Wild nonabelian Hodge theory on curves

Abstract

On a complex curve, we establish a correspondence between integrable connections with irregular singularities, and Higgs bundles such that the Higgs field is meromorphic with poles of any order. The moduli spaces of these objects are obtained by fixing at each singularity the polar part of the connection. We prove that they carry hyperKahler metrics, which are complete when the residue of the connection if semisimple.