The Spectral base and quotients of bounded symmetric domains

Abstract

In this article, we explore Higgs bundles on a projective manifold $X$, focusing on their spectral bases, a concept introduced by T.Chen and B.Ng\^{o}. The spectral base is a specific closed subscheme within the space of symmetric differentials. We observe that if the spectral base vanishes, then any reductive representation $\rho: \pi_1(X) \to \text{GL}_r(\mathbb{C})$ is both rigid and integral. Additionally, we prove that for $X=\Omega/\Gamma$, a quotient of a bounded symmetric domain $\Omega$ of rank at least $2$ by a torsion-free cocompact irreducible lattice $\Gamma$, the spectral base indeed vanishes, which generalizes a result of B.Klingler.