This article is based on lecture notes prepared for the August 2006 Cologne Summer School. The first part contains background material and references for beginners. The second (and main) part is a survey of the current status in the theory of pluri-theta linear series and generalized theta divisors on moduli spaces of vector bundles on curves. It emphasizes relatively new techniques employed in the analysis of linear series on these moduli spaces, namely the use of moduli spaces of stable maps for understanding Quot schemes, and the Fourier-Mukai functor in the study of coherent sheaves on abelian varieties. In addition, it briefly describes recent important developments, most significant of which is the proof of the Strange Duality conjecture due to Belkale and Marian-Oprea.
We compute the rational cohomology of the moduli space of non-singular non-hyperelliptic complex projective curves of genus 3 with an odd theta characteristic.
We study the birational geometry of some moduli spaces of abelian varieties with extra structure: in particular, with a symmetric theta structure and an odd theta characteristic. For a $(d_1,d_2)$-polarized abelian surface, we show how the parities of the $d_i$ influence the relation between canonical level structures and symmetric theta structures. For certain values of $d_1$ and $d_2$, a theta characteristic is needed in order to define Theta-null maps. We use these Theta-null maps and preceding work of other authors on the representations of the Heisenberg group to study the birational geom…
In this paper we show that semistable vector bundles on a Castelnuovo curve of genus g >= 2 have theta divisors. As a corollary, we deduce that semistable vector bundles on a smooth, general curve of genus g >= 2 which extend to semistable vector bundles on any Castelnuovo degeneration of the general curve admit a theta divisor.
We show that the locus of stable rank four vector bundles without theta divisor over a smooth projective curve of genus two is in canonical bijection with the set of theta-characteristics. We give several descriptions of these bundles and compute the degree of the rational theta map.
We discuss various aspects of the geometry of theta characteristics including the birational geometry of the spin moduli space of curves, parametrization of moduli via special K3 surfaces, as well as the relation with classical theta function theory and string theory in the form of the superstring measure. A historical view of the development of the subject is also presented.
Let M be the moduli space of SO(r)-bundles on a curve, and L the determinant bundle on M. We define an isomorphism of H^0(M,L) onto the dual of the space of r-th order theta functions on the Jacobian of C. This isomorphism identifies the map M -->|L|* defined by the linear system |L| with the map M -->|r Theta| which associates to a quadratic bundle (E,q) the Theta divisor of the vector bundle E . The two components M+ and M- of M are mapped into the subspaces of even and odd theta functions respectively. Finally we discuss the analogous question for Sp(2r)-bundles.
The purpose of this paper is twofold. First, we survey known results about theta dualities on moduli spaces of sheaves on curves and surfaces. Secondly, we establish new such dualities in the surface case. Among others, the case of elliptic K3 surfaces is studied in detail; we propose further conjectures which are shown to imply strange duality.
Determinantal formulae for Jacobian theta functions that go back to Klein are elaborated, via an idea due to Matone and Volpato. Also, the natural square roots of theta constants on the moduli space of curves whose existence was shown by Tsuyumine are proved to have a spinorial structure.
In this paper we approach the study of generalized theta linear series on moduli of vector bundles on curves via vector bundle techniques on abelian varieties. We study what are called the Verlinde bundles in order to obtain information about duality between theta functions and effective global and normal generation on these moduli spaces.
A generic strictly semistable bundle of degree zero over a curve X has a reducible theta divisor, given by the sum of the theta divisors of the stable summands of the associated graded bundle. The converse is not true: Beauville and Raynaud have each constructed stable bundles with reducible theta divisors. For X of genus at least 5, we construct stable vector bundles over X of rank $r$ for all $r \geq 5$, with reducible and nonreduced theta divisors. We also adapt the construction to symplectic bundles. In the appendix, Raynaud's original example of a stable rank 2 vector bundle with reducibl…
We study the bundles of generalized theta functions constructed from moduli spaces of sheaves over abelian surfaces. In degree 0, the splitting type of these bundles is expressed in terms of indecomposable semihomogeneous factors. Furthermore, Fourier-Mukai symmetries of the Verlinde bundles are found, consistently with strange duality. Along the way, a transformation formula for the theta bundles is derived, extending a theorem of Drezet-Narasimhan from curves to abelian surfaces.
