Curves of genus g which admit a map to CP1 with specified ramification profile mu over 0 and nu over infinity define a double ramification cycle DR_g(mu,nu) on the moduli space of curves. The study of the restrictions of these cycles to the moduli of nonsingular curves is a classical topic. In 2003, Hain calculated the cycles for curves of compact type. We study here double ramification cycles on the moduli space of Deligne-Mumford stable curves.
The cycle DR_g(mu,nu) for stable curves is defined via the virtual fundamental class of the moduli of stable maps to rubber. Our main result is the proof of an explicit formula for DR_g(mu,nu) in the tautological ring conjectured by Pixton in 2014. The formula expresses the double ramification cycle as a sum over stable graphs (corresponding to strata classes) with summand equal to a product over markings and edges. The result answers a question of Eliashberg from 2001 and specializes to Hain's formula in the compact type case.
When mu and nu are both empty, the formula for double ramification cycles expresses the top Chern class lambda_g of the Hodge bundle of the moduli space of stable genus g curves as a push-forward of tautological classes supported on the divisor of nonseparating nodes. Applications to Hodge integral calculations are given.
The moduli space of stable maps with divisible ramification uses $r$-th roots of a canonical ramification section to parametrise stable maps whose ramification orders are divisible by a fixed integer $r$. In this article, a virtual fundamental class is constructed while letting domain curves have a positive genus; hence removing the restriction of the domain curves being genus zero. We apply the techniques of virtual localisation and obtain the $r$-ELSV formula as an intersection of the virtual class with a pullback via the branch morphism.
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 derive a formula for the virtual class of the moduli space of rubber maps to $[\mathbb{P}^1/G]$ pushed forward to the moduli space of stable maps to $BG$. As an application, we show that the Gromov-Witten theory of $[\mathbb{P}^1/G]$ relative to $0$ and $\infty$ are determined by known calculations.
We prove a purely local form of a result of Saito and Yatagawa. They proved that the characteristic cycle of a constructible étale sheaf is determined by wild ramification of the sheaf along the boundary of a compactification. But they had to consider ramification at all the points of the compactification. We give a pointwise result, that is, we prove that the characteristic cycle of a constructible étale sheaf around a point is determined by wild ramification at the point. The key ingredient is to prove that wild ramification of the stalk of the nearby cycle complex of a constructible étale s…
The double ramification cycle satisfies a basic multiplicative relation DRC(a).DRC(b) = DRC(a).DRC(a + b) over the locus of compact-type curves, but this relation fails in the Chow ring of the moduli space of stable curves. We restore this relation over the moduli space of stable curves by introducing an extension of the double ramification cycle to the small b-Chow ring (the colimit of the Chow rings of all smooth blowups of the moduli space). We use this to give evidence for the conjectured equality between the (twisted) double ramification cycle and a cycle constructed in previous work by t…
We give a log-geometric description of the space of twisted canonical divisors constructed by Farkas--Pandharipande. In particular, we introduce the notion of a principal rubber $k$-log-canonical divisor, and we study its moduli space. It is a proper Deligne--Mumford stack admitting a perfect obstruction theory whose virtual fundamental cycle is of dimension $2g-3+n$. In the so-called strictly meromorphic case with $k=1$, the moduli space is of the expected dimension and the push-forward of its virtual fundamental cycle to the moduli space of stable curves equals the weighted fundamental class…
Deligne and Kato proved a formula computing the dimension of the nearby cycles complex of an l-adic sheaf on a relative curve over an excellent strictly henselian trait. In this article, we reprove this formula using Abbes-Saito's ramification theory.
We describe a theory of logarithmic Chow rings and tautological subrings for logarithmically smooth algebraic stacks, via a generalisation of the notion of piecewise-polynomial functions. Using this machinery we prove that the double-double ramification cycle lies in the tautological subring of the (classical) Chow ring of the moduli space of curves, and that the logarithmic double ramification cycle is divisorial (as conjectured by Molcho, Pandharipande, and Schmitt).
Constructible complexes have the same characteristic cycle if they have the same wild ramification, even if the characteristics of the coefficients fields are different.
We determine the type of the zeta functions and the range of the dimensions of the moduli spaces of finite flat models of two-dimensional local Galois representations over finite fields. This gives a generalization of Raynaud's theorem on the uniqueness of finite flat models in low ramifications.
