We show that the coarse moduli space $\cR_5$ of étale double covers of curves of genus~5 over the complex numbers is unirational. We give two slightly different arguments, one purely geometric and the other more computational.
Using the connection discovered by Hassett between the Noether-Lefschetz moduli space of special cubic fourfolds of discriminant 42 and the moduli space F_{22} of polarized K3 surfaces of genus 22, we show that the universal K3 surface over F_{22} is unirational.
We provide methods to construct explicit examples of $K3$ surfaces. This leads to unirational constructions of Noether--Lefschetz divisors inside the moduli space of $K3$ surfaces of genus $g$. We implement Mukai's unirationality construction of the moduli spaces of $K3$ surfaces of genus $g\in\{6,\dots, 10, 12\}$, and we also present a new constructive proof of the unirationality of the moduli space of $K3$ surfaces of genus $11$. Furthermore, we show the existence of three unirational hypersurfaces in any moduli space of $K3$ surfaces of genus $g$.
In this short note we prove the unirationality of Hurwitz spaces of 6-gonal curves of genus $g$ with $5\leq g\leq 28$ or $g=30,31,33,35,36,40,45$. Key ingredient is a liaison construction in $\PP^1 \times \PP^2$. By semicontinuity, the proof of the dominance of this construction is reduced to a computation of a single curve over a finite field.
We show that the strata $ \mathcal{M}_{11,6}(k) \subset \mathcal{M}_{11} $ of $ 6-$gonal curves of genus $ 11 $, equipped with $k$ mutually independent and type I pencils of degree six, have a unirational irreducible component for $5\leq k\leq 9$. The unirational families arise from degree $ 9 $ plane curves with $ 4 $ ordinary triple and $ 5 $ ordinary double points that dominate an irreducible component of expected dimension. We will further show that the family of degree $ 8 $ plane curves with $ 10 $ ordinary double points covers an irreducible component of excess dimension in $ \mathcal{M…
In this paper we prove that the Hurwitz space H_{9,8}, which parameterizes 8-sheeted covers of P^1 by curves of genus 9, is unirational. Our construction leads to an explicit Macaulay2 code, which will randomly produce a nodal curve of degree 8 of geometric genus 9 with 12 double points and together with a pencil of degree 8.
We show that $\mathcal{M}_{g,n}$, the moduli space of smooth curves of genus $g$ together with $n$ marked points, is unirational for $g=12$ and $2 \leq n\leq 4$ and for $g=13$ and $1 \leq n \leq 3$, by constructing suitable dominant families of projective curves in $\mathbb{P}^1 \times \mathbb{P}^2$ and $\mathbb{P}^3$ respectively. We also exhibit several new unirationality results for moduli spaces of smooth curves of genus $g$ together with $n$ unordered points, establishing their unirationality for $g=11, n=7$ and $g=12, n =5,6$.
We illustrate the use of the computer algebra system Macaulay2 for simplifications of classical unirationality proofs. We explicitly treat the moduli spaces of curves of genus g=10, 12 and 14.
We prove that the moduli space of polarized $K3$ surfaces of genus eleven with $n$ marked points is unirational when $n\leq 6$ and uniruled when $n\leq7$. As a consequence, we settle a long standing but not proved assertion about the unirationality of $\cal{M}_{11,n}$ for $n\leq6$. We also prove that the moduli space of polarized $K3$ surfaces of genus eleven with $9$ marked points has non-negative Kodaira dimension.
We combine the idea of Chang and Ran [Invent. Math. 76 (1984), 41-54] of using monads of vector bundles on the projective 3-space to prove the unirationality of the moduli spaces of curves of low genus with our classification of globally generated vector bundles with small first Chern class $c_1$ on the projective 3-space to get an alternative argument for the unirationality of the moduli spaces of curves of degree at most 13 (based on the general framework of Chang and Ran).
In this note we look at the moduli space $\cR_{3,2}$ of double covers of genus three curves, branched along 4 distinct points. This space was studied by Bardelli, Ciliberto and Verra. It admits a dominating morphism $\cR_{3,2} \to {\mathcal A}_4$ to Siegel space. We show that there is a birational model of $\cR_{3,2}$ as a group quotient of a product of two Grassmannian varieties. This gives a proof of the unirationality of $\cR_{3,2}$ and hence a new proof for the unirationality of ${\mathcal A}_4$.
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.
Let $Y$ be a smooth, projective curve of genus $g\geq 1$ over the complex numbers. Let $H^0_{d,A}(Y)$ be the Hurwitz space which parametrizes coverings $p:X \to Y$ of degree $d$, simply branched in $n=2e$ points, with monodromy group equal to $S_d$, and $det(p_{*}O_X/O_Y)$ isomorphic to a fixed line bundle $A^{-1}$ of degree $-e$. We prove that, when $d=3, 4$ or $5$ and $n$ is sufficiently large (precise bounds are given), these Hurwitz spaces are unirational. If in addition $(e,2)=1$ (when $d=3$), $(e,6)=1$ (when $d=4$) and $(e,10)=1$ (when $d=5$), then these Hurwitz spaces are rational.
In this note, we explain how certain matrix factorizations on cubic threefolds lead to families of curves of genus 15 and degree 16 in P^4. We prove that the moduli space M={(C,L) | C a curve of genus 15, L a line bundle on C of degree 16 with 5 sections} is birational to a certain space of matrix factorizations of cubics, and that M is uniruled. Our attempt to prove the unirationality of this space failed with our methods. Instead one can interpret our findings as evidence for the conjecture that the basis of the maximal rational connected fibration of M has a three dimensional base.
