We show that for $α\in (2/3, 7/10)$, the log canonical model $\bar M_4(α)$ of the pair $(\bar M_4, αδ)$ is isomorphic to the moduli space $\bar M_4^{hs}$ of h-semistable curves, and that there is a birational morphism $Ξ: \bar M_4^{hs} \to \bar M_4(2/3)$ that contracts the locus of curves $C_1\cup_p C_2$ consisting of genus two curves meeting in a node $p$ such that $p$ is a Weierstrass point of $C_1$ or $C_2$. To obtain this morphism, we construct a compact moduli space $\bar M_{2,1}^{hs}$ of pointed genus two curves that have nodes, ordinary cusps and tacnodes as singularity, and prove that it is isomorphic to Rulla's flip constructed in his thesis.
In this paper, we classify Fano manifolds with elementary contractions of birational type such that the second or third exterior power of tangent bundles are numerically effective.
We study the birational geometry of $\bar{M}_{3,1}$ and $\bar{M}_{4,1}$. In particular, we pose a pointed analogue of the Slope Conjecture and prove it in these low-genus cases. Using variation of GIT, we construct birational contractions of these spaces in which certain divisors of interest -- the pointed Brill-Noether divisors -- are contracted. As a consequence, we see that these pointed Brill-Noether divisors generate extremal rays of the effective cones for these spaces.
We study the complexity of birational self-maps of a projective threefold $X$ by looking at the birational type of surfaces contracted. These surfaces are birational to the product of the projective line with a smooth projective curve. We prove that the genus of the curves occuring is unbounded if and only if $X$ is birational to a conic bundle or a fibration into cubic surfaces. Similarly, we prove that the gonality of the curves is unbounded if and only if $X$ is birational to a conic bundle.
Using the techniques of Bayer--Macrì, we determine the walls in the movable cone of the Mukai system of rank two for a general K3 surface $S$ of genus two. We study the (essentially unique) birational map to $S^{[5]}$ and decompose it into a sequence of flops. We give an interpretation of the exceptional loci in terms of Brill--Noether loci.
In this note we present two equivalent definitions for the genus of a birational map X --> Y between smooth complex projective 3-folds. The first one is the definition introduced in 1973 by M. A. Frumkin, the second one was recently suggested to me by S. Cantat. By focusing first on proving that these two definitions are equivalent, one can obtain all the results of the paper of Frumkin in a much shorter way. In particular, the genus of an automorphism of $\mathbb{C}^3$, view as a birational self-map of the projective space, will easily be proved to be 0.
We show that 3-fold terminal flips and divisorial contractions may be factored into a sequence of flops, blow-downs to a smooth curve in a smooth 3-fold or divisorial contractions to points with minimal discrepancies.
We study wall-crossing for the Beauville-Mukai system of rank three on a general genus two K3 surface. We show that such a system is related to the Hilbert scheme of ten points on the surface by a sequence of flops, whose exceptional loci can be described as Brill-Noether loci. We also obtain Brill-Noether type results for sheaves in the Beauville-Mukai system.
