We study the enumerative geometry of the moduli space R_g of Prym varieties of dimension g-1 (also known as the space of admissible double covers). Our main result is that the compactification of R_g is of general type as soon as g>13. We achieve this by computing the class of two types of cycles on R_g: one defined in terms of Koszul cohomology of Prym curves, the other defined in terms of Raynaud theta divisors associated to certain vector bundles on curves. We formulate a Prym-Green conjecture on syzygies of Prym-canonical curves. In the appendix we show that even though R_g has non-canonical singularities, pluricanonical forms on R_g extend to any desingularization.
We present a Prym construction which associates abelian varieties to vertex-transitive strongly regular graphs. As an application we construct Prym-Tyurin varieties of arbitrary exponent $\geq 3$, generalizing a result by Lange, Recillas and Rochas.
Our main theorem is an improvement of the Criterion of Kanev about Prym-Tyurin varieties induced by correspondences, which includes correspondences with fixed points. We give some examples of Prym--Tyurin varieties using this criterion.
We give upper and lower bounds for the number of rational points on Prym varieties over finite fields. Moreover, we determine the exact maximum and minimum number of rational points on Prym varieties of dimension 2.
We investigate a family of correspondences associated to étale coverings of degree 3 of hyperelliptic curves. They lead to Prym-Tyurin varieties of exponent 3. We identify these varieties and derive some consequences.
We prove the generic injectivity of the Prym map, sending a double covering of an elliptic curve ramified at r>4 points to its polarized Prym variety. For r=6 the map is birational.
In this paper, using a generalization of the notion of Prym variety for covers of quasi-projective varieties, we prove a structure theorem for the Mordell-Weil group of the abelian varieties over function fields that are twists of Abelian varieties by Galois covers of irreducible quasi-projective varieties. In particular, the resutls we obtain contribute in the construction of Jacobians (of covers of the projective line) of high rank.
We show that the Prym variety associated to a triple covering f: Y --> X of curves is principally polarized of dimension > 1, if and only if f is non-cyclic, etale and X is of genus 2. We investigate some properties of these Prym varieties and their moduli.
We prove an extension of the Babbage-Enriques-Petri theorem for semi-canonical curves. We apply this to show that the Prym variety of a generic element of a codimension $k$ subvariety of $\mathcal{R}_{g}$ is not isogenous to another distinct Prym variety, under some mild assumption on $k$.
This article proposes a generalization of tautological rings introduced by Beauville and Moonen for Jacobians. The main result is that, under certain hypotheses, the special subvarieties of Prym varieties are algebraically equivalent and their classes belong to the tautological ring.
The Prym map of type (g,n,r) associates to every cyclic covering of degree n of a curve of genus g, ramified at a reduced divisor of degree r, the corresponding Prym variety. We show that the corresponding map of moduli spaces is generically finite in most cases. From this we deduce the dimension of the image of the Prym map.
We study the birationality (onto its image) of the Abel-Prym morphism associated with a Prym-Tuyrin variety. We use such result to prove that Picard bundles over Prym varieties are simple and moreover they are stable when the Abel-Prym morphism is not birational. As a consequence we obtain that Picard bundles over moduli spaces of stable vector bundles with fixed determinant are simple. We prove that Picard bundles over moduli spaces of rank 2 vector bundles on curves of genus 2 bundles are stable.
We discuss the geometry of the moduli space of Prym varieties. The article is based on series of lectures given in Bedlewo and Luminy. The first section of the paper contains a detailed historical account of the lives of Friedrich Prym and Friedrich Schottky.
To any pair of coverings $f_i: X \ra X_i, i = 1,2$ of smooth projective curves one can associate an abelian subvariety of the Jacobian $J_X$, the Prym variety $P(f_1,f_2)$ of the pair $(f_1,f_2)$. In some cases we can compute the type of the restriction of the canonical principal polarization of $JX$. We obtain 2 families of Prym-Tyurin varieties of exponent 6.
