Lie algebroid connections, twisted Higgs bundles and motives of moduli spaces

Abstract

Let $\mathcal{L}=(L,[\cdot\,,\cdot],\delta)$ be an algebraic Lie algebroid over a smooth projective curve $X$ of genus $g\geq 2$ such that $L$ is a line bundle whose degree is less than $2-2g$. Let $r$ and $d$ be coprime numbers. We prove that the motivic class of the moduli space of $\mathcal{L}$-connections of rank $r$ and degree $d$ over $X$ does not depend on the Lie algebroid structure $[\cdot\,,\cdot]$ and $\delta$ of $\mathcal{L}$ and neither on the line bundle $L$ itself, but only on the degree of $L$ (and of course on $r$, $d$ and $X$). In particular it is equal to the motivic class of the moduli space of $K_X(D)$-twisted Higgs bundles of rank $r$ and degree $d$, for $D$ any effective divisor with the appropriate degree. As a consequence, similar results (actually slightly stronger) are obtained for the corresponding $E$-polynomials. Some applications of these results are then deduced.