The relative Hitchin metric gluing conjecture

From papers

Let SS be a smooth complex curve, let XSX\to S be a polarized smooth family of smooth projective curves of genus at least 22, and let g:MHigs(X/S,r)Sg:M^{s}_{Hig}(X/S,r)\to S be the relative moduli space of rank-rr stable Higgs bundles of degree zero, equipped with its relative Higgs field θKS\theta_{KS}. For each fiber YsY_s, let the Hitchin metric mean the fiberwise L2L^2 metric induced by harmonic metrics. Hitchin metric gluing conjecture. There is a hermitian metric ωH\omega_H on gg, unique up to adding the pullback of a closed two-form on SS, which is θKS\theta_{KS}-adapted and whose restriction to each fiber YsY_s is a Hitchin metric. The claim concerns globalizing the fiberwise hyperkähler metrics over the family; the supplied text gives no evidence that this has been resolved.

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Sources & referencesView supporting material

Primary source

Mao Sheng, “Nonlinear Harmonic Bundles”, arXiv:2512.04809 (2025).

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