Moduli of Higgs bundles over the five punctured sphere

Abstract

We look at rank two parabolic Higgs bundles over the projective line minus five points which are semistable with respect to a weight vector $\mu\in[0,1]^5$. The moduli space corresponding to the central weight $\mu_c=(\frac{1}{2}, \dots, \frac{1}{2})$ is studied in details and all singular fibers of the Hitchin map are described, including the nilpotent cone. After giving a description of fixed points of the $\mathbb C^*$-action we obtain a proof of Simpson's foliation conjecture in this case. For each $n\ge 5$, we remark that there is a weight vector so that the foliation conjecture in the moduli space of rank two logarithmic connections over the projective line minus $n$ points is false.