This is a (short) survey lecture on the "theta map" from the moduli space of SL_r bundles on a curve C to the projective space of r-th order theta functions on JC . Some recent results and a few open problems about that map are discussed.
Let $E$ be a smooth elliptic curve over $\mathbb{C}$. For $E$ embedded into $\mathbb{P}^2$ as Hesse cubic and $V$ an Ulrich bundle on $E$ we derive a explicit presentation of $V$ using Moore matrices and theta functions.
In this paper we give a lower bound for the codimension of the Andreotti-Mayer loci in the moduli space of principally polarized complex abelian varieties. We also present a conjecture on this codimension.
We give an explicit description of theta-characteristics on tropical curves and characterize the effective ones. We construct the moduli space for tropical theta-characteristics of genus g as a generalized cone complex. We describe the fibers of the specialization map from the classical moduli space of theta-characteristics on algebraic curves to our moduli space of tropical theta-characteristics.
Let C be a curve of genus g and L a line bundle of degree 2g on C . Let M be the kernel of the evaluation map from the trivial bundle with fibre H^0(C,L) into L . We show that when L is general enough, the rank g bundle M and its exterior powers are stable and admit a reducible theta divisor.
Let C be a curve of genus g, and let SU(r) be the moduli space of vector bundles of rank r on C, with trivial determinant. A general E in SU(r) defines a theta divisor in the linear system |r Theta|, where Theta is the canonical theta divisor in Pic^{g-1}(C). This defines a rational map SU(r) - - > |r Theta|, which is the map associated to the determinant bundle on SU(r) (the positive generator of Pic(SU(r)). In this paper we prove that in genus 2 this map is generically finite and dominant. The same method, together with some classical work of Morin, shows that in rank 3 and genus 3 the theta…
Raynaud has shown that over a general curve of genus $g \ge 2$, every semistable bundle of rank three and integral slope admits a theta divisor. We show that this can fail for special curves: Over any bielliptic curve of genus $g \ge 5$, we construct a stable rank three bundle of trivial determinant with no theta divisor. This gives a partial answer to a question of Beauville.
We study base points of the generalized Theta-divisor on the moduli space of vector bundles on a smooth algebraic curve X of genus g defined over an algebraically closed field. To do so, we use the derived categories D(Pic(X)), D(Jac(X)), and the equivalence between them given by the Fourier-Mukai transform coming from the Poincaré bundle. The vector bundles P(m) on the curve X defined by Raynaud play a central role in this description. Indeed, we show that a vector bundle E is a base point of the generalized Theta-divisor, if and only if there exists a nontrivial homomorphism P(rk(E)g+1) --> …
We generalize to $n$-torsion a result of Kempf's describing $2$-torsion points lying on a theta divisor. This is accomplished by means of certain semihomogeneous vector bundles introduced and studied by Mukai and Oprea. As an application, we prove a sharp upper bound for the number of $n$-torsion points on a theta divisor, and show that this is achieved only in the case of products of elliptic curves, settling in the affirmative a conjecture of Auffarth, Pirola and Salvati Manni.
We study relations between two fundamental constructions associated to vector bundles on a smooth complex projective curve: the theta function (a section of a line bundle on the moduli space of vector bundles) and the Szegö kernel (a section of a vector bundle on the square of the curve). Two types of relations are demonstrated. First, we establish a higher--rank version of the prime form, describing the pullback of determinant line bundles by difference maps, and show the theta function pulls back to the determinant of the Szegö kernel. Next, we prove that the expansion of the Szegö kernel at…
We carry out a complete birational classification of the universal theta divisor Th_g over the moduli space of curves of genus g, and show that Th_g enjoys good rationality properties for g<12, and is a variety of general type for g\geq 12. The key ingredient is an intersection-theoretic study of the universal antiramification locus of the Gauss map. We also present a complete classification of the universal symmetric product of degree g-2 over M_g.
