Consider genus g curves that admit degree d covers to an elliptic curve simply branched at 2g-2 points. Vary a branch point and the locus of such covers forms a one-parameter family W. We investigate the geometry of W by using admissible covers to study its slope, genus and components. The results can also be applied to study slopes of effective divisors on the moduli space of genus g curves.
We compute the asymptotics of the number of connected branched coverings of a torus as their degree goes to infinity and the ramification type stays fixed. These numbers are equal to the volumes of the moduli spaces of pairs (curve, holomorphic differential) with fixed multiplicities of zeros of the differential and have several applications in ergodic theory.
We introduce the concept of a branched holomorphic Cartan geometry. It generalizes to higher dimension the definition of branched (flat) complex projective structure on a Riemann surface introduced by Mandelbaum. This new framework is much more flexible than that of the usual holomorphic Cartan geometries. We show that all compact complex projective manifolds admit branched flat holomorphic projective structure. We also give an example of a non-flat branched holomorphic normal projective structure on a compact complex surface. It is known that no compact complex surface admits such a structure…
Graber, Harris and Starr proved, when n >= 2d, the irreducibility of the Hurwitz space H^0_{d,n}(Y) which parametrizes degree d coverings of a smooth, projective curve Y of positive genus, simply branched in n points, with full monodromy group S_d (math.AG/0205056). We sharpen this result and prove that H^0_{d,n}(Y) is irreducible if n >= max{2,2d-4} and in the case of elliptic Y if n >= max{2,2d-6}. We extend the result to coverings simply branched in all but one point of the discriminant. Fixing the ramification multiplicities over the special point we prove that the corresponding Hurwitz sp…
The computation of the field of moduli of a closed Riemann surface seems to be a very difficult problem and even more difficult is to determine if the field of moduli is a field of definition. In this paper we consider the family of closed Riemann surfaces of genus five admitting a group of conformal automorphisms isomorphic to ${\mathbb Z}_{2}^{4}$. These surfaces are non-hyperelliptic ones and turn out to be the highest branched abelian covers of the orbifolds of genus zero and five cone points of order two. We compute the field of moduli of these surfaces and we prove that they are fields o…
Let $\mathcal{M}_{n,2n+2}$ be the coarse moduli space of CY manifolds arising from a crepant resolution of double covers of $\mathbb{P}^n$ branched along $2n+2$ hyperplanes in general position. We show that the monodromy group of a good family for $\mathcal{M}_{n,2n+2}$ is Zariski dense in the corresponding symplectic or orthogonal group if $n\geq 3$. In particular, the period map does not give a uniformization of any partial compactification of the coarse moduli space as a Shimura variety whenever $n\geq 3$. This disproves a conjecture of Dolgachev. As a consequence, the fundamental group of …
For any non-simply laced Lie group $G$ and elliptic curve $Σ$, we show that the moduli space of flat $G$ bundles over $Σ$ can be identified with the moduli space of rational surfaces with $G$-configurations which contain $Σ$ as an anti-canonical curve. We also construct $Lie(G)$-bundles over these surfaces. The corresponding results for simply laced groups were obtained by the authors in another paper. Thus we have established a natural identification for these two kinds of moduli spaces for any Lie group $G$.
We describe a period map for those simply connected Enriques surfaces in characteristic 2 whose canonical double cover is K3. The moduli stack for these surfaces has a Deligne-Mumford quotient that is an open substack of a $\mathbb P^1$-bundle over the period space. We also give some general results relating local and global moduli for algebraic varieties and describe the difference in their dimensions in terms of the failure of the automorphism group scheme to be reduced.
In this paper I explore the structure of the fields of definition of Galois branched covers of the projective line over \bar Q. The first main result states that every mere cover model has a unique minimal field of definition where its automorphisms are defined, and goes on to describe special properties of this field. One corollary of this result is that for every G-Galois branched cover there is a field of definition which is Galois over its field of moduli, with Galois group a subgroup of Aut(G). The second main theorem states that the field resulting by adjoining to the field of moduli all…
It is well-known that del Pezzo surfaces of degree $9-n$ one-to-one correspond to flat $E_n$ bundles over an elliptic curve. In this paper, we construct $ADE$ bundles over a broader class of rational surfaces which we call $ADE$ surfaces, and extend the above correspondence to all flat $G$ bundles over an elliptic curve, where $G$ is any simply laced, simple, compact and simply-connected Lie group. In the sequel, we will construct $G$ bundles for non-simply laced Lie group $G$ over these rational surfaces, and extend the above correspondence to non-simply laced cases.