We describe the isotypical decomposition of the Jacobian variety JW of the Galois extension W-->T of any fourfold cover of smooth connected irreducible projective complex curves X-->T, in terms of Prym's of intermediate covers. We also compute the degree of the isogenies involved and as a result we obtain new proofs of the bigonal and trigonal constructions. Furthermore, we give examples of families of Jacobians isogenous to a product of Jacobians and of families of Prym varieties isogenous to the product of elliptic curves.
Given the Prym variety of an étale double cover one can define analogues of the classical Brill-Noether loci on Jacobians of curves. Recent work by Lahoz and Naranjo shows that the Brill-Noether locus $V^2$ completely determines the covering. In this paper we describe the singular locus and the irreducible components of $V^2$.
We construct a relative Chow-Kunneth decomposition for a conic bundle over a surface such that the middle projector gives the Prym variety of the associated double covering of the discriminant of the conic bundle. This gives a refinement (up to an isogeny) of Beauville's theorem on the relation between the intermediate Jacobian of the conic bundle and the Prym variety of the double covering.
Under the condition that the Prym map is injective in characteristic $p$, we prove that the special subvarieties in the moduli space of abelian varieties of dimension $l$ and polarization type $D$, $A_{l,D}$, arising from families of abelian covers of $¶^1$ are of a very restrictive nature. In other words, if the family is one-dimensional or if it contains an eigenspace of certain type for the group action on the cohomology of fibers, then the Shimura varieties arising from such families can only be constructed by the group action of the family.
We describe certain Lagrangian fibrations by Prym varieties on holomorphic symplectic varieties that deform to compactifications of Sp-Hitchin systems.
The aim of the paper is twofold. First, some results of Shiota and Plaza-Martin on Prym varieties of curves with an involution are generalized to the general case of an arbitrary automorphism of prime order. Second, the equations defining the moduli space of curves with an automorphism of prime order as a subscheme of the Sato Grassmannian are given.
Let $(C,ι)$ be a stable curve with an involution. Following a classical construction one can define its Prym variety $P$, which in this case turns out to be a semiabelian group variety and usually not complete. In this paper we study the question whether there are ``good'' compactifications of $P$ in analogy to compactified Jacobians. The answer to this question depends on whether we consider degenerations of principally polarized Prym varieties or degenerations with the induced (non-principal) polarization. We describe degeneration data of such degenerations. The main application of our theor…
In this paper we prove that the Prym map, from the space of double coverings of a curve of genus g with r branch points to the moduli space of abelian varieties, is generically injective if r>6 and g>1, r=6 and g>2, r=4 and g>4, r=2 and g>5. We also show that a very generic Prym variety of dimension at least 4 is not isogenous to a Jacobian.
Given Prym-Tyurin varieties of exponent $q$ with respect to a finite group $G$, a subgroup $H$ and a set of rational irreducible representations of $G$ satisfying some additional properties, we construct a Prym-Tyurin variety of exponent $[G:H]q$ in a natural way. We study an example of this result, starting from the dihedral group $\mathbf{D}_p$ for any odd prime $p$. This generalizes the construction of arXiv:math/0412103v2[math.AG] for $p=3$. Finally, we compute the isogeny decomposition of the Jacobian of the curve underlying the above mentioned example.
Let $X_1, ..., X_m$ denote smooth projective curves of genus $g_i \geq 2$ over an algebraically closed field of characteristic 0 and let $n$ denote any integer at least equal to $1+\max_{i=1}^m g_i$. We show that the product $JX_1 \times ... \times JX_m$ of the corresponding Jacobian varieties admits the structure of a Prym-Tyurin variety of exponent $n^{m-1}$. This exponent is considerably smaller than the exponent of the structure of a Prym-Tyurin variety known to exist for an arbitrary principally polarized abelian variety. Moreover it is given by explicit correspondences.
