Automorphisms of \({\mathbb C}^*\) moduli spaces associated to a Riemann surface (Q908275)

Given a compact Riemann surface \(X\) of genus at least \(1\), consider the following three moduli spaces associated to \(X\), following Simpson's terminology. The Betti moduli space \(\mathcal M_R\), of representations of \(\pi_1(X)\) in \(\mathbb{C}^*\); the de Rham moduli space \(\mathcal M_C\), parametrizing pairs \((L,D)\) where \(L\) is a holomorphic line bundle on \(X\) with a holomorphic connection \(D\); and the Dolbeault moduli space \(\mathcal M_H\), of Higgs line bundles of degree zero. Non-abelian Hodge theory provides a homeomorphism between these three moduli spaces, although their algebraic structures are quite different. In fact, all this is true not only for \(\mathbb{C}^*\), but also for any real reductive Lie group. In this paper the authors explicitly describe the groups of (algebraic) automorphisms of the varieties \(\mathcal M_R\), \(\mathcal M_C\) and \(\mathcal M_H\), which turn out to be naturally quite different. Moreover, all these three moduli spaces are carry natural symplectic structures and their groups of symplectic automorphisms are explicitly determined as well. On one hand, these results may be considered as a natural first step on the task of extending these results to the general setting of noncommutative reductive groups, which is, in the authors words, ``an interesting and challenging open problem''. On the other hand, besides the intrinsic interest for studying these automorphism groups, mirror symmetry, the geometric Langlands program and their relation to physics also provide a firm motivation for this study. More precisely, following \textit{A. Kapustin} and \textit{E. Witten} [Commun. Number Theory Phys. 1, No. 1, 1--236 (2007; Zbl 1128.22013)], one is interested in the construction of examples of naturally defined subvarieties of these moduli spaces, known as branes in the language of physics, and one way of constructing such branes is as fixed point sets of an automorphism of the moduli space, as seen in [\textit{D. Baraglia} and \textit{L. P. Schaposnik}, Commun. Math. Phys. 331, No. 3, 1271--1300 (2014; Zbl 1311.53058)] and [\textit{D. Baraglia} and \textit{L. P. Schaposnik}, ``Real structures on moduli spaces of Higgs bundles'', to appear in Adv. Theor. Math. Phys., \url{arXiv:1309.1195}]. Hence the importance of knowing their automorphisms is evident and the paper under review gives a clear contribution to this study.