We study branched covering spaces in several contexts, proving that under suitable circumstances the cover satisfies the same upper curvature bounds as the base space. The first context is of a branched cover of an arbitrary metric space that satisfies Alexandrov's curvature condition CAT(k), over an arbitrary complete convex subset. The second context is of a certain sort of branched cover of a Riemannian manifold over a family of mutually orthogonal submanifolds. In neither setting do we require that the branching be locally finite. We apply our results to hyperplane complements in several c…
We study branched covers of curves with specified ramification points, under a notion of equivalence derived from linear series. In characteristic 0, no non-constant families of covers with fixed ramification points exist. In positive characteristic we formulate a necessary and sufficient condition for the existence of such a family. We unconditionally prove one direction of this conjecture, and by studying infinitesimal deformations show the other direction in characteristic 2 and 3.
We consider the moduli space of flat G-bundles over the twodimensional torus, where G is a real, compact, simple Lie group which is not simply connected. We show that the connected components that describe topologically non-trivial bundles are isomorphic as symplectic spaces to moduli spaces of topologically trivial bundles with a different structure group. Some physical applications of this isomorphism which allows to trade topological non-triviality for a change of the gauge group are sketched.
We use algebraic methods to compute the simple Hurwitz numbers for arbitrary source and target Riemann surfaces. For an elliptic curve target, we reproduce the results previously obtained by string theorists. Motivated by the Gromov-Witten potentials, we find a general generating function for the simple Hurwitz numbers in terms of the representation theory of the symmetric group S_n. We also find a generating function for Hodge integrals on the moduli space M_{g,2} of Riemann surfaces with two marked points, similar to that found by Faber and Pandharipande for the case of one marked point.
We define the dimension 2g-1 Faber-Hurwitz Chow/homology classes on the moduli space of curves, parametrizing curves expressible as branched covers of P^1 with given ramification over infinity and sufficiently many fixed ramification points elsewhere. Degeneration of the target and judicious localization expresses such classes in terms of localization trees weighted by ``top intersections'' of tautological classes and genus 0 double Hurwitz numbers. This identity of generating series can be inverted, yielding a ``combinatorialization'' of top intersections of psi-classes. As genus 0 double Hur…
Given a degree one del Pezzo surface with canonical singularities, the linear series generated by twice the anti-canonical divisor exhibits the surface as the double cover of the quadric cone branched along a sextic curve. It is natural to ask if this description extends to the boundary of a compactification of the moduli space of degree one del Pezzo surfaces. The goal of this paper is to show that this is indeed the case. In particular, we give an explicit classification of the boundary of the moduli space of anti-canonically polarized broken del Pezzo surfaces of degree one as double covers…
Double planes branched in 6 lines give a famous example of K3 surfaces. Their moduli are well understood and related to abelian fourfolds of Weil type. We compare these two moduli interpretations and in particular divisors on the moduli spaces. On the K3 side, this is achieved with the help of elliptic fibrations. We also study the Kuga-Satake correspondence on these special divisors.
Let SU_X(3) be the moduli space of semi-stable vector bundles of rank 3 and trivial determinant on a curve X of genus 2. It maps onto P^8 and the map is a double cover branched over a sextic hypersurface called the Coble sextic. In the dual P^8 there is a unique cubic hypersurface, the Coble cubic, singular exactly along the abelian surface of degree 1 line bundles on X. We give a new proof that these two hypersurfaces are dual. As an immediate corollary, we derive a Torelli-type result.
We prove that the Eynard-Orantin symplectic invariants of the curve xy-y^2=1 are the orbifold Euler characteristics of the moduli spaces of genus g curves. We do this by associating to the Eynard-Orantin invariants of xy-y^2=1 a problem of enumerating covers of the two-sphere branched over three points. This viewpoint produces new recursion relations---string and dilaton equations---between the quasi-polynomials that enumerate such covers.