It is well known that the Prym variety of an étale cyclic covering of a hyperelliptic curve is isogenous to the product of two Jacobians. Moreover, if the degree of the covering is odd or congruent to 2 mod 4, then the canonical isogeny is an isomorphism. We compute the degree of this isogeny in the remaining cases and show that only in the case of coverings of degree 4 it is an isomorphism.
We prove that the Jacobian of a general curve C of genus g=2a+1, with g>4, can be realized as a Prym-Tyurin variety for the Brill-Noether curve W^1_{a+2}(C). As a consequence of this result we are able to compute the class of the sum of the secant divisors for the curve C, embedded with a complete linear series g^{a-1}_{3a-2}
Let p:C' -> C be an unramified double covering of irreducible smooth curves and let P be the attached Prym variety. We prove the schematic theta-dual equalities in the Prym variety T(C')=V^2 and T(V^2)=C', where V^2 is the Brill-Noether locus of P associated to p considered by Welters. As an application we prove a Torelli Theorem analogous to the fact that the g-th symmetric product of a curve D of genus g determines the curve.
We construct pointed Prym-Brill-Noether varieties parametrizing line bundles assigned to an irreducible étale double covering of a curve with a prescribed minimal vanishing at a fixed point. We realize them as degeneracy loci in type D and deduce their classes in case of expected dimension. Thus, we determine a pointed Prym-Petri map and prove a pointed version of the Prym-Petri theorem implying that the expected dimension holds in the general case. These results build on work of Welters and De Concini-Pragacz on the unpointed case. Finally, we show that Prym varieties are Prym-Tyurin varietie…
Let $π: Z \ra X$ be a Galois covering of smooth projective curves with Galois group the Weyl group of a simple and simply-connected Lie group $G$. For any dominant weight $λ$ consider the curve $Y = Z/\Stab(λ)$. The Kanev correspondence defines an abelian subvariety $P_λ$ of the Jacobian of $Y$. We compute the type of the polarization of the restriction of the canonical principal polarization of $\Jac(Y)$ to $P_λ$ in some cases. In particular, in the case of the group $E_8$ we obtain families of Prym-Tyurin varieties. The main idea is the use of an abelianization map of the Donagi-Prym variety…
Let $P \cup P'$ be the two component Prym variety associated to an étale double cover $\tilde{C} \to C$ of a non-hyperelliptic curve of genus $g \geq 6$ and let $|2Ξ_0|$ and $|2Ξ_0'|$ be the linear systems of second order theta divisors on $P$ and $P'$ respectively. The component $P'$ contains canonically the Prym curve $\tilde{C}$. We show that the base locus of the subseries of divisors containing $\tilde{C} \subset P'$ is scheme-theoretically the curve $\tilde{C}$. We also prove canonical isomorphisms between some subseries of $|2Ξ_0|$ and $|2Ξ_0'|$ and some subseries of second order theta …
Given a tame Galois branched cover of curves pi: X -> Y with any finite Galois group G whose representations are rational, we compute the dimension of the (generalized) Prym variety corresponding to any irreducible representation ρof G. This formula can be applied to the study of algebraic integrable systems using Lax pairs, in particular systems associated with Seiberg-Witten theory. However, the formula is much more general and its computation and proof are entirely algebraic.
Let $k$ be a field of characteristic zero containing a primitive $n$-th root of unity. Let $C^0_n$ be a singular plane curve of degree $n$ over $k$ admitting an order $n$ automorphism, $n$ nodes as the singularities, and $C_n$ be its normalization. In this paper we study the factors of Prym variety $\mbox{Prym}(\widetilde{C}_n/C_n)$ associated to the double cover $\widetilde{C}_n$ of $C_n$ exactly ramified at the points obtained by the blow-up of the singularities. We provide explicit models of some algebraic curves related to the construction of $\mbox{Prym}(\widetilde{C}_n/C_n)$ as a Prym va…
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.