We propose a geometric method to measure the wild ramification of a smooth etale sheaf along the boundary. Using the method, we study the graded quotients of the logarithmic ramification groups of a local field of positive characteristic with arbitrary residue field. We also define the characteristic cycle of an l-adic sheaf, satisfying certain conditions, as a cycle on the logarithmic cotangent bundle and prove that the intersection with the 0-section computes the characteristic class, and hence the Euler number. Definition 2.1.1 is corrected in v2.
Inside the moduli space of curves of genus 2 with 2 marked points we consider the loci of curves admitting a map to P^1 of degree d totally ramified over the two marked points, for d>= 2. Such loci have codimension two. We compute the class of their compactifications in the moduli space of stable curves. Several results will be deduced from this computation.
In this article we study the modular properties of a family of cyclic coverings of P^1 of degree N, in all odd characteristics. We compute the moduli space of the corresponding algebraic stack over Z[1/2], as well as the Picard groups over algebraically closed fields. We put special emphasis on the study of the fibre of the stack at a prime of wild ramification; in particular we show that the moduli space has good reduction at such a prime.
This survey grew out of notes accompanying a cycle of lectures at the workshop Modern Trends in Gromov-Witten Theory, in Hannover. The lectures are devoted to interactions between Hurwitz theory and Gromov-Witten theory, with a particular eye to the contributions made to the understanding of the Double Ramification Cycle, a cycle in the moduli space of curves that compactifies the double Hurwitz locus. We explore the algebro-combinatorial properties of single and double Hurwitz numbers, and the connections with intersection theoretic problems on appropriate moduli spaces. We survey several res…
In this paper, using the formula for the integrals of the $ψ$-classes over the double ramification cycles found by S. Shadrin, L. Spitz, D. Zvonkine and the author, we derive a new explicit formula for the $n$-point function of the intersection numbers on the moduli space of curves.
We prove a conjecture of Pixton, namely that his proposed formula for the double ramification cycle on Mbar_{g,n} vanishes in codimension beyond g. This yields a collection of tautological relations in the Chow ring of Mbar_{g,n}. We describe, furthermore, how these relations can be obtained from Pixton's 3-spin relations via localization on the moduli space of stable maps to an orbifold projective line.
We compute the classes of universal theta divisors of degrees zero and g-1 over the Deligne-Mumford compactification of the moduli space of curves, with various integer weights on the points, in particular reproving a recent result of Müller. We also obtain a formula for the class in the Chow ring of the moduli space of curves of compact type of the double ramification locus, given by the condition that a fixed linear combination of the marked points is a principal divisor, reproving a recent result of Hain. Our approach for computing the theta divisor is more direct, via test curves and the g…
We prove that a formula for the `pluricanonical' double ramification cycle proposed by Janda, Pandharipande, Pixton, Zvonkine, and the second-named author is in fact the class of a cycle constructed geometrically by the first-named author. Our proof proceeds by a detailed explicit analysis of the deformation theory of the double ramification cycle, both to first and to higher order.
Over the moduli space of smooth curves, the double ramification cycle can be defined by pulling back the unit section of the universal jacobian along the Abel-Jacobi map. This breaks down over the boundary since the Abel-Jacobi map fails to extend. We construct a `universal' resolution of the Abel-Jacobi map, and thereby extend the double ramification cycle to the whole of the moduli of stable curves. In the non-twisted case, we show that our extension coincides with the cycle constructed by Li, Graber, Vakil via a virtual fundamental class on a space of rubber maps.
We prove that the extension of the double ramification cycle defined by the first-named author (using modifications of the stack of stable curves) coincides with that defined by the last-two named authors (using an extended Brill-Noether locus on suitable compactified universal Jacobians). In particular, in the untwisted case we deduce that both of these extensions coincide with that constructed by Li and Graber-Vakil using a virtual fundamental class on a space of rubber maps.
Let X be a nonsingular projective algebraic variety, and let S be a line bundle on X. Let A = (a_1,..., a_n) be a vector of integers. Consider a map f from a pointed curve (C,x_1,...,x_n) to X satisfying the following condition: the line bundle f*(S) has a meromorphic section with zeroes and poles exactly at the marked points x_i with orders prescribed by the integers a_i. A compactification of the space of maps based upon the above condition is given by the moduli space of stable maps to rubber over X. The main result of the paper is an explicit formula (in tautological classes) for the push-…
In this article, we give a bound for the wild ramification of the monodromy action on the nearby cycles complex of a locally constant étale sheaf on the generic fiber of a smooth scheme over an equal characteristic trait in terms of Abbes and Saito's logarithmic ramification filtration. This provides a positive answer to the main conjecture in Isabel Leal's article "On the ramification of étale cohomology groups" for smooth morphisms in equal characteristic. We also study the ramification along vertical divisors of étale sheaves on relative curves and abelian schemes over a trait.
