Cyclic Higgs bundles and minimal surfaces in pseudo-hyperbolic spaces

We introduce a type of minimal surface in the pseudo-hyperbolic space ${\mathbb{H}}^{n,n}$ (with $n$ even) or ${\mathbb{H}}^{n+1,n-1}$ (with $n$ odd) associated to cyclic ${\mathrm{S}\mathrm{O}}_0(n,n+1)$-Higg bundles. By establishing the infinitesimal rigidity of these surfaces, we get a new proof, for ${\mathrm{S}\mathrm{O}}_0(n,n+1)$, of Labourie’s theorem that the holonomy map restricts to an immersion on the cyclic locus of Hitchin base, and extend it to Collier’s components. This implies Labourie’s former conjecture in the case of the exceptional group $G_2^{\mathrm{\prime }}$, for which we also show that these minimal surfaces are $\mathit{J}$-holomorphic curves of a particular type in the almost complex ${\mathbb{H}}^{4,2}$.