Let $G$ denote a finite group and $π: Z \to Y$ a Galois covering of smooth projective curves with Galois group $G$. For every subgroup $H$ of $G$ there is a canonical action of the corresponding Hecke algebra $\mathbb{Q}[H \backslash G/H]$ on the Jacobian of the curve $X = Z/H$. To each rational irreducible representation $\mathcal{W}$ of $G$ we associate an idempotent in the Hecke algebra, which induces a correspondence of the curve $X$ and thus an abelian subvariety $P$ of the Jacobian $JX$. We give sufficient conditions on $\mathcal{W}$, $H$, and the action of $G$ on $Z$, which imply $P$ to…
In this paper we construct Shimura subvarieties of dimension bigger than one of the moduli space of polarised abelian varieties of a given dimension, which are generically contained in the Pym loci of (ramified) double covers. The idea is to adapt the techniques already used to construct Shimura curves in the Prym loci to the higher dimensional case, namely to use families of Galois covers of the projective line. The case of abelian covers is treated in detail, since in this case it is possible to make explicit computations that allow to verify a sufficient condition for such a family to yield…
We construct two pencils of bielliptic curves of genus three and genus five. The first pencil is associated with a general abelian surface with a polarization of type $(1,2)$. The second pencil is related to the first by an unramified double cover, the Prym variety of which is canonically isomorphic to the Jacobian of a very general curve of genus two. Our results are obtained by analyzing suitable elliptic fibrations on the associated Kummer surfaces and rational double covers among them.
Given a possibly reducible and non-reduced spectral cover X over a smooth projective complex curve C we determine the group of connected components of the Prym variety Prym(X/C). As an immediate application we show that the finite group of n-torsion points of the Jacobian of C acts trivially on the cohomology of the twisted SL_n-Higgs moduli space up to the degree which is predicted by topological mirror symmetry. In particular this yields a new proof of a result of Harder--Narasimhan, showing that this finite group acts trivially on the cohomology of the twisted SL_n stable bundle moduli spac…
For the Jacobian of a curve, the Riemann singularity theorem gives a geometric interpretation of the singularities of the theta divisor in terms of special linear series on the curve. This paper proves an analogous theorem for Prym varieties. Applications of this theorem to cubic threefolds, and Prym varieties of dimension five, are also considered.
We study the Prym varieties arising from étale cyclic coverings of degree 7 over a curve of genus 2. These Prym varieties are products of Jacobians JY x JY of genus 3 curves Y with polarization type D=(1,1,1,1,1,7). We describe the fibers of the Prym map between the moduli space of such coverings and the moduli space of abelian sixfolds with polarization type D, admitting an automorphism of order 7.
Let p:C-->Y be a covering of smooth, projective curves which is a composition of π:C-->C' of degree 2 and g:C'-->Y of degree n. Let f:X-->Y be the covering of degree 2^n, where the curve X parametrizes the liftings in C^{(n)} of the fibers of g:C'-->Y. Let P(X,δ) be the associated Prym-Tyurin variety, known to be isogenous to the Prym variety P(C,C'). Most of the results in the paper focus on calculating the polarization type of the restriction of the canonical polarization of JX on P(X,δ). We obtain the polarization type when n=3. When Y=P^1 we conjecture that P(X,δ) is isomorphic to the dual…
We prove that Prym varieties are characterized geometrically by the existence of a symmetric pair of quadrisecant planes of the associated Kummer variety. We also show that Prym varieties are characterized by certain (new) theta-functional equations. For this purpose we construct and study a difference-differential analog of the Novikov-Veselov hierarchy.
The main purpose of this paper is to present a conceptual approach to understanding the extension of the Prym map from the space of admissible double covers of stable curves to different toroidal compactifications of the moduli space of principally polarized abelian varieties. By separating the combinatorial problems from the geometric aspects we can reduce this to the computation of certain monodromy cones. In this way we not only shed new light on the extension results of Alexeev, Birkenhake, Hulek, and Vologodsky for the second Voronoi toroidal compactification, but we also apply this to ot…