We study the birational geometry of a Fano 4-fold X from the point of view of Mori dream spaces; more precisely, we study rational contractions of X. Here a rational contraction is a rational map f: X-->Y, where Y is normal and projective, which factors as a finite sequence of flips, followed by a surjective morphism with connected fibers. Such f is called elementary if the difference of the Picard numbers of X and Y is 1. We first give a characterization of non-movable prime divisors in X, when X has Picard number at least 6; this is related to the study of birational and divisorial elementar…
We study in this article three birational invariants of projective hyper-Kähler manifolds: the degree of irrationality, the fibering gonality and the fibering genus. We first improve the lower bound in a recent result of Voisin saying that the fibering genus of a Mumford--Tate very general projective hyper-Kähler manifold is bounded from below by a constant depending on its dimension and the second Betti number. We also study the relations between these birational invariants for projective K3 surfaces of Picard number 1 and study the asymptotic behaviors of their degree of irrationality and fi…
The aim of this note is to use elementary methods to give a large class of examples of projective varieties $ Y \subseteq \mathbb{P}^d_k$ over a field $k$ with the property that $Y$ is not isomorphic to a hypersurface $H\subseteq \mathbb{P}^N_k$ in projective space $\mathbb{P}^N_k$ with $N:=dim(Y)+1$. We apply this construction to the study of the arithmetic genus $p_a(Y)$ of $Y$ and the problem of determining if $p_a(Y)$ is a birational invariant of $Y$ in general. We give an infinite number of examples of pairs of projective varieties $(Y, Y')$ in any dimension $dim(Y)=dim(Y')\geq 4$ where $…
Lecture notes of a course on birational geometry (taught at College de France, Winter 2011, with the support of Fondation Sciences Mathématiques de Paris). Topics covered: introduction into the subject, contractions and extremal rays, pairs and singularities, Kodaira dimension, minimal model program, cone and contraction, vanishing, base point freeness, flips and local finite generation, pl flips and extension theorems, existence of minimal models and Mori fibre spaces, global finite generation, etc.
In this paper we establish that the singularities of the universal compactified Jacobian are canonical if the genus is at least four. As a corollary we determine the Kodaira dimension and the Iitaka fibration of the universal compactified Jacobian for every degree and genus. We also determine the birational automorphism group for every degree if the genus is at least twelve. This extends work of G. Farkas and A. Verra, as well as that of G. Bini, C. Fontanari and the third author.
Let $G$ be a simple simply-connected connected linear algebraic group over $\mathbb{C}$. We proved a $2$-birational Torelli theorem for the moduli space of semistable principal $G$-bundles over a smooth curve of genus $\geq 3$, which says that if two such moduli spaces are $2$-birational then the curves are isomorphic. We also proved a $3$-birational Torelli theorem for the moduli space of stable symplectic parabolic bundles over a smooth curve of genus $\geq 4$.
An MBM class on a hyperkahler manifold M is a second cohomology class such that its orthogonal complement in H^2(M) contains a maximal dimensional face of the boundary of the Kahler cone for some hyperkahler deformation of M. An MBM curve is a rational curve in an MBM class and such that its local deformation space has minimal possible dimension 2n-2, where 2n is the complex dimension of M. We study the MBM loci, defined as the subvarieties covered by deformations of an MBM curve within M. When M is projective, MBM loci are centers of birational contractions. For each MBM class z, we consider …
We show that the moduli spaces of non-triple cyclic coverings of genus 2 curves and that of even spin curves of genus 2 are birationally isomorphic via the Prym map. We describe the log canonical models of the moduli space of even spin curves of genus 2 and use this to extend the above birational map.
Let M_{7,n} be the (coarse) moduli space of smooth curves of genus 7 with n marked points defined over the complex field. We denote by M^1_{7,n;4} the locus of points inside M_{7,n} representing curves carrying a g^1_4. It is classically known that M^1_{7,n;4} is irreducible of dimension 17+n. We prove in this paper that M^1_{7,n;4} is rational for 0<= n <= 11.
