On a Conjecture of Lan-Sheng-Zuo on Semistable Higgs Bundles: Rank 3 Case

Let $X$ be a smooth projective curve of genus $g$ over an algebraically closed field $k$ of characteristic $p>2$. We prove that any rank $3$ nilpotent semistable Higgs bundle $(E,\theta)$ on $X$ is a strongly semistable Higgs bundle. This gives a partially affirmative answer to a conjecture of Lan-Sheng-Zuo \cite{LanShengZuo12ii}\footnotemark[1]. In addition, we prove a tensor product theorem for strongly semistable Higgs bundles with $p$ satisfying some bounds (Theorem \ref{TensorTheorem}). From this we reprove a tensor theorem for semistable Higgs bundles on the condition that the Lan-Sheng-Zuo conjecture holds (Corollary \ref{TensorStableBundle}).