Asymptotic geometry of the Hitchin metric

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Publication:1737557



Abstract: We study the asymptotics of the natural L2 metric on the Hitchin moduli space with group G=mathrmSU(2). Our main result, which addresses a detailed conjectural picture made by Gaiotto, Neitzke and Moore cite{gmn13}, is that on the regular part of the Hitchin system, this metric is well-approximated by the semiflat metric from cite{gmn13}. We prove that the asymptotic rate of convergence for gauged tangent vectors to the moduli space has a precise polynomial expansion, and hence that the the difference between the two sets of metric coefficients in a certain natural coordinate system also has polynomial decay. Very recent work by Dumas and Neitzke indicates that the convergence rate for the metric is exponential, at least in certain directions.


Let $\mathcal{M}$ be the moduli space of irreducible solutions of the Hitchin self-dula equations on \(\mathrm{SU}(2)\)-bundle $E$ of degree 0 over a compact Riemann surface$X$, modulo unitary gauge transformations. Let $\mathcal{B}$ be the space of holomorphic quadratic differentials. Then the map $\pi(A,\Phi)=\mathrm{det}\Phi$ is a proper surjective mapping from $\mathcal{M}$ to $\mathcal{B}$. In [\textit{R. Mazzeo} et al., Duke Math. J. 165, No. 12, 2227--2271 (2016; Zbl 1352.53018)], the authors introduced the free region $\mathcal{B}'\subset \mathcal{B}$ of quadratic differentials with only simple zeros and its inverse image $\mathcal{M}'\subset \mathcal{M}$ (cf. [\textit{T. Mochizuki}, J. Topol. 9, No. 4, 1021--1073 (2016; Zbl 1381.53047)]). Then introducing moduli space $\mathcal{M}_t$ of the scaled Hitchin equation \[ \mu_t(A,\Phi)=(F_A+t^2[\Phi\wedge\Phi^\ast], \bar{\partial}_A\Phi)=0, \] and the space of limiting configurations; the moduli space $\mathcal{M}_\infty$ of decoupled equations \[ F_{A_{\infty}}=0, \ [\Phi_\infty\wedge \phi_\infty^\ast]=0, \ \bar{\partial}_{A_\infty}\Phi_\infty=0, \] $\lim_{t\to\infty}\mathcal{M}'_t=\mathcal{M}'_\infty$ was shown. Here $\mathcal{M}'_t$, etc. are defined similar to $\mathcal{M}'$. The existence of diffeomorphism $\mathcal{F}:\mathcal{M}'_\infty\to \mathcal{M}'$ was also constructed. \par Beside Hitchin's hyperKähler metric $g_{L^2}$, $\mathcal{M}$ has a semiflat hyperKähler metric $g_{\mathrm{sf}}$. because $\mathcal{M}$ has the structure of algebraic integrable system (\S2.2). \textit{D. Gaiotto} et al. [Adv. Math. 234, 239--403 (2013; Zbl 1358.81150)], conjectured identifying the dilation parameter $t$ as a radial variable on $\mathcal{M}'$, the difference between $g_{L^2}$ and $g_{\mathrm{sf}}$ decays exponential order. Motivated these, main Theorems of this paper are \par Theorem 1.1. The pullback $\mathcal{F}^\ast g_{\mathrm{sf}}$ of the semiflat metric to $\mathcal{M}'_\infty$ is a renormalized $L^2$ metric on $\mathcal{M}'_\infty$. \par Theorem 1.2. There is a convergent series expansion \[ g_{L^2}=g_{\mathrm{sf}}+\sum_{j=0}^\infty t^{(4-j)/3}G_j+O(e^{-\beta t}), \] as $t\to\infty$, where each $G_j$ is a dilation invariant symmetric two-tensor. The rate $\beta>0$ of exponential decrease of the remainder is uniform in any closed dilation-invariant sector $\bar{\mathcal{W}}\subset \mathcal{M}'_\infty$ disjoint from $\pi_\infty^{-1}(\mathcal{B}\setminus\mathcal{B}')$. \par The authors remark soon after this paper haad been posted exponential decay of $g_{L^2}-g_{\mathrm{sf}}$ was proved [\textit{D. Dumas} and \textit{A. Nietzke}, ``Asymptotics of Hitchin's metric on Hitchin space, Preprint, \url{arXiv:1802.07200}], [\textit{L. Fredrickson}, ``Exponential decay for aymptotic geometry of the Hitchin metric, Preprint, \url{arXiv:1810.01554}]. Namely, the following theorem holds. \par Theorem. Fix a generic Higgs bundle $(\bar{\partial}_E, \phi)$ in $\mathcal{M}$, and a HIggs bundle variation $\Psi=(\eta,\phi)$. Consider the deformation $\psi_t=(\eta,t\phi)\in T_{(\bar{\partial}.t\phi)}\mathcal{M}$ over the ray $(\bar{\partial}_E, t\phi,h_t)$. As $t\to \infty$, the difference between Hitchin hyperKähler matric $g_{L^2}$ on $\mathcal{M}$ and the semiflat metric $g_{\mathrm{sf}}$ is exponentially decaying. In particular, there is some constant $\gamma>0$, such that \[ g_{L^2}(\psi_t,\psi_t)=g_{\mathrm{sf}}(\psi_t,\psi_t)+O(e^{-\gamma t}). \] This is obtained on the base of this paper. So to understand proof of exponential decay of $g_{L^2}-g_{\mathrm{sf}}$, to study this paper is useful. \par This paper also contains explanations on the geometry of $\mathcal{M}$ together with definitions of $g_{L^2}$ and $g_{\mathrm{sf}}$ (\S2). Then detailed exposition on limiting configurations is given in \S3, where Theorem 1.1 is proved via showing $L^2$ inner product of renormalized gauged tangent space premoduli space $\mathcal{PM}'_\infty$ correspond to the inner products for the semiflat metric. General strategy to prove Theorem 1.2 is explained in \S4., following the construction of approxiamte solutions in [\textit{D. Balduzzi}, Math. Res. Lett. 13, No. 5--6, 923--933 (2006; Zbl 1111.14026)]. Rest of this paper (\S5-\S10) is devoted to the proof of Theorem 1.2.




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