Character varieties and Higgs bundles

Character varieties are geometric spaces parametrising representations of a surface group into a Lie group. Higgs bundles on the other hand were introduced by Hitchin in the 1980s with motivations from Physics, and arise in the study of holomorphic vector bundles over Riemann surfaces. These two intimately related concepts are linked by the famous non-abelian Hodge-correspondence, and their study features a rich interplay between several different areas such as Algebraic Geometry, Differential Geometry, Geometric Analysis, Topology, Representation Theory, and Mathematical Physics.

The aim of this workshop is to bring together international and domestic experts in all these areas, as well as younger researchers, to discuss the recent developments and potential new connections.

This workshop is supported by AMSI and AustMS through the AMSI-AustMS Workshop Funding program.