,3))\) is connected.