We consider components of Hurwitz moduli space of G-Galois covers and set up a powerful algebraic framework to study the set of corresponding equivalence classes of monodromy maps. Within that we study geometric stabilisation by various G-covers branched over the disc. Our results addresses the problem to decide equivalence and stable equivalence algebraically. We recover a homological invariant, which we show to distinguish the equivalence classes of given boundary monodromy and Nielsen type, if the latter is sufficiently large in the appropriate sense.
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 show the existence of a Chow--Kuenneth decomposition for the moduli stack of stable curves of genus g with r marked points, for low values of g,r. We also look at the moduli space R of double covers of genus 3 curves, branched along 4 distinct points. We obtain a birational model of the moduli space R as a group quotient of a product of two Grassmanian varieties. This provides a Chow-Kuenneth decomposition over an open subset of R. The question of rationality of R is also discussed.
The goal of this article is to motivate and describe how Gromov-Witten theory can and has provided tools to understand the moduli space of curves. For example, ideas and methods from Gromov-Witten theory have led to both conjectures and theorems showing that the tautological part of the cohomology ring has a remarkable and profound structure. As an illustration, we describe a new approach to Faber's intersection number conjecture via branched covers of the projective line (work with I.P. Goulden and D.M. Jackson, based on work with T. Graber). En route we review the work of a large number of m…
Consider the 1-dimensional Hurwitz space parameterizing covers of P^1 branched at four points. We study its intersection with divisor classes on the moduli space of curves. As an application, we calculate the slope of the Teichmuller curve parameterizing square-tiled cyclic covers and recover the sum of its Lyapunov exponents obtained by Forni, Matheus and Zorich. Motivated by the work of Eskin, Kontsevich and Zorich, we exhibit a relation among the slope of Hurwitz spaces, the sum of Lyapunov exponents and the Siegel-Veech constant for the moduli space of quadratic differentials.
We describe a compactification by KSBA stable pairs of the five-dimensional moduli space of K3 surfaces with purely non-symplectic automorphism of order four and $U(2)\oplus D_4^{\oplus2}$ lattice polarization. These K3 surfaces can be realized as the minimal resolution of the double cover of $\mathbb{P}^1\times\mathbb{P}^1$ branched along a specific $(4,4)$ curve. We show that, up to a finite group action, this stable pair compactification is isomorphic to Kirwan's partial desingularization of the GIT quotient $(\mathbb{P}^1)^8//\mathrm{SL}_2$ with the symmetric linearization.
An elliptic orbifold is the quotient of an elliptic curve by a finite group. Eskin and Okounkov proved that generating functions for the number of branched covers of an elliptic curve with specified ramification are quasimodular forms for the full modular group $SL_2(\mathbb{Z})$. They later generalized this theorem to the enumeration of branched covers of a pillowcase, i.e. the quotient of an elliptic curve by the elliptic involution, proving quasi-modularity for $Γ_1(2)$. We generalize their work to the quotient of an elliptic curve by cyclic groups of orders $N=3$, $4$, $6$, proving quasi-m…
We prove that the moduli spaces A_3(D) of polarized abelian threefolds with polarizations of types D=(1,1,2), (1,2,2), (1,1,3) or (1,3,3) are unirational. The result is based on the study of families of simple coverings of elliptic curves of degree 2 or 3 and on the study of the corresponding period mappings associated with holomorphic differentials with trace 0. In particular we prove the unirationality of the Hurwitz space H_{3,A}(Y) which parameterizes simply branched triple coverings of an elliptic curve Y with determinants of the Tschirnhausen modules isomorphic to A^{-1}.
We study the curvature of metric spaces and branched covers of Riemannian manifolds, with applications in topology and algebraic geometry. Here curvature bounds are expressed in terms of the CAT(k) inequality. We prove a general CAT(k) extension theorem, giving sufficient conditions on and near the boundary of a locally CAT(k) metric space for the completion to be CAT(k). We use this to prove that a branched cover of a complete Riemannian manifold is locally CAT(k) if and only if all tangent spaces are CAT(0) and the base has sectional curvature bounded above by k. We also show that the branch…
In this note we describe a unique linear embedding of a prime Fano 4-fold F of genus 10 into the Grassmannian G(3,6). We use this to construct some moduli spaces of bundles on linear sections of F. In particular the moduli space of bundles with Mukai vector (3,L,3) on a generic polarized K3 surface (S,L) of genus 10 is constructed as a double cover of the projective plane branched over a smooth sextic.
