Spectral and Logarithmic Atiyah Classes for Higgs Bundles

Abstract

For a regular semisimple Higgs bundle with a smooth spectral curve, we prove that, over the \etale\ locus, the Atiyah class of the underlying bundle is induced by the Atiyah class of the spectral line bundle and takes values in the centralizer of the Higgs field. Further, when the discriminant is reduced, we construct a logarithmic refinement across the branch divisor: the Atiyah class extends as a class with logarithmic poles and values in a natural regularized centralizer sheaf.

18 pages