These lecture notes explain the construction and basic properties of the wonderful compactification of a complex semisimple group of adjoint type. An appendix discusses the more general case of a semisimple symmetric space.
By a case-free approach we give a precise description of the closure of a Steinberg fiber within a twisted wonderful compactification of a simple linear algebraic group. In the non-twisted case this description was earlier obtained by the first author.
De Concini-Procesi introduced varieties known as wonderful compactifications, which are smooth projective compactifications of semisimple adjoint groups $G$. We study the Frobenius pushforwards of invertible sheaves on the wonderful compactifications, and in particular its decomposition into locally free subsheaves. We give necessary and sufficient conditions for a specific line bundle to be a direct summand of the Frobenius pushforward of another line bundle, formulated in terms of the weight lattice of $\widetilde{G}$, the universal cover of $G$ (identified with the Picard group of the wonde…
De Concini and Procesi have defined the wonderful compactification of a symmetric space X=G/H with G a semisimple adjoint group and H the subgroup of fixed points of G by an involution s. It is a closed subvariety of a grassmannian of the Lie algebra L of G. In this paper, we prove that, when the rank of X is equal to the rank of G, the variety is defined by linear equations. The set of equations expresses the fact that the invariant alternate trilinear form w on L vanishes on the (-1)-eigenspace of s.
In this paper, we introduce a quantum version of the wonderful compactification of a group as a certain noncommutative projective scheme. Our approach stems from the fact that the wonderful compactification encodes the asymptotics of matrix coefficients, and from its realization as a GIT quotient of the Vinberg semigroup. In order to define the wonderful compactification for a quantum group, we adopt a generalized formalism of $\mathsf{Proj}$ categories in the spirit of Artin and Zhang. Key to our construction is a quantum version of the Vinberg semigroup, which we define as a $q$-deformation …
Let G be a complex semisimple linear algebraic group, and X a wonderful G-variety. We determine the connected automorphism group of X and we calculate Luna's invariants of X under its action.
This work is a PhD thesis. First we provide some general context on wonderful varieties and moduli spaces of rational curves. Working over complex numbers we prove that the moduli space of rational curves with no marked points on the wonderful compactification of a symmetric space is not irreducible in general. Lastly we show that in the case of wonderful group compactifications the set of rational curves with no marked points and irreducible source is irreducible.
In this paper, we prove the moduli spaces of genus zero stable log maps to a large class of wonderful compactifications are irreducible and unirational.
We introduce and study smooth compactifications of the moduli space of n labeled points with weights in projective space, which have normal crossings boundary and are defined as GIT quotients of the weighted Fulton-MacPherson compactification. We show that the GIT quotient of a wonderful compactification is also a wonderful compactification under certain hypotheses. We also study a weighted version of the configuration spaces parametrizing n points in affine space up to translation and homothety. In dimension one, the above compactifications are isomorphic to Hassett's moduli space of rational…
Let $G$ be a complex linear algebraic group which is simple of adjoint type. Let $\overline G$ be the wonderful compactification of $G$. We prove that the tangent bundle of $\overline G$ is stable with respect to every polarization on $\overline G$.
We define the wonderful compactification of an arrangement of subvarieties. Given a complex nonsingular algebraic variety $Y$ and certain collection $\mathcal{G}$ of subvarieties of $Y$, the wonderful compactification $Y_\mathcal{G}$ can be constructed by a sequence of blow-ups of $Y$ along the subvarieties of the arrangement. This generalizes the Fulton-MacPherson configuration spaces and the wonderful models given by De Concini and Procesi. We give a condition on the order of blow-ups in the construction of $Y_\mathcal{G}$ such that each blow-up is along a nonsingular center.
Let G be a semisimple connected linear algebraic group over C, and X a wonderful G-variety. We study the possibility of realizing X as a closed subvariety of the projective space of a simple G-module. We describe the wonderful varieties having this property as well as the linear systems giving rise to such immersions. We also prove that any ample line bundle on a wonderful variety is very ample.
Consider a simple algebraic group G of adjoint type, and its wonderful compactification X. We show that X admits a unique family of minimal rational curves, and we explicitly describe the subfamily consisting of curves through a general point. As an application, we show that X has the target rigidity property when G is not of type A_1 or C.
Let $G$ be a simple algebraic group of adjoint type over $\mathbb C$, and let $M$ be the wonderful compactification of a symmetric space $G/H$. Take a $\widetilde G$--equivariant principal $R$--bundle $E$ on $M$, where $R$ is a complex reductive algebraic group and $\widetilde G$ is the universal cover of $G$. If the action of the isotropy group $\widetilde H$ on the fiber of $E$ at the identity coset is irreducible, then we prove that $E$ is polystable with respect to any polarization on $M$. Further, for wonderful compactification of the quotient of $\text{PSL}(n,{\mathbb C})$, $n\,\neq\, 4$…
Recently, V.Ginzburg introduced and studied in depth the notion of a principal nilpotent pair in a semisimple Lie algebra \g. Our aim is to contribute to the general theory of nilpotent pairs. Roughly speaking, a nilpotent pair (e_1,e_2) consists of two commuting elements in \g that can independently be contracted to the origin. A principal nilpotent pair is a double counterpart of a regular nilpotent element. Consequently, the theory of nilpotent pairs should stand out as double counterpart of the theory of nilpotent orbits. We show that any nilpotent pair has a characteristic (h_1,h_2), whic…
We study the Chow groups and the Chow motives of the wonderful compactifications $Y_{\mathcal{G}}$ of arrangements of subvarieties. We prove a natural decomposition of the Chow motive of $Y_\mathcal{G}$, in particular of the Fulton-MacPherson configuration space $X[n]$. As a consequence, we prove a decomposition of the Chow motive of $X[n]/\frak{S}_n$. A generating function for the Chow groups and for the Chow motive of $X[n]$ is given.
