In the paper we consider the Jacobian locus $\overline{J_g}$ and the Prym locus $\overline{P_{g+1}}$, in the moduli space $A_g$ of principally polarized abelian varieties of dimension $g$, for $g\geq 7$, and we study the extrinsic geometry of $\overline{J_g}\subset \overline{P_{g+1}}$, under the inclusion provided by the theory of generalized Prym varieties as introduced by Beauville. More precisely, we study certain geodesic curves with respect to the Siegel metric of $A_g$, starting at a Jacobian variety $[JC]\in A_g$ of a curve $[C]\in M_g$ and with direction $ζ\in T_{[JC]}J_g$. We prove that for a general $JC$, any geodesic of this kind is not contained in $\overline{J_g}$ and even in $\overline{P_{g+1}}$, if $ζ$ has rank $k<\Cliff C-3$, where $\Cliff C$ denotes the Clifford index of $C$.
We provide an easy characterization for the locus of indeterminacy of the Prym map in terms of the dual graphs of stable curves. As a corollary, we show that the closure of the Fridman-Smith locus coincides with the locus of indeterminacy of the Prym map.
We prove that the locus of Prym curves $(C,η)$ of genus $g \geq 5$ for which the Prym-canonical system $|ω_C(η)|$ is base point free but the Prym--canonical map is not an embedding is irreducible and unirational of dimension $2g+1$.
We show that families of Pryms of abelian Galois covers of $\mathbb{P}^1$ in $A_{g-1}$ (resp. $A_g$) do not give rise to high dimensional Shimura subvareties.
We study Shimura curves of PEL type in $\mathsf{A}_g$ generically contained in the Prym locus. We study both the unramified Prym locus, obtained using étale double covers, and the ramified Prym locus, corresponding to double covers ramified at two points. In both cases we consider the family of all double covers compatible with a fixed group action on the base curve. We restrict to the case where the family is 1-dimensional and the quotient of the base curve by the group is $\mathbb{P}^1$. We give a simple criterion for the image of these families under the Prym map to be a Shimura curve. Usin…
We give an upper bound for the dimension of a germ of a totally geodesic submanifold, and hence of a Shimura variety of A_{g-1}, contained in the Prym locus. First we give such a bound for a germ passing through a Prym variety of a k-gonal curve in terms of the gonality k. Then we deduce a bound only depending on the genus g.
We study Shimura (special) subvarieties in the moduli space $A_{p,D}$ of complex abelian varieties of dimension $p$ and polarization type $D$. These subvarieties arise from families of covers compatible with a fixed group action on the base curve such that the quotient of the base curve by the group is isomorphic to $\mathbb{P}^1$. We give a criterion for the image of these families under the Prym map to be a special subvariety and, using computer algebra, obtain 210 Shimura subvarieties contained in the Prym locus.
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.
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.
Let $C$ be a smooth non rational projective curve over the complex field $\mathbb{C}$. If $A$ is an abelian subvariety of the Jacobian $J(C)$, we consider the Abel-Prym map $φ_A : C \rightarrow A$ defined as the composition of the Abel map of $C$ with the norm map of $A$. The goal of this work is to investigate the degree of the map $φ_A$ in the case where $A$ is one of the components of an isotypical decomposition of $J(C)$. In this case we obtained a lower bound for $\mathrm{deg}(φ_A)$ and, under some hypotheses, also an upper bound. We then apply the results obtained to compute degrees of A…
Let $π: Z \to X$ be Galois cover of smooth projective curves with Galois group $W$ a Weyl group of a simple Lie group $G$. For a dominant weight $λ$, we consider the intermediate curve $Y_λ= Z/\Stab(λ)$. One can realise a Prym variety $P_λ\subset \Jac(Y_λ)$ and we denote $φ_λ$ the restriction of the principal polarisation of $\Jac(Y_λ)$ upon $P_λ$. For two dominant weights $λ$ and $μ$, we construct a correspondence $Δ_{λμ}$ on $Y_λ\times Y_μ$ and calculate the pull-back of $φ_μ$ by $Δ_{λμ}$ in terms of $φ_λ$.
