In this paper we give a construction of algebraic (Artin) stacks endowed with a modular map onto the moduli stack of n-pointed stable curves of genus g, for g greater than 2. These stacks are smooth, irreducible and have dimension 4g-3+n, yielding a geometrically meaningful compactification of the degree d universal Picard stack over the moduli stack of smooth curves with marked points.
The paper investigates invariants of compactified Picard modular surfaces by principal congruence subgroups of Picard modular groups. The applications to the surface classification and modular forms are discussed.
Let C be an integral projective curve in any characteristic. Given an invertible sheaf L on C of degree 1, form the associated Abel map A_L : C -> P, which maps C into its compactified Jacobian scheme P, and form its pullback map A_L^* : Pic^0_P -> J, which carries the connected component of 0 in the Picard scheme back to the Jacobian. If C has, at worst, double points, then A_L^* is known to be an isomorphism. We prove that A_L^* always extends to a map between the natural compactifications, Pic^-_P -> P, and that the extended map is an isomorphism if C has, at worst, ordinary nodes and cusps…
We study algebraic (Artin) stacks over $\bar{\mathcal M}_g$ giving a functorial way of compactifying the relative degree $d$ Picard variety for families of stable curves. We also describe for every $d$ the locus of genus $g$ stable curves over which we get Deligne-Mumford stacks strongly representable over $\bar{\mathcal M}_g$.
We determine explicitly the Picard groups of the universal Jacobian stack and of its compactification over the stack of stable curves. Along the way, we prove some results concerning the gerbe structure of the universal Jacobian stack over its rigidification by the natural action of the multiplicative group and relate this with the existence of generalized Poincaré line bundles. We also compare our results with Kouvidakis-Fontanari computations of the divisor class group of the universal (compactified) Jacobian scheme.
We prove that there exist some stacks, representable over the stack of stable curves, having the following universal property with respect to Néron models of Jacobians. For every one-parameter family of stable curves, with regular total space, the Néron model of the Jacobian of its generic fibre is isomorphic to the base change of the above stacks via the moduli map of the given family. We also obtain a stack compactification of the universal Picard scheme and hence a geometrically meaningful completion of the Néron model of the Jacobian for every family as above.
For a smooth algebraic curve X over a field, applying H_1 to the Abel map X -> Pic (X/\partial X) to the Picard scheme of X modulo its boundary realizes the Poincaré duality isomorphism H_1(X, Z/ n) -> H^1(X/ \partial X, Z/n(1)) = H^1_c(X, Z/n(1)). We show the analogous statement for the Abel map X/\partial X -> Picbar (X/\partial X) to the compactified Picard, or Jacobian, scheme, namely this map realizes the Poincaré duality isomorphism H_1(X/ \partial X, Z/n) -> H^1(X, Z/n(1)). In particular, H_1 of this Abel map is an isomorphism. In proving this result, we prove some results about Picbar …
We investigate the possible homological classes of rational curves on the moduli space $X_n=\bar{\mathcal{M}_{0,n}}$ of rational nodal curves with $n$ marked points. In the case of $X_5$ and $X_6$ the relevant homology classes belong to certain polyhedral cones which we describe explicitly. Not all homology classes in the cone correspond to rational curves, but all classes sufficiently far from the walls of the cone do. The proof for $X_5$ is explicit, the proof for $X_6$ was carried out using computers.
Using the compactified universal jacobian over the moduli space of stable marked curves, we give an expression in terms of natural classes of the zero section of the compactified universal jacobian the (rational) Chow ring. After extending variants of the Abel-Jacobi map to a locus containing curves of treelike type we give a formula for the pullback of the said zero section along these extensions. The same approach is also applied to recover known formulas for the pullback of theta divisors to the moduli space of marked stable curves.
We consider the problem of constructing universal Néron models for families of curves with sections. By applying a construction of the author of universal compactified Jacobians over the moduli stack of reduced curves with markings and a result by J. Kass, we get a positive answer for smooth families of curves with planar singularities over Dedekind schemes.