We study torus-equivariant vector bundles $E$ on a complex projective variety $X$ which is either a Bott-Samelson-Demazure-Hansen variety or a wonderful compactification of a complex symmetric variety of minimal rank. We show that $E$ is nef (respectively, ample) if and only if its restriction to every torus--invariant curve in $X$ is nef (respectively, ample). We also compute the Seshadri constants $\varepsilon(E,x)$, where $x\, \in\, X$ is any point fixed by the action of a maximal torus.
In this paper, we obtain parametrizations of the moduli space of principal bundles over a compact Riemann surface using spaces of Hecke modifications in several cases. We begin with a discussion of Hecke modifications for principal bundles and give constructions of "universal" Hecke modifications of a fixed bundle of fixed type. This is followed by an overview of the construction of the "wonderful," or De Concini--Procesi, compactification of a semi-simple algebraic group of adjoint type. The compactification plays an important role in the deformation theory used in constructing the parametriz…
We prove the following: (1) if $X$ is ordinary, the Fulton-MacPherson configuration space $X[n]$ is ordinary for all $n$; (2) the moduli of stable $n$-pointed curves of genus zero is ordinary. (3) More generally we show that a wonderful compactification $X_\sg$ is ordinary if and only if $(X,\sg)$ is an ordinary building set. This implies the ordinarity of many other well-known configuration spaces (under suitable assumptions).
A stratified manifold has a Bruhat atlas on it if it can be covered with open charts such that each chart is stratified-isomorphic to an (opposite) Bruhat cell in a (usually Kac-Moody) flag manifold. In this paper, we construct an anticanonical stratification on the wonderful compactification of the symmetric space $PSO(2n)/SO(2n-1)$ and show that the open charts are isomorphic to certain (opposite) Bruhat cells in the type $D_{n+1}$ flag manifold.
Given an adjoint semisimple group $G$ over a local field $k$, we prove that the maximal Satake-Berkovich compactification of the Bruhat-Tits building of $G$ can be identified with the one obtained by embedding the building into the Berkovich analytification of the wonderful compactification of $G$, extending previous results of Rémy, Thuillier and Werner. In the process, we use the characterisation of the wonderful compactification in terms of Hilbert schemes given by Brion to extend the definition of the wonderful compactification to the case of a non-necessarily split adjoint semisimple grou…
In a previous paper we have constructed a compactification $KGl_n$ of the general linear group $Gl_n$, which in many respects is analogous to the so called wonderful compactification of adjoint semisimple algebraic groups as studied by De Concini and Procesi. In particular there is an action of $G=Gl_n\times Gl_n$ on this compactification. In this paper we show how the space of global section of an arbitrary $G$-linearized line bundle on $KGl_n$ decomposes canonically into a direct sum of simple $G$-modules which are themselves given as the spaces of global sections of line bundles on the prod…
Using the wonderful compactification of a semisimple adjoint affine algebraic group G defined over an algebraically closed field k of arbitrary characteristic, we construct a natural compactification Y of the G-character variety of any finitely generated group F. When F is a free group, we show that this compactification is always simply connected with respect to the étale fundamental group, and when k=C it is also topologically simply connected. For other groups F, we describe conditions for the compactification of the moduli space to be simply connected and give examples when these condition…
Let $g \geq 2$. Let $M_{g,n}^{rt}$ be the moduli space of $n$-pointed genus $g$ curves with rational tails. Let $C_g^n$ be the $n$-fold fibered power of the universal curve over $M_g$. We prove that the tautological ring of $M_{g,n}^{rt}$ has Poincaré duality if and only if the same holds for the tautological ring of $C_g^n$. We also obtain a presentation of the tautological ring of $M_{g,n}^{rt}$ as an algebra over the tautological ring of $C_g^n$. This proves a conjecture of Tavakol. Our results are valid in the more general setting of wonderful compactifications.
In this paper, we consider the diagonal action of a connected semisimple group of adjoint type on its wonderful compactification. We show that the semi-stable locus is a union of the $G$-stable pieces and we calculate the geometric quotient.
We define a certain compactifiction of the general linear group and give a modular description for its points with values in arbitrary schemes. This is a first step in the construction of a higher rank generalization of Gieseker's degeneration of moduli spaces of vector bundles over a curve. We show that our compactification has similar properties as the ``wonderful compactification'' of algebraic groups of adjoint type as studied by de Concini and Procesi. As a byproduct we obtain a modular description of the points of the wonderful compactification of $\text{PGl}_n$.