As a consequence of the Riemann-Roch theorem, a closed Riemann surface $S$ can be described by a non-singular complex projective algebraic curve $C$. A field of definition for $S$ is any subfield $D$ of $\mathbb{C}$ so that we may choose $C$ to be defined by polynomials in $D[x_0, \ldots, x_n]$. The field of moduli of $S$ is ${\mathbb R}$ if and only if $S$ admits an anticonformal automorphism. In the case that the field of moduli of $S$ is ${\mathbb R}$, then $S$ can be defined over the field of moduli if and only if $S$ admits an anticonformal involution. It may happen that the field of modu…
We prove that the moduli space A_3(1,1,4) of polarized abelian threefolds with polarization of type (1,1,4) is unirational. By a result of Birkenhake and Lange this implies the unirationality of the isomorphic moduli space A_3(1,4,4). The result is based on the study the Hurwitz space H_{4,n}(Y) of quadruple coverings of an elliptic curve Y simply branched in n points. We prove the unirationality of its codimension one subvariety H^{0}_{4,A}(Y) which parametrizes quadruple coverings π:X --> Y with Tschirnhausen modules isomorphic to A^{-1}, where A\in Pic^{n/2}Y, and for which π^*:J(Y)--> J(X)…
It is shown that the map from the Jacobian of the spectral curve to the moduli of stable bundles of rank 2 is generically simply branched along an irreducible divisor. This observation falsifies the key step in the "abelianization of the SU(2) WZW connection" presented in a recent paper [Yoshida, Annals 2006]
We describe and solve a double scaling limit of large N Yang-Mills theory on a two-dimensional torus. We find the exact strong-coupling expansion in this limit and describe its relation to the conventional Gross-Taylor series. The limit retains only the chiral sector of the full gauge theory and the coefficients of the expansion determine the asymptotic Hurwitz numbers, in the limit of infinite winding number, for simple branched coverings of a torus. These numbers are computed exactly from the gauge theory vacuum amplitude and shown to coincide with the volumes of the principal moduli spaces …
Light-cone string diagrams have been used to reproduce the orbifold Euler characteristic of moduli spaces of punctured Riemann surfaces at low genus and with few punctures. Nakamura studied the meromorphic differential introduced by Giddings and Wolpert to characterise light-cone diagrams and introduced a class of graphs related to this differential. These Nakamura graphs were used to parametrise the cells in a light-cone cell decomposition of moduli space. We develop links between Nakamura graphs and realisations of the worldsheet as branched covers. This leads to a development of the combina…
Given integers $g \geq 0$, $n \geq 1$, and a vector $w \in (\mathbb{Q} \cap (0, 1])^n$ such that ${2g - 2 + \sum w_i > 0}$, we study the topology of the moduli space $Δ_{g, w}$ of $w$-stable tropical curves of genus $g$ with volume 1. The space $Δ_{g, w}$ is the dual complex of the divisor of singular curves in Hassett's moduli space of $w$-stable genus $g$ curves $\overline{\mathcal{M}}_{g, w}$. When $g \geq 1$, we show that $Δ_{g, w}$ is simply connected for all values of $w$. We also give a formula for the Euler characteristic of $Δ_{g, w}$ in terms of the combinatorics of $w$.
We describe a compactification by stable pairs (also known as KSBA compactification) of the $4$-dimensional family of Enriques surfaces which arise as the $\mathbb{Z}_2^2$-covers of the blow up of $\mathbb{P}^2$ at three general points branched along a configuration of three pairs of lines. Up to a finite group action, we show that this compactification is isomorphic to the toric variety associated to the secondary polytope of the unit cube. We relate the KSBA compactification considered to the Baily-Borel compactification of the same family of Enriques surfaces. Part of the KSBA boundary has …
We show that the base spaces of the semiuniversal unfoldings of some weighted homogeneous singularities can be identified with moduli spaces of $A_\infty$-structures on the trivial extension algebras of the endomorphism algebras of the tilting objects. The same algebras also appear in the Fukaya categories of their mirrors. Based on these identifications, we discuss applications to homological mirror symmetry for Milnor fibers, and give a proof of homological mirror symmetry for an $n$-dimensional affine hypersurface of degree $n + 2$ and the double cover of the $n$-dimensional affine space br…
We study "pure-cycle" Hurwitz spaces, parametrizing covers of the projective line having only one ramified point over each branch point. We start with the case of genus-0 covers, using a combination of limit linear series theory and group theory to show that these spaces are always irreducible. In the case of four branch points, we also compute the associated Hurwitz numbers. Finally, we give a conditional result in the higher-genus case, requiring at least 3g simply branched points. These results have equivalent formulations in group theory, and in this setting complement results of Conway-Fr…
We study Galois covers of the projective line branched at three points with bad reduction to characteristic p, under the condition that p exactly divides the order of the Galois group. As an application of our results, we prove that the field of moduli of such a cover is at most tamely ramified at p.
