ALG gravitational instantons and Hitchin moduli spaces, I: Torelli parameters

Abstract

This is the first of two papers which together prove that the $12$-parameter family of parabolic $SU(2)$-Hitchin moduli spaces on the four-punctured sphere are all ALG gravitational instantons of type D4, and hence are asymptotic to $(\mathbb{C} \times T^2_\tau)/\mathbb{Z}_2$ at infinity. The elliptic modulus $\tau$ is determined by the cross-ratio of the four points. In this first paper, we consider each Hitchin moduli space corresponding to an allowable set of parabolic data and compute its Torelli parameters. There is a $12$-parameter family of Hitchin moduli spaces corresponding to different parabolic data, and we show that these realize all possible allowable Torelli parameters. In the companion paper, we we will show there that all of the Hitchin moduli spaces studied here are indeed ALG of type $D_4$, and consequently that every ALG-$D_4$ gravitational instanton can be realized as a Hitchin moduli space. Altogether, this will give the first verification of any case of the Modularity Conjecture: that all ALG gravitational instantons with tangent cone $\mathbb{C}/\mathbb{Z}_2$ can be realized as Hitchin moduli spaces with their natural associated $L^2$ metrics.