We formulate the problem of renormalization of Feynman integrals and its relation to periods of motives in configuration space instead of momentum space. The algebro-geometric setting is provided by the wonderful compactifications of arrangements of subvarieties associated to the subgraphs of a Feynman graph and a (quasi)projective variety. The motive and the class in the Grothendieck ring are computed explicitly for these wonderful compactifications, in terms of the motive of the variety and the combinatorics of the Feynman graph, using recent results of Li Li. The pullback to the wonderful c…
In this note, we give a way to classify $\mathbb Q$-Fano compactifications of a semisimple group $G$. We will prove that there are only finitely many such $\mathbb Q$-Fano $G$-compactifications, which admits (singular) Kähler-Einstein metrics. As an application, this improves a former result in arXiv:2001.11320.
A wonderful compactification of an orbit under the action of a semi-simple and simply connected group is a smooth projective variety containing the orbit as a dense open subset, and where the added boundary divisor is simple normal crossing. We construct the wonderful compactification of the space of symmetric and symplectic matrices, and investigate its geometry. As an application, we describe the birational geometry of the Kontsevich spaces parametrizing conics in Lagrangian Grassmannians.
Some projective wonderful models for the complement of a toric arrangement in a n-dimensional algebraic torus T were constructed in [3]. In this paper we describe their integer cohomology rings by generators and relations.
These lecture notes are based on lectures given by the author at the summer school "Arrangements in Pyrénées" in June 2012. We survey and compare various compactifications of complex hyperplane arrangement complements. In particular, we review the Gel'fand-MacPherson construction, Kapranov's visible contours compactification, and De Concini and Procesi's wonderful compactification. We explain how these constructions are unified by some ideas from the modern origins of tropical geometry. The paper contains a few new arguments intended to make the presentation as self-contained as possible.
Let G be a connected semisimple linear algebraic group over an algebraically closed field k of positive characteristic and let X denote an equivariant embedding of G. We define a distinguished Steinberg fiber N in G, called the zero-fiber, and prove that the closure of N within X is normal and Cohen-Macaulay. Furthermore, when X is smooth we prove that the closure of N is a local complete intersection.
Let $X$ be the wonderful compactification of a complex adjoint symmetric space $G/K$ such that $rk(G/K)=rk(G)-rk(K)$. We show how to extend equivariant vector bundles on $G/K$ to equivariant vector bundles on $X$, generated by their global sections and having trivial higher cohomology groups. This relies on a geometric construction of equivariant vector bundles in the setting of varieties with reductive group action and ``multiplicity-free'' subvarieties.
If G is a complex semisimple algebraic group, we characterize the normality and the smoothness of its simple linear compactifications, namely those equivariant GxG-compactifications which possess a unique closed orbit and which arise in a projective space of the shape P(End(V)), where V is finite dimensional rational G-module. Both the characterizations are purely combinatorial and are expressed in terms of the highest weights of V. In particular, we show that Sp(2r) (with r > 0) is the unique non-adjoint simple group which admits a simple smooth compactification.
Presented is a wonderful compactification of n distinct labeled points in X away from D, where X is a nonsingular variety and D is a nonsingular proper subvariety. When D is empty, it is the Fulton-MacPherson configuration space.
Let G be a connected semisimple group over a non-Archimedean local field. For every faithful, geometrically irreducible linear representation of G we define a compactification of the associated Bruhat-Tits building X(G). This yields a finite family of compactifications of X(G) which contains the polyhedral compactification. Moreover, this family can be regarded as a non-Archimedean analogue of Satake compactifications for symmetric spaces.
Moduli spaces of complete collineations are wonderful compactifications of spaces of linear maps of maximal rank between two fixed vector spaces. We investigate the birational geometry of moduli spaces of complete collineations and quadrics from the point of view of Mori theory. We compute their effective, nef and movable cones, the generators of their Cox rings, and their groups of pseudo-automorphisms. Furthermore, we give a complete description of both the Mori chamber and stable base locus decompositions of the effective cone of the space of complete collineations of the 3-dimensional proj…
Let G be a semisimple affine algebraic group and P a parabolic subgroup of G. We classify all flag varieties G/P which admit an action of the commutative unipotent group G_a^n with an open orbit.
We construct wonderful compactifications of the spaces of linear maps, and symmetric linear maps of a given rank as blow-ups of secant varieties of Segre and Veronese varieties. Furthermore, we investigate their birational geometry and their relations with some spaces of degree two stable maps.
Let $\overline G$ be the wonderful compactification of a simple affine algebraic group $G$ defined over $\mathbb C$ such that its center is trivial and $G\not= {\rm PSL}(2,\mathbb{C})$. Take a maximal torus $T \subset G$, and denote by $\overline T$ its closure in $\overline G$. We prove that $T$ coincides with the connected component, containing the identity element, of the group of automorphisms of the variety $\overline T$.