To every singular reduced projective curve X one can associate, following E. Esteves, many fine compactified Jacobians, depending on the choice of a polarization on X, each of which yields a modular compactification of a disjoint union of the generalized Jacobian of X. We prove that, for a reduced curve with locally planar singularities, the integral (or Fourier-Mukai) transform with kernel the Poincare' sheaf from the derived category of the generalized Jacobian of X to the derived category of any fine compactified Jacobian of X is fully faithful, generalizing a previous result of D. Arinkin …
We prove the following autoduality theorem for an integral projective curve C in any characteristic. Given an invertible sheaf L of degree 1, form the corresponding Abel map A_L: C->J, which maps C into its compactified Jacobian, and form its pullback map A_L^*: Pic^0_J to J, which carries the connected component of 0 in the Picard scheme back to the Jacobian. If C has, at worst, points of multiplicity 2, then A_L^* is an isomorphism, and forming it commutes with specializing C. Much of our work is valid, more generally, for a family of curves with, at worst, points of embedding dimension 2. I…
We use the theory of twisted stable maps to Deligne-Mumford stacks to construct compactifications of the moduli space of pairs $(X \to C, S + F)$ where $X \to C$ is a fibered surface, $S$ is a sum of sections, $F$ is a sum of marked fibers, and $(X, S + F)$ is a stable pair in the sense of the minimal model program. This generalizes the work of Abramovich-Vistoli, who compactified the moduli space of fibered surfaces without marked fibers. Furthermore, we compare our compactification to Alexeev's space of stable maps and the KSBA compactification of stable pairs. As an application, we describe…
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 explicitly describe the KSBA/Hacking compactification of a moduli space of log surfaces of Picard rank 2. The space parametrizes log pairs $(S, D)$ where $S$ is a degeneration of $\mathbb{P}^1 \times \mathbb{P}^1$ and $D \subset S$ is a degeneration of a curve of class $(3,3)$. We prove that the compactified moduli space is a smooth Deligne--Mumford stack with 4 boundary components. We relate it to the moduli space of genus 4 curves; we show that it compactifies the blow-up of the hyperelliptic locus. We also relate it to a compactification of the Hurwitz space of triple coverings of $\math…
We show that the average size of the $2$-Selmer group of the family of Jacobians of non-hyperelliptic genus-$3$ curves with a marked rational hyperflex point, when ordered by a natural height, is bounded above by $3$. We achieve this by interpreting $2$-Selmer elements as integral orbits of a representation associated with a stable $\mathbb{Z}/2\mathbb{Z}$-grading on the Lie algebra of type $E_6$ and using Bhargava's orbit-counting techniques. We use this result to show that the marked point is the only rational point for a positive proportion of curves in this family. The main novelties are t…
In this work we study the quantum periods together with their Picard-Fuchs differential equations of Calabi-Yau fourfolds. In contrast to Calabi-Yau threefolds, we argue that the large volume points of Calabi-Yau fourfolds generically are regular singular points of the Picard-Fuchs operators of non-maximally unipotent monodromy. We demonstrate this property in explicit examples of Calabi-Yau fourfolds with a single Kahler modulus. For these examples we construct integral quantum periods and study their global properties in the quantum Kahler moduli space with the help of numerical analytic con…
Abramovich, Corti and Vistoli have studied modular compactifications of stacks of curves equipped with abelian level structures arising as substacks of the stack of twisted stable maps into the classifying stack of a finite group, provided the order of the group is invertible on the base scheme. Recently Abramovich, Olsson and Vistoli extended the notion of twisted stable maps to allow arbitrary base schemes, where the target is a tame stack, not necessarily Deligne-Mumford. We use this to extend the results of Abramovich, Corti and Vistoli to the case of elliptic curves with level structures …
We propose a generalization of tropical curves by dropping the rationality and integrality requirements while preserving the balancing condition. An interpretation of such curves as critical points of a certain quadratic functional allows us to settle the existence and uniqueness problem. The machinery of dual polygons and the intersection theory also generalize as expected. We study the homology of a compactified moduli space of rigid oriented marked curves. A weighted count of rational pseudotropical curves passing through a generic collection of points is interpreted via top-degree cycles o…
This article treats various aspects of the geometry of the moduli of r-spin curves and its compactification. Generalized spin curves, or r-spin curves, are a natural generalization of 2-spin curves (algebraic curves with a theta-characteristic), and have been of interest lately because of the similarities between the intersection theory of these moduli spaces and that of the moduli of stable maps. In particular, these spaces are the subject of a remarkable conjecture of E. Witten relating their intersection theory to the Gelfand-Dikii (rth KdV) heirarchy. There is also a W-algebra conjecture f…