The moduli space M_2 of rank four semistable symplectic vector bundles over a curve X of genus two is an irreducible projective variety of dimension ten. Its Picard group is generated by the determinantal line bundle Ξ. The base locus of the linear system |Ξ| consists of precisely those bundles without theta divisors, that is, admitting nonzero maps from every line bundle of degree -1 = 1-g over X. We show that this base locus consists of six distinct points, which are in canonical bijection with the Weierstrass points of the curve. We relate our construction of these bundles to another of Ray…
These are expanded notes on a lecture of the same title at the 2015 AMS summer institute in algebraic geometry. We give an introduction and overview of the "beyond geometric invariant theory" program for analyzing moduli problems in algebraic geometry. We discuss methods for analyzing stability in general moduli problems, focusing on the moduli of coherent sheaves on a smooth projective scheme as a toy example. We describe several applications: a general structure theorem for the derived category of coherent sheaves on an algebraic stack; some results on the topology of moduli stacks; and a "v…
Let U(r) be the moduli space of rank r vector bundles with trivial determinant on a smooth curve of genus 2. The map theta_r: U(r) -> |r Theta|, which associates to a general bundle its theta divisor, is generically finite. In this paper we give a geometric interpretation of the generic fibre of theta_r.
This paper shows that on the moduli space of semi-stable vector bundles of fixed rank and determinant (of any degree) on a smooth curve of genus at least two, the base locus of the generalized theta divisor is large provided the rank is sufficiently large. It also shows that the base locus is large for positive multiples of the theta divisor. This work extends results already known for the case where the determinant is of degree zero.
In this paper I present a new geometric approach to the factorization rule for generalised theta functions. Let $X$ be an irreducible projective nodal curve with one singularity and let $Y$ be its normalization. Recently I have constructed the moduli stack $GVB(X)$ of rank $n$ Gieseker vector bundles on $X$ and have shown that its normalization is a locally trivial fibration over the moduli stack $VB(Y)$ of vector bundles on $Y$, where the fibre is a canonical compactification of $Gl_n$. In this paper I prove a canonical direct sum decomposition of the space of global sections of a power of th…
We compute all the top intersection numbers of divisors on the total space of the Poincare bundle restricted to the product of a curve and the abelian variety. We use these computations to find the class of the universal theta divisor and $m$-theta divisor inside the universal corank 1 semiabelian variety -- the boundary of the partial toroidal compactification of the moduli space of abelian varieties. We give two computational examples: we compute the boundary coefficient of the Andreotti-Mayer divisor (computed by Mumford but in a much harder and ad hoc way), and the analog of this for the u…
We consider the following question: for which invariants $g$ and $e$ is there a geometrically ruled surface $S \rightarrow C$ over a curve $C$ of genus $g$ with invariant $e$ such that $S$ is the support of an Ulrich line bundle with respect to a very ample line bundle? A surprising relation between the existence of certain proper Theta divisors on some moduli spaces of vector bundles on $C$ with the existence of Ulrich line bundles on $S$ will be the key to completely solve the above question. The relation is realized by translating the vanishing conditions characterizing Ulrich line bundles …
According to Mukai, any prime Fano threefold X of genus 7 is a linear section of the spinor tenfold in the projectivized half-spinor space of Spin(10). The orthogonal linear section of the spinor tenfold is a canonical genus-7 curve G, and the intermediate Jacobian J(X) is isomorphic to the Jacobian of G. It is proven that, for a generic X, the Abel-Jacobi map of the family of elliptic sextics on X factors through the moduli space of rank-2 vector bundles with c_1=-K_X and deg c_2=6 and that the latter is birational to the singular locus of the theta divisor of J(X).
Let X be a smooth projective connected curve of genus $g \ge 2$ and let I be a finite set of points of X. Fix a parabolic structure on I for rank r vector bundles on X. Let $M^{par}$ denote the moduli space of parabolic semistable bundles and let $L^{par}$ denote the parabolic determinant bundle. In this paper we show that the n-th tensor power line bundle ${L^{par}}^n$ on the moduli space $M^{par}$ is globally generated, as soon as the integer n is such that $n \ge [\frac{r^2}{4}]$. In order to get this bound, we construct a parabolic analogue of the Quot scheme and extend the result of Popa …
We complete the proof of the fact that the moduli space of rank two bundles with trivial determinant embeds into the linear system of divisors on $Pic^{g-1}C$ which are linearly equivalent to $2Θ$. The embedded tangent space at a semi-stable non-stable bundle $ξ\oplusξ^{-1}$, where $ξ$ is a degree zero line bundle, is shown to consist of those divisors in $|2Θ|$ which contain $Sing(Θ_ξ)$ where $Θ_ξ$ is the translate of $Θ$ by $ξ$. We also obtain geometrical results on the structure of this tangent space.
