Hyperpolygon spaces and moduli spaces of parabolic Higgs bundles

Given an n-tuple of positive real numbers α we consider the hyperpolygon space X(α), the hyperkähler quotient analogue to the Kähler moduli space of polygons in R3. We prove the existence of an isomorphism between hyperpolygon spaces and moduli spaces of stable, rank-2, holomorphically trivial parabolic Higgs bundles over CP1 with fixed determinant and trace-free Higgs field. This isomorphism allows us to prove that hyperpolygon spaces X(α) undergo an elementary transformation in the sense of Mukai as α crosses a wall in the space of its admissible values. We describe the changes in the core of X(α) as a result of this transformation as well as the changes in the nilpotent cone of the corresponding moduli spaces of parabolic Higgs bundles. Moreover, we study the intersection rings of the core components of X(α). In particular, we find generators of these rings, prove a recursion relation in n for their intersection numbers and use it to obtain explicit formulas for the computation of these numbers. Using our isomorphism, we obtain similar formulas for each connected component of the nilpotent cone of the corresponding moduli spaces of parabolic Higgs bundles thus determining their intersection rings. As a final application of our isomorphism we describe the cohomology ring structure of these moduli spaces of parabolic Higgs bundles and of the components of their nilpotent cone.