Exponential decay for the asymptotic geometry of the Hitchin metric

DOI10.1007/S00220-019-03547-9MaRDI QIDQ2174654zbMATH OpenOpenAlexWikidataFDO

Authors Laura Fredrickson

Publication date 21 April 2020

Published in Communications in Mathematical Physics (Search for Journal in Brave)

Full work available at URL https://arxiv.org/abs/1810.01554

zbMATH Keywords

Higgs bundlesHitchin equationsHitchin metricsemiflat metric

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Special connections and metrics on vector bundles (Hermite-Einstein, Yang-Mills) (53C07) Hyper-Kähler and quaternionic Kähler geometry, ``special geometry (53C26)

Abstract: We consider Hitchin's hyperk"ahler metric $g_{L^2}$ on the $SU(n)$-Hitchin moduli space moduli space over a compact Riemann surface. We prove that the difference between the metric $g_{L^2}$ and a simpler "semiflat" hyperk"ahler metric $g_{mathrmsf}$ is exponentially-decaying along generic rays in the Hitchin moduli space, as conjectured by Gaiotto-Moore-Neitzke.

Review text

The article under review pertains to the asymptotic geometric structure at infinity of the moduli space \(\mathcal{M}\) of irreducible solutions to the self-duality equations on an \(\text{SU}(n)\)-bundle of degree zero over a compact Riemann surface, modulo unitary gauge transformations. The space \(\mathcal{M}\) carries a hyperkähler Weil-Peterson type metric \(g_{L^2}\) and a conjectural picture about the asymptotic geometry of this metric was formulated in the pioneering work of \textit{D. Gaiotto} et al. [Adv. Math. 234, 239--403 (2013; Zbl 1358.81150)]. Motivated by supersymmetric quantum field theory arguments and developing the notion of spectral networks on Riemann surfaces, another hyperkähler metric \(g_{GMN}\) was constructed, which was conjectured to be equal to the metric \(g_{L^2}\). In fact, for a simpler (hyperkähler) semiflat metric \(g_{sf}\) on the regular locus \(\mathcal{M}'\) of \(\mathcal{M}\), a weaker form of the Gaiotto-Moore-Neitzke conjecture for this \(\text{SU}(n)\)-moduli space asserts that the difference between the metrics \(g_{L^2}\) and \(g_{sf}\) is \textit{exponentially decaying}. The present work follows and completes a series of articles towards verifying this conjecture. For the \(\text{SU}(2)\)-moduli space \(\mathcal{M}\), the author builds upon previous progress made by \textit{D. Dumas} and \textit{A. Neitzke} [Commun. Math. Phys. 367, No. 1, 127--150 (2019; Zbl 1417.53053)], as well as by \textit{R. Mazzeo} et al. [Commun. Math. Phys. 367, No. 1, 151--191 (2019; Zbl 1409.14024)], but rather uses a formulation of the two hyperkähler metrics involved in terms of the underlying Higgs bundle deformations \(\left(\dot{\eta}, \dot{\varphi} \right)\) of pairs \(\left(\bar{\partial}_E, \varphi \right)\) from \(\mathcal{M}\) and respective metric variations. Thus, on the one hand, a local biholomorphic flow on the disks around each zero of the quadratic differential \(q_2:= \text{det}\left(\varphi + \epsilon \dot{\varphi}\right)\) is used, which perfectly matches the changing location of the zero of \(q_2 + \epsilon \dot{q_2}\). On the other hand, the difference \(g_{L^2} - g_{sf}\) is broken into two pieces as \[g_{L^2} -g_{sf} = \left(g_{L^2} - g_{app}\right) + \left(g_{app} - g_{sf}\right),\] where \(g_{app}\) is the \(L^2\)-metric on the space of approximate solutions for deformations in formal Coulomb gauge; these approximate solutions to the Hitchin equations are obtained by desingularizing the singular metric on disks around the zeros of \(q_2\) by gluing model solutions on the disks via an appropriate cut-off function. The advantage of this intermediate step becomes apparent since for a Higgs bundle variation \(\dot{\psi} = \left(\dot{\eta}, \dot{\varphi}\right)\) of a pair \(\left(\bar{\partial}_E, \varphi \right)\) in \(\mathcal{M}'\) and the deformation \(\dot{\psi_t}\) over the ray \(\left(\bar{\partial}_E, t\varphi, h_t \right)\), the approximate solution to Hitchin's equations \(h_{t}^{app}\) is diagonal on the disk, thus reducing the analysis from a coupled system of PDEs to a single scalar PDE. The maximum principle is then used to provide that the desired differences indeed decay exponentially. The author then extends the result to the moduli space \(\mathcal{M}\) of \(\text{SU}(n)\)-Higgs bundles with simple eigenvalue crossing, that is, the resultant of the characteristic polynomial of \(\varphi\), \(\text{char}_{\varphi}(\lambda)\) and its derivative \(\partial_{\lambda}\text{char}_{\varphi} (\lambda)\) do not vanish on the Riemann surface. Note that the regular locus \(\mathcal{M}'\) of the \(\text{SU}(n)\)-moduli space is stratified by the types of ramification and so \(\mathcal{M}\) is the lowest strata of the regular locus; in the \(\text{SU}(2)\)-case, it is \(\mathcal{M}'=\mathcal{M}\).

Recommendations

• Asymptotic geometry of the Hitchin metric
• Asymptotics of Hitchin's metric on the Hitchin section
• Geometry of solutions of Hitchin equations on \(\mathbb{R}^2\)
• Perspectives on the asymptotic geometry of the Hitchin moduli space
• Special Kähler geometry on the moduli spaces of Higgs bundles

Cites work

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Cited in

(23)

• Asymptotics of Hitchin's metric on the Hitchin section
• Asymptotic geometry of the Hitchin metric
• Integrable systems and special Kähler metrics
• Twisted cyclic quiver varieties on curves
• Adiabatic limits of anti-self-dual connections on collapsed \(K3\) surfaces
• Moduli spaces of Higgs bundles - old and new
• Decay of geometry for unimodal maps: Negative Schwarzian case
• Perspectives on the asymptotic geometry of the Hitchin moduli space
• \(\operatorname{SL} (\infty, \mathbb{R})\), Higgs bundles and quantization
• Nilpotent Higgs bundles and families of flat connections
• sl(2)$\mathfrak {sl}(2)$‐Type singular fibres of the symplectic and odd orthogonal Hitchin system
• Asymptotic geometry of the moduli space of parabolic SL(2,C)$\operatorname{SL}(2,\mathbb {C})$‐Higgs bundles
• Opers and Non-Abelian Hodge: Numerical Studies
• Seiberg–Witten differentials on the Hitchin base
• L^2-cohomology of quasi-fibered boundary metrics
• Exponential decay of harmonic \(1\)-forms for wild harmonic bundles on curves
• Special Joyce structures and hyperkähler metrics
• Higgs bundles, harmonic maps and pleated surfaces
• The algebraic and analytic compactifications of the Hitchin moduli space
• The Ooguri-Vafa space as a moduli space of framed wild harmonic bundles
• Interpreting the Ooguri-Vafa symplectic form à la Atiyah-Bott
• Loop group methods for the non-abelian Hodge correspondence on a 4-punctured sphere
• Asymptotic behaviour of the Hitchin metric on the moduli space of Higgs bundles

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