From Smyth's classification, modular compactifications of pointed smooth rational curves are indexed by combinatorial data, so-called extremal assignments. We explore their combinatorial structures and show that any extremal assignment is a finite union of atomic extremal assignments. We discuss a connection with the birational geometry of the moduli space of stable pointed curves. As applications, we study three special classes of extremal assignments: smooth, toric, and invariant with respect to the symmetric group action. We identify them with three combinatorial objects: simple intersectin…
Let $C$ be an algebraic smooth complex genus $g>1$ curve. The object of this paper is the study of the birational structure of the coarse moduli space $U_C(r,0)$ of semi-stable rank r vector bundles on $C$ with degree 0 determinant and of its moduli subspace $SU_C(r)$ given by the vector bundles with trivial determinant. Notably we prove that $U_C(r,0)$ (resp. $SU_C(r)$) is birational to a fibration over the symmetric product $C^(rg)$ (resp. over $P^{(r-1)g}$) whose fibres are GIT quotients $(P^{r-1})^{rg}//PGL(r)$. In the cases of low rank and genus our construction produces families of class…
We prove finite generation of the algebra of type A conformal blocks over arbitrary stable curves of any genus. As an application we construct a flat family of irreducible normal projective varieties over the moduli stack of stable pointed curves, whose fiber over a smooth curve is a moduli space of semistable parabolic bundles. This generalizes a construction of a degeneration of the moduli space of vector bundles presented in a recent work of Belkale and Gibney.
We consider the space $\mathcal R_{g,S_3}^{S_3}$ of curves with a connected $S_3$-cover, proving that for any odd genus $g\geq 13$ this moduli is of general type. Furthermore we develop a set of tools that are essential in approaching the case of $G$-covers for any finite group $G$.
We study the singular locus on the algebraic surface $§_n$ of genus 2 curves with a $(n, n)$-split Jacobian. Such surface was computed by Shaska in \cite{deg3} for $n=3$, and Shaska at al. in \cite{deg5} for $n=5$. We show that the singular locus for $n=2$ is exactly th locus of the curves of automorphism group $D_4$ or $D_6$. For $n=3$ we use a birational parametrization of the surface $§_3$ discovered in \cite{deg3} to show that the singular locus is a 0-dimensional subvariety consisting exactly of three genus 2 curves (up to isomorphism) which have automorphism group $D_4$ or $D_6$. We furt…
Looking in positive characteristic for failures of the Bertini-Sard theorem, we determine, up to birational equivalence, the separable proper morphisms of smooth algebraic varieties in characteristic two, whose fibres are non-smooth curves of arithmetic genus two.
We consider relatively minimal fibrations of curves of genus two on rational surfaces whose Picard numbers are not maximal. By birational morphisms, such fibred surfaces are interpreted as pencils of plane curves. We show that only four are canonical, among a variety of possible models. For each canonical pencil, we give an example with trivial Mordell-Weil group.
We study the exceptional loci of birational (bimeromorphic) contractions of a hyperkähler manifold $M$. Such a contraction locus is the union of all minimal rational curves in a collection of cohomology classes which are orthogonal to a wall of the Kähler cone. Homology classes which can possibly be orthogonal to a wall of the Kähler cone of some deformation of $M$ are called MBM classes. We prove that all MBM classes of type (1,1) can be represented by rational curves, called MBM curves. All MBM curves can be contracted on an appropriate birational model of $M$, unless $b_2(M) \leq 5$. When $…
The global geometry of the moduli spaces of higher spin curves and their birational classification is largely unknown for g >= 2 and r > 2. Using quite related geometric constructions, we almost complete the picture of the known results in genus g <= 4 showing the rationality of the moduli spaces of even and odd 4-spin curves of genus 3, of odd spin curves of genus 4 and of 3-spin curves of genus 4.
Let $\text{M}_C( 2, \mathcal{O}_C) \cong \mathbb{P}^3$ denote the coarse moduli space of semistable vector bundles of rank $2$ with trivial determinant over a smooth projective curve $C$ of genus $2$ over $\mathbb{C}$. Let $β_C$ denote the natural Brauer class over the stable locus. We prove that if $f^*( β_{C'}) = β_C$ for some birational map $f$ from $\text{M}_C( 2, \mathcal{O}_C)$ to $\text{M}_{C'}( 2, \mathcal{O}_{C'})$, then the Jacobians of $C$ and of $C'$ are isomorphic as abelian varieties. If moreover these Jacobians do not admit real multiplication, then the curves $C$ and $C'$ are i…
A general smooth curve of genus six lies on a quintic del Pezzo surface. In \cite{AK11}, Artebani and Kondō construct a birational period map for genus six curves by taking ramified double covers of del Pezzo surfaces. The map is not defined for special genus six curves. In this paper, we construct a smooth Deligne-Mumford stack $\mathfrak{P}_0$ parametrizing certain stable surface-curve pairs which essentially resolves this map. Moreover, we give an explicit description of pairs in $\mathfrak{P}_0$ containing special curves.