Given a vector bundle $E$ of rank $r$ and degree $d$ on a curve $C$ of genus $g$, one can associate to $E$ in a natural way several other vector bundles. For example, one can take wedge powers of $E$. If $E$ is generated by global sections, the kernel of the evaluation map of sections is again a vector bundle. Also, new vector bundles can be produced by taking elementary transformations centered at a fixed point. Under suitable conditions on degree and rank, these constructions can be carried out globally. While all this processes seem quite elementary, very little is known about the resulting…
We construct natural maps (the Klein and Wirtinger maps) from moduli spaces of vector bundles on an algebraic curve $X$ to affine spaces, as quotients of the nonabelian theta linear series. We prove a finiteness result for these maps over generalized Kummer varieties (moduli of torus bundles), leading us to conjecture that the maps are finite in general. The conjecture provides canonical explicit coordinates on the moduli space. The finiteness results give low--dimensional parametrizations of Jacobians (in $\Pp^{3g-3}$ for generic curves), described by $2Θ$ functions or second logarithmic deri…
Let $C$ be a smooth complex irreducible projective curve of genus $g$ with general moduli, and let $(L,H^0(L))$ be a generated complete linear series of type $(d,r+1)$ over $C$. The syzygy bundle, denoted by $M_L$, is the kernel of the evaluation map $H^0(L)\otimes\mathcal O_C\to L$. In this work we have a double purpose. The first one is to give new examples of stable syzygy bundles admitting theta divisor over general curves. We prove that if $M_L$ is strictly semistable then $M_L$ admits reducible theta divisor. The second purpose is to study the cohomological semistability of $M_L$, and in…
Let E and F be vector bundles over a complex projective smooth curve X, and suppose that 0 -> E -> W -> F -> 0 is a nontrivial extension. Let G be a subbundle of F, and D an effective divisor on X. We give a criterion for the subsheaf G(-D) \subset F to lift to W, in terms of the geometry of a scroll in the extension space \PP H^1 (X, Hom(F, E)). We use this criterion to describe the tangent cone to the generalised theta divisor on the moduli space of semistable bundles of rank r and slope g-1 over X, at a stable point. This gives a generalisation of a case of the Riemann-Kempf singularity the…
This is an expository article on the recent developments of Hodge theory on moduli spaces of smooth projective varieties with semi-ample canonical line bundles.
We prove canonical isomorphisms between Spin Verlinde spaces, i.e, spaces of global sections of a determinant line bundle over the moduli space of semistable Spin-bundles over a smooth projective curve C, and the dual spaces of theta functions over Prym varieties of unramified double covers of C.
In this paper, it is proved that certain stable rank-3 vector bundles can be written as extensions of line bundles and stable rank-2 bundles. As an application, we show the rationality of certain moduli spaces of stable rank-3 bundles over the projective plane P^2.
Let $\cM_r$ denote the moduli space of semi-stable rank-$r$ vector bundles with trivial determinant over a smooth projective curve $C$ of genus $g$. In this paper we study the base locus $\cB_r \subset \cM_r$ of the linear system of the determinant line bundle $\cL$ over $\cM_r$, i.e., the set of semi-stable rank-$r$ vector bundles without theta divisor. We construct base points in $\cB_{g+2}$ over any curve $C$, and base points in $\cB_4$ over any hyperelliptic curve.
We prove that the normalized Poincaré bundle on the moduli space of stable rank $r$ vector bundles with a fixed determinant on a smooth projective curve $X$ induces a family of nef vector bundles on the moduli space. Two applications follow. We show that when the genus of $X$ is large, the derived category of $X$ is embedded into the derived category of the moduli space for arbitrary rank and coprime degree, which extends the results of Narasimhan, Fonarev-Kuznetsov, and Belmans-Mukhopadhyay. As the second application, we construct a family of ACM bundles on the moduli space. A key ingredient …
Recent work on the log minimal model program for the moduli space of curves, as well as past results of Caporaso, Pandharipande, and Simpson motivate an investigation of compactifications of the universal moduli space of slope semi-stable vector bundles over moduli spaces of curves arising in the Hassett-Keel program. Our main result is the construction of a universal moduli space of slope semi-stable sheaves which compactifies the moduli space of vector bundles over the moduli space of pseudo-stable curves.