We present a structure theorem for the moduli space R_7 of Prym curves of genus 7 as a projective bundle over the moduli space of 7-nodal rational curves. The existence of this parametrization implies the unirationality of R_7 and that of the moduli space of Nikulin surfaces of genus 7, as well as the rationality of the moduli space of Nikulin surfaces of genus 7 with a distinguished line. Using the results in genus 7, we then establish that R_8 is uniruled.
In the present paper we consider fibrations $f: S \ra B$ of an algebraic surface onto a curve $B$, with general fibre a curve of genus $g$. Our main results are: 1) A structure theorem for such fibrations in the case $g=2$ 2) A structure theorem for such fibrations in the case $g=3$ and general fibre nonhyperelliptic 3) A theorem giving a complete description of the moduli space of minimal surfaces of general type with $ K^2_S = 3, p_g = q=1$, showing in particular that it has four unirational connected components 4) some other applications of the two structure theorems.
Let $C$ be a curve in $\mathbb{P}^4$ and $X$ be a hypersurface containing it. We show how it is possible to construct a matrix factorization on $X$ from the pair $(C,X)$ and, conversely, how a matrix factorization on $X$ leads to curves lying on $X$. We use this correspondence to prove the unirationality of the Hurwitz space $\mathcal{H}_{12,8}$ and the uniruledness of the Brill-Noether space $\mathcal{W}^1_{13,9}$. Several unirational families of curves of genus $16 \leq g \leq 20$ in $\mathbb{P}^4$ are also exhibited.
Let $M_{g, n}$ (respectively, $\overline{M_{g, n}}$) be the moduli space of smooth (respectively stable) curves of genus $g$ with $n$ marked points. Over the field of complex numbers, it is a classical problem in algebraic geometry to determine whether or not $M_{g, n}$ (or equivalently, $\overline{M_{g, n}}$) is a rational variety. Theorems of J. Harris, D. Mumford, D. Eisenbud and G. Farkas assert that $M_{g, n}$ is not unirational for any $n \geqslant 0$ if $g \geqslant 22$. Moreover, P. Belorousski and A. Logan showed that $M_{g, n}$ is unirational for only finitely many pairs $(g, n)$ wit…
We prove that the moduli space ${\Cal M}_{g,n}$ of smooth curves of genus $g$ with $n$ marked points is rational for $g=6$ and $1 \le n \le 8$, and it is unirational for $g=8$ and $1 \le n \le 11$, $g=10$ and $1 \le n \le 3$, $g=12$ and $n = 1$.
We describe a method to show that certain elliptic surfaces do not admit purely inseparable multisections (equivalently, that genus one curves over function fields admit no points over the perfect closure of the base field) and use it to show that any non-Jacobian elliptic structure on a very general supersingular K3 surface has no purely inseparable multisections. We also describe specific examples of such fibrations without purely inseparable multisections. Finally, we discuss the consequences for the claimed proof of the Artin conjecture on unirationality of supersingular K3 surfaces.
Let U be an open subset of a unirational variety. We prove that there is rational curve C in U such that the fundamental group of C surjects onto the fundamental group of U. As a consequence we obtain new proofs of the theorems of Harbater and Colliot-Thélène on Galois covers and torsors over the p-adic line. We also obtain examples of pencils of curves of genus <14 whose monodromy group is the full Teichmüller group.
We prove that the locus of Prym curves $(C,η)$ of genus $g \geq 5$ for which the Prym-canonical system $|ω_C(η)|$ is base point free but the Prym--canonical map is not an embedding is irreducible and unirational of dimension $2g+1$.
Let $X$ be an irreducible smooth complex projective curve of genus at least two. Let $N$ be a connected component of the moduli space of semistable principal ${\rm PGL}_r({\mathbb C})$- bundles over $X$; it is a normal unirational complex projective variety. We prove that the Brauer group of a desingularization of $N$ is trivial.
We discuss the Picard group of moduli space $\mathcal{K}_g$ of quasi-polarized K3 surfaces of genus $g\leq 12$ and $g\neq 11$. In this range, $\mathcal{K}_g$ is unirational and a general element in $\mathcal{K}_g$ is a complete intersection with respect to a vector bundle on a homogenous space, by the work of Mukai. In this paper, we find generators of the Picard group $Pic_\mathbb{Q}(\mathcal{K}_g)$ using Noether-Lefschetz theory. This verifies the Noether-Lefschetz conjecture on moduli of K3 surfaces in these cases.
In this paper we study the minimal surfaces of general type with $p_g=q=1$ and $K^2=4$ whose Albanese general fibre has genus 2, classifying those such that the direct image (under the Albanese morphism) of the bicanonical sheaf is sum of line bundles. We find 8 unirational families, all of dimension strictly bigger than the expected one. These families are pairwise disjoint irreducible components of the moduli space of minimal surfaces of general type.
We discuss topics on the geometry of the moduli space of curves. We present a short proof of the Harris-Mumford theorem on the Kodaira dimension of the moduli space which replaces the computations on the stack of admissible covers by a simple study of tautological Koszul bundles on M_g. We also present a streamlined self-contained account of Verra's recent work on the unirationality of M_g. Finally, we discuss a proof that the moduli space of curves of genus 22 is of general type. Written for Surveys in Differential Geometry.
We study parameter spaces of linear series on projective curves in the presence of unibranch singularities, i.e. {\it cusps}; and to do so, we stratify cusps according to value semigroup. We show that {\it generalized Severi varieties} of maps $\mathbb{P}^1 \rightarrow \mathbb{P}^n$ with images of fixed degree and arithmetic genus are often {\it reducible} whenever $n \geq 3$. We also prove that the Severi variety of degree-$d$ maps with a hyperelliptic cusp of delta-invariant $g \ll d$ is of codimension at least $(n-1)g$ inside the space of degree-$d$ holomorphic maps $\mathbb{P}^1 \rightarro…