On the image of Hitchin morphism for some classical groups on algebraic suefaces

Abstract

In this article, we study the image of the Hitchin morphism for some classical groups over an algebraic surface. The Hitchin morphism is a map from the moduli stack of $G$-Higgs bundles $\mathscr{M}_{X,G}$ to the Hitchin base $\mathscr{A}_{X,G}$, where $X$ is a smooth projective variety. In general, this morphism is not surjective when the dimension of $X$ is greater than one. Chen and Ng{ô} showed that the Hitchin morphism factors through a closed subscheme $\mathscr{B}_{X,G}$ of the Hitchin base, which is called the spectral base. They conjectured that the image of the Hitchin morphism is exactly the spectral base. When $X$ is a smooth projective surface, we prove that this conjecture holds for the special linear algebraic group of odd rank. We also confirm this conjecture for the classical groups ${\rm SL}_n$ and ${\rm Sp}_{2n}$ when $X$ is a product of smooth curves.