In this paper, we consider double ramification cycles with orbifold targets. An explicit formula for double ramification cycles with orbifold targets, which is parallel to and generalizes the one known for the smooth case, is provided. Some applications for orbifold Gromov--Witten theory are also included.
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 compute the characteristic cycle of a rank one sheaf on a smooth surface over a perfect field of positive characteristic. We construct a canonical lifting on the cotangent bundle of Kato's logarithmic characteristic cycle using ramification theory and prove the equality of the characteristic cycle and the canonical lifting. As corollaries, we obtain a computation of the singular support in terms of ramification theory.
We develop a theory for stable maps to curves with divisible ramification. For a fixed integer $r>0$, we show that the condition of every ramification locus being divisible by $r$ is equivalent to the existence of an $r$th root of a canonical section. We consider this condition in regards to both absolute and relative stable maps and construct natural moduli spaces in these situations. We construct an analogue of the Fantechi-Pandharipande branch morphism and when the domain curves are genus zero we construct a virtual fundamental class. This theory is anticipated to have applications to $r$-s…
In this paper we prove an explicit formula which compares the dimensions of the spaces of vanishing cycles in a Galois cover of degree p between formal germ of curves over a complete discrete valuation ring of inequal characteristics (0,p). This formula can be easily generalised to the case of a Galois cover with group which is nilpotent or which has a normal p-Sylow subgroup. The results of this paper play a key role in [Sa-1] where is studied the semi-stable reduction of Galois covers of degree p above semi-stable curves over a complete discrete valuation ring of inequal characteristics (0,p…
We define an effective divisor of the moduli space of stable curves $\overline{M_g}$, which is denoted $\overline{S^{2}W}$. Writing the class of $\overline{S^{2}W}$ in the Picard group of the moduli functor Pic$_{\text{fun}}(\overline{M_{g}})\otimes \mathbb{Q}$ in terms of the so-called Harer basis $λ,δ_0,\ldots,δ_{[g/2]}$, we prove that the relations among the coefficients of $δ_1,\ldots,δ_{[g/2]}$ are the same relations on coefficients as the Brill-Noether divisors. We present a result on effective divisors of $\overline{M_g}$ which could be useful to get the same relations on coefficients f…
We define tautological relations for the moduli space of stable maps to a target variety. Using the double ramification cycle formula for target varieties of Janda-Pandharipande-Pixton-Zvonkine, we construct nontrivial tautological relations parallel to Pixton's double ramification cycle relations for the moduli of curves. Examples and applications are discussed.
A correlated refinement of the double double ramification cycle
Univ Toulouse, INUC, UT2J, INSA Toulouse, TSE, CNRS, IMT（图卢兹大学）；Università di Roma Tor Vergata（罗马托尔维加塔大学）；Massachusetts Institute of Technology（麻省理工学院）
We study the Chow ring of the boundary of the partial compactification of the universal family of principally polarized abelian varieties (ppav). We describe the subring generated by divisor classes, and compute the class of the partial compactification of the universal zero section, which turns out to lie in this subring. Our formula extends the results for the zero section of the universal uncompactified family. The partial compactification of the universal family of ppav can be thought of as the first two boundary strata in any toroidal compactification of the moduli space of ppav. Our form…
Double ramification loci, also known as strata of $0$-differentials, are algebraic subvarieties of the moduli space of smooth curves parametrizing Riemann surfaces such that there exists a rational function with prescribed ramification over $0$ and $\infty$. We describe the closure of double ramification loci inside the Deligne-Mumford compactification in geometric terms. To a rational function we associate its exact differential, which allows us to realize double ramification loci as linear subvarieties of strata of meromorphic differentials. We then obtain a geometric description of the clos…
For an $\ell$-adic sheaf on a variety of arbitrary dimension over a perfect field, we define the Swan class measuring the wild ramification as a 0-cycle class supported on the ramification locus. We prove a Lefschetz trace formula for open varieties and a generalization of the Grothendieck-Ogg-Shararevich formula using the Swan class.