We analyze GIT stability of nets of quadrics in $\mathbb{P}^4$ up to projective equivalence. Since a general net of quadrics defines a canonically embedded smooth curve of genus five, the resulting GIT quotient gives a birational model of the moduli space of genus 5 curves. We study the geometry of the associated contraction and prove that the constructed GIT quotient is the final step of the log minimal model program for the moduli space of genus 5 curves.
We give explicit computational algorithms to construct minimal degree (always $\le 4$) ramified covers of $\Prj^1$ for algebraic curves of genus 5 and 6. This completes the work of Schicho and Sevilla (who dealt with the $g \le 4$ case) on constructing radical parametrisations of arbitrary genus $g$ curves. Zariski showed that this is impossible for the general curve of genus $\ge 7$. We also construct minimal degree birational plane models and show how the existence of degree 6 plane models for genus 6 curves is related to the gonality and geometric type of a certain auxiliary surface.
We survey recent results on ample cones and birational contractions of holomorphic symplectic varieties of K3 type, focusing on explicit constructions and concrete examples.
It is known (work of Galluzzi, Lombardo, Dolgachev and Naruki) that there is a unique K3 surface X which corresponds to a genus 2 curve C such that X has a Shioda-Inose structure with quotient birational to the Kummer surface of the Jacobian of C. In this paper we give an explicit realization of X as an elliptic surface over P^1 with specified singular fibers of type II^* and III^*. We describe how the Weierstrass coefficients are related to the Igusa-Clebsch invariants of C.
In the paper, we study the GIT construction of the moduli space of Chow semistable curves of genus 4 in P^3. By using the GIT method developed by Mumford and a deformation theoretic argument, we give a modular description of this moduli space. We classify Chow stable or Chow semistable curves when they are irreducible or nonreduced. Then we work out the case when a curve has two components. Our classification provides some clues to understand the birational map from the moduli space of stable curves of genus 4 to the moduli space of Chow semistable curves of genus 4 in P^3.
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 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.
This is the second in a pair of papers developing a framework to apply logarithmic methods in the study of singular curves of genus $1$. This volume focuses on logarithmic Gromov--Witten theory and tropical geometry. We construct a logarithmically nonsingular moduli space of genus $1$ curves mapping to any toric variety. The space is a birational modification of the principal component of the Abramovich--Chen--Gross--Siebert space of logarithmic stable maps and produces an enumerative genus $1$ curve counting theory. We describe the non-archimedean analytic skeleton of this moduli space and, a…
In [7], Donovan and Wemyss introduced the contraction algebra of flop- ping curves in 3-folds. When the flopping curve is smooth and irreducible, we prove that the contraction algebra together with its A_\infty-structure recovers various invariants associated to the underlying singularity and its small resolution, including the derived category of singularities and the genus zero Gopakuma-Vafa invariants.
We characterise smooth curves in a smooth cubic threefold whose blow-ups produce a weak-Fano threefold. These are curves $C$ of genus $g$ and degree $d$, such that (i) $2(d-5) \le g$ and $d\le 6$; (ii) $C$ does not admit a 3-secant line in the cubic threefold. Among the list of ten possible such types $(g,d)$, two were previously left as open numerical possibilities, namely $(g,d) = (0,5)$ and $(2,6)$. Using the Sarkisov link associated with a curve of type $(2,6)$, we are able to produce the first example of a pseudo-automorphism with dynamical degree greater than $1$ on a smooth threefold wi…
