Geometric Langlands correspondence for D-modules in prime characteristic: the GL(n) case

Abstract

Let X be a smooth projective curve over an algebraically closed field k of characteristic p>0. In this paper we explore the relation between algebraic D-modules on the moduli space $Bun_n$ of vector bundles of rank n on X and coherent sheaves on the moduli space $Loc_n$ of vector bundles endowed with a connection (in the way predicted by Beilinson and Drinfeld for k of characteristic 0). The main technical tools used in the paper are the geometry of the Hitchin system and the Azumaya property of the algebra of differential operators in characteristic p.

Dedicated to R.MacPherson on the occasion of his 60th birthday