Involutions of the Moduli Space of Principal <i>E</i>₆-Bundles over a Compact Riemann Surface

Abstract

In this paper, the fixed points of involutions on the moduli space of principal E6-bundles over a compact Riemann surface X are investigated. In particular, it is proved that the combined action of a representative σ of the outer involution of E6 with the pull-back action of a surface involution τ admits fixed points if and only if a specific topological obstruction in H2X/τ,π0E6σ vanishes. For an involution τ with 2k fixed points, it is proved that the fixed point set is isomorphic to the moduli space of principal H-bundles over the quotient curve X/τ, where H is either F4 or PSp(8,C) and it consists of 2g−k+1 components. The complex dimensions of these components are computed, and their singular loci are determined as corresponding to H-bundles admitting non-trivial automorphisms. Furthermore, it is checked that the stability of fixed E6-bundles implies the stability of their corresponding H-bundles over X/τ, and the behavior of characteristic classes is discussed under this correspondence. Finally, as an application of the above results, it is proved that the fixed points correspond to octonionic structures on X/τ, and an explicit construction of these octonionic structures is provided.

Keywords

• principal bundle
• fixed point
• involution
• Riemann surface
• automorphism
• octonions