In this paper we define a quantization of the Double Ramification Hierarchies of [Bur15b] and [BR14], using intersection numbers of the double ramification cycle, the full Chern class of the Hodge bundle and psi-classes with a given cohomological field theory. We provide effective recursion formulae which determine the full quantum hierarchy starting from just one Hamiltonian, the one associated with the first descendant of the unit of the cohomological field theory only. We study various examples which provide, in very explicit form, new $(1+1)$-dimensional integrable quantum field theories w…
It this paper we present a new construction of a hamiltonian hierarchy associated to a cohomological field theory. We conjecture that in the semisimple case our hierarchy is related to the Dubrovin-Zhang hierarchy by a Miura transformation and check it in several examples.
In this paper we compute the intersection number of two double ramification cycles (with different ramification profiles) and the top Chern class of the Hodge bundle on the moduli space of stable curves of any genus. These quadratic double ramification integrals are the main ingredient for the computation of the double ramification hierarchy associated to the infinite dimensional partial cohomological field theory given by $\exp(μ^2 Θ)$ where $μ$ is a parameter and $Θ$ is Hain's theta class, appearing in Hain's formula for the double ramification cycle on the moduli space of curves of compact …
For a constructible étale sheaf on a smooth variety of positive characteristic ramified along an effective divisor, the largest slope in Abbes and Saito's ramification theory of the sheaf gives a divisor with rational coefficients called the conductor divisor. In this article, we prove decreasing properties of the conductor divisor after pull-backs. The main ingredient behind is the construction of étale sheaves with pure ramifications. As applications, we first prove a lower semi-continuity property for conductors of étale sheaves on relative curves in the equal characteristic case, which sup…
We prove a smoothness result for spaces of linear series with prescribed ramification on twice-marked elliptic curves. In characteristic 0, we then apply the Eisenbud-Harris theory of limit linear series to deduce a new proof of the Gieseker-Petri theorem, along with a generalization to spaces of linear series with prescribed ramification at up to two points. Our main calculation involves the intersection of two Schubert cycles in a Grassmannian associated to almost-transverse flags.
We compute the singular support and the characteristic cycle of a rank 1 sheaf on a smooth variety in codimension 2 using ramification theory, when the ramification of the sheaf is clean. We develop a general theory, called the partially logarithmic ramification theory, and define an algebraic cycle on a logarithmic cotangent bundle with partial logarithmic poles along the boundary. We prove that the inverse image of the support of the cycle and the pull-back of the cycle to the cotangent bundle are equal to the singular support and the characteristic cycle, respectively, outside a closed subs…
We calculate the cycle class of the Hurwitz divisor $D_2$ on the moduli space of stable curves of genus $g=2k$ given by the degree $k+1$ covers of the projective line with simple ramification points, two of which lie in the same fibre. We also study some aspects of the geometry of the natural map of the Hurwitz space of admissible covers of degree $k+1$ and genus $2k$ to the moduli space of stable curves of genus $2k$.
For a smooth projective curve, the cycles of e-secant k-planes are among the most studied objects in classical enumerative geometry and there are well-known formulas due to Castelnuovo, Cayley and MacDonald concerning them. Despite various attempts, surprisingly little is known about the enumerative validity of such formulas. The aim of this paper is to completely clarify this problem in the case of the generic curve C of given genus. Using degeneration techniques and a few facts about the birational geometry of moduli spaces of stable pointed curves we determine precisely under which conditio…
The global geometric Langlands correspondence relates Hecke eigensheaves on the moduli stack of G-bundles on a smooth projective algebraic curve X and holomorphic G'-bundles with connection on X, where G' is the Langlands dual group of G. This correspondence is relatively well understood when the connection has no singularities, i.e., is unramified. But what should happen if the connection has singularities, or ramification, at finitely many points of X? In this case we expect to attach to it a category of Hecke eigensheaves on a suitable moduli stack of G-bundles on X with parabolic (or level…
We describe double Hurwitz numbers as intersection numbers on the moduli space of curves. Assuming polynomiality of the Double Ramification Cycle (which is known in genera 0 and 1), our formula explains the polynomiality in chambers of double Hurwitz numbers, and the wall crossing phenomenon in terms of a variation of correction terms to the ψ classes. We interpret this as suggestive evidence for polynomiality of the Double Ramification Cycle.
Let $\mathcal H_g$ be the moduli space of genus $g$ hyperelliptic curves. In this note, we study the locus $\mathcal L$ in $\mathcal H_g$ of curves admitting a $G$-action of given ramification type $σ$ and inclusions between such loci. For each genus we determine the list of all possible groups, the inclusions among the loci, and the corresponding equations of the generic curve in $\mathcal L$. The proof of the results is based solely on representations of finite subgroups of $PGL_2 (\mathbb C)$ and the Riemann-Hurwitz formula.
