Hitchin Systems in Mathematics and Physics

Cohomological Hall algebras associated with preprojective algebras of quivers play a preeminent role in geometric representation theory and mathematical physics. In the present talk, I will introduce and describe CoHAs associated with the stack of Higgs sheaves on a smooth projective curve. Moreover, I will address the connections with representation theory and gauge theory. (This is a joint work with Olivier Schiffmann.)

The Witten d-bar equation is a generalization of the parametrized holomorphic curve equation associated to a holomorphic function (superpotential) on a Kahler manifold X. It plays a central role in the work of Gaiotto-Moore-Witten on the "algebra of the infrared".

The talk will explain an "intrinsic" point of view on the equation as a condition on a real surface S embedded into X (i.e., not involving any parametrization of S). This is possible if S is not a holomorphic curve in the usual sense.

We construct an action of the Weyl group on the affine closure of the cotangent bundle on G/U. The construction involves Hamiltonian reduction with respect to the `universal centralizer' and an interesting Lagrangian variety, the Miura variety. A closely related construction produces symplectic manifolds which play a role in `Sicilian theories' and whose existence was conjectured by Moore and Tachikawa. Some of these constructions may be reinterpreted, via the Geometric Satake, in terms of the affine grassmannian.