Let $C$ be a hyperelliptic curve of genus $g \geq 3$. We give a new description of the theta map for moduli spaces of rank 2 semistable vector bundles with trivial determinant. In orther to do this, we describe a fibration of (a birational model of) the moduli space, whose fibers are GIT quotients $(\mathbb{P}^1)^{2g}//\operatorname{PGL(2)}$. Then, we use recent results of Kumar to identify the restriction of the theta map to these GIT quotients with some explicit osculating projection. As a corollary of this construction, we obtain a birational equivalence between the ramification locus of th…
We construct a compactification of the universal moduli space of semistable principal $G$-bundles over $\overline{\textrm{M}}_{g}$, the fibers of which over singular curves are the moduli spaces of $δ$-semistable singular principal G-bundles.
We discuss some relations of moduli of sheaves on rational surfaces by using universal extensions. These are a generalization of Maruyama's method to construct Uhlenbeck compactification of moduli of vector bundles.
In this paper we give a birational model for the theta divisor of the intermediate Jacobian of a generic cubic threefold $X$. We use the standard realization of $X$ as a conic bundle and a $4-$dimensional family of plane quartics which are totally tangent to the discriminant quintic curve of such a conic bundle structure. The additional data of an even theta characteristic on the curves in the family gives us a model for the theta divisor.
The Jacobian varieties of smooth curves fit together to form a family, the universal Jacobian, over the moduli space of smooth marked curves, and the theta divisors of these curves form a divisor in the universal Jacobian. In this paper we describe how to extend these families over the moduli space of stable marked curves (or rather an open subset thereof) using a stability parameter. We then prove a wall-crossing formula describing how the theta divisor varies with the stability parameter. We use that result to analyze a divisor on the moduli space of smooth marked curves that has recently be…
We examine the moduli of framed holomorphic bundles over the blowup of a complex surface, by studying a filtration induced by the behavior of the bundles on a neighborhood of the exceptional divisor.
In this paper, we study rank 2 (quasi) parabolic bundles over the Riemann sphere with an effective divisor and these moduli spaces. First we consider a criterium when a parabolic bundle admits a unramified irregular singular parabolic connection. Second, to give a good compactification of the moduli space of semistable parabolic bundles, we introduce a generalization of parabolic bundles, which is called refined parabolic bundles. Third, we discuss a stability condition of refined parabolic bundles and define elementary transformations of the refined parabolic bundles. Finally, we describe the…
We study moduli of holomorphic vector bundles on non-compact varieties. We discuss filtrability and algebraicity of bundles and calculate dimensions of local moduli. As particularly interesting examples, we describe numerical invariants of bundles on some local Calabi-Yau threefolds.
In this paper, we study triples of the form (E, theta, phi) over a compact Riemann Surface, where (E, theta) is a Higgs bundle and phi is a global holomorphic section of the Higgs bundle. Our main result is a description of a birational equivalence which relates geometrically the moduli space of Higgs bundles of rank r and degree d to the moduli space of Higgs bundles of rank (r-1) and degree d.
We consider the moduli space of stable vector bundles on curves embedded in P_2 with Hilbert polynomial 3m+1 and construct a compactification of this space by vector bundles. The result is a blow up of the Simpson moduli space M_{3m+1}(P_2).
We generalize the construction of M. Lieblich for the compactification of the moduli stack of $\PGL_r$-bundles on algebraic spaces to the moduli stack of Tanaka-Thomas $\PGL_r$-Higgs bundles on algebraic schemes. The method we use is the moduli stack of Higgs version of Azumaya algebras. In the case of smooth surfaces, we obtain a virtual fundamental class on the moduli stack of $\PGL_r$-Higgs bundles. An application to the Vafa-Witten invariants is discussed.