It is one of the wonderful ``coincidences'' of the theory of finite groups that the simple group G of order 25920 arises as both a symplectic group in characteristic 3 and a unitary group in characteristic 2. These two realizations of G yield two G-covers of the moduli space of configurations of six points on the projective line modulo PGL_2, via the 3- and 2-torsion of the Jacobians of the double and triple cyclic covers of P^1 branched at those six points. Remarkably these two covers are isomorphic. This was proved over C by transcendental methods by Hunt and Weintraub. We give an algebraic …
The following divisors in the space Sym^{12} P^1 of twelve points on P^1 are actually the same: (A) the possible locus of the twelve nodal fibers in a rational elliptic fibration (i.e. a pencil of plane cubic curves); (B) degree 12 binary forms that can be expressed as a cube plus a square; (C) the locus of the twelve tangents to a smooth plane quartic from a general point of the plane; (D) the branch locus of a degree 4 map from a hyperelliptic genus 3 curve to P^1; (E) the branch locus of a degree 3 map from a genus 4 curve to P^1 induced by a theta-characteristic; and several more. The corr…
We give infinite series of groups Gamma and of compact complex surfaces of general type S with fundamental group Gamma such that 1) Any surface S' with the same Euler number as S, and fundamental group Gamma, is diffeomorphic to S. 2) The moduli space of S consists of exactly two connected components, exchanged by complex conjugation. Whence, i) On the one hand we give simple counterexamples to the DEF = DIFF question whether deformation type and diffeomorphism type coincide for algebraic surfaces. ii) On the other hand we get examples of moduli spaces without real points. iii) Another interes…
Let S be a K3 surface. In part I of this paper, we constructed a representation of the group Aut D(S), of auto-equivalences of the derived category of S. We interpreted this infinite dimensional representation, as the natural action of Aut D(S) on the cohomology of all moduli spaces of stable sheaves (with primitive Mukai vectors) on S. The main result, of part I, is the precise relation of this action with the monodromy of the Hilbert schemes S^[n] of points on the surface. The proof of the above result was reduced, in part I, to the case of two monodromy operators of S^[n], associated with c…
We compute the Picard groups with integral coefficients of the Hurwitz stacks parametrizing degree $4$ and $5$ covers of $\mathbb{P}^1$. As a consequence, we also determine the integral Picard groups of the Hurwitz stacks parametrizing simply branched covers. For simple branching, the Picard groups are finite, with order depending on the genus.
Moduli spaces of stably irreducible sheaves on Kodaira surfaces belong to the short list of examples of smooth and compact holomorphic symplectic manifolds, and it is not yet known how they fit into the classification of holomorphic symplectic manifolds by deformation type. This paper studies a natural Lagrangian fibration on these moduli spaces to determine that they are not Kähler or simply connected, ruling out most of the known deformation types of holomorphic symplectic manifolds.
We prove that, for any n, there are simply-connected four-manifolds which admit n-tuples of symplectic forms whose first Chern classes have pairwise different divisibilities in integral cohomology. It follows that the moduli space of symplectic forms modulo diffeomorphisms on such a manifold has at least n connected components.
This paper concerns the moduli spaces of rank two parabolic Higgs bundles and parabolic K(D) pairs over a smooth curve. Precisely which parabolic bundles occur in stable K(D), pairs and stable Higgs bundles is determined. Using Morse theory, the moduli space of parabolic Higgs bundles is shown to be a non-compact, connected, simply connected manifold, and a computation of its Poincaré polynomial is given.