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 prove that in characteristic p>0 the locus of stable curves of p-rank at most f is pure of codimension g-f in the moduli space of stable curves. Then we consider the Prym map and analyze it using tautological classes. We study the locus of curves with an etale double cover of p-rank 0 in some detail. In particular, in genus 2 we obtain a formula for the number of such curves. We end with several examples illustrating our formula.
This thesis, done under the supervision of Filippo Viviani, is devoted to the study of the spectral correspondence for $G$-Higgs pairs, in the case of $G=SL(r,\mathbb{C})$, $PGL(r, \mathbb{C})$, $Sp(2r,\mathbb{C})$, $GSp(2r,\mathbb{C})$, $PSp(2r,\mathbb{C})$, over any fiber. In the first chapter we introduce the compactified Jacobian stack parametrizing torsion-free rank-1 sheaves over a (possibly reducible, non reduced) projective curve and we describe the spectral correspondence for Higgs pairs in terms of the compactified Jacobian. In the second chapter, we study the notion of direct and in…
For a class of non-hyperelliptic genus 3 curves C which are 2-fold coverings of elliptic curves E, we give an explicit algebraic description of all birationally non-equivalent genus 2 curves whose Jacobians are degree 2 isogeneous to the Prym varieties associated to such coverings. Our description is based on previous studies of Prym varieties with polarization (1,2) in connection with separation of variables in a series of classical and new algebraic integrable systems linearized on such varieties. We also consider some special cases of the covering C -> E, in particular, when the correspondi…
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.
In a previous paper, the authors proved that the Prym variety of any non-cyclic etale triple cover of a smooth curve of genus 2 is a Jacobian variety of dimension 2. This gives a map from the moduli space of such covers to the moduli space of Jacobian varieties of dimension 2. We extend this map to a proper map of a certain moduli space of admissible $S_3$-covers of genus 7 to the moduli space of principally polarized abelian surfaces. The main result is that this map is finite surjective of degree 10.
Let H a hyperelliptic curve and let f: C --> H be a cyclic etale covering of degree n, associated to a line bundle in Pic^0 (H) of order n . We prove that the Prym variety P=Prym(C / H) is isomorphic, as abelian varieties, to a product of jacobians when n is not divisible by 4.
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…
Given an Enriques surface $T$, its universal K3 cover $f: S\to T$, and a genus $g$ linear system $|C|$ on $T$, we construct the relative Prym variety $P_H=\Prym_{v, H}(\D/\CC)$, where $\CC\to |C|$ and $\D\to |f^*C|$ are the universal families, $v$ is the Mukai vector $(0,[D], 2-2g)$ and $H$ is a polarization on $S$. The relative Prym variety is a $(2g-2)$-dimensional possibly singular variety, whose smooth locus is endowed with a hyperkähler structure. This variety is constructed as the closure of the fixed locus of a symplectic birational involution defined on the moduli space $M_{v,H}(S)$. T…
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 use Young tableaux to compute the dimension of $V^r$, the Prym-Brill-Noether locus of a folded chain of loops of any gonality. This tropical result yields a new upper bound on the dimensions of algebraic Prym-Brill-Noether loci. Moreover, we prove that $V^r$ is pure-dimensional and connected in codimension $1$ when $\dim V^r \geq 1$. We then compute the first Betti number of this locus for even gonality when the dimension is exactly $1$, and compute the cardinality when the locus is finite and the edge lengths are generic.
We study the moduli space of pairs consisting of a smooth cubic surface and a smooth hyperplane section, via a Hodge theoretic period map due to Laza, Pearlstein, and the second named author. The construction associates to such a pair a so-called Eckardt cubic threefold, admitting an involution, and the period map sends the pair to the anti-invariant part of the intermediate Jacobian of this cubic threefold, with respect to this involution. Our main result is that the global Torelli theorem holds for this period map; i.e., the period map is injective. To prove the result, we describe the anti-…
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.
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 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.
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.
In this paper we give a bound on the dimension of a totally geodesic submanifold of the moduli space of polarised abelian varieties of a given dimension, which is contained in the Prym locus of a (possibly) ramified double cover. This improves the already known bounds. The idea is to adapt the techniques introduced by the authors in collaboration with A. Ghigi and G. P. Pirola for the Torelli map to the case of the Prym maps of (ramified) double covers.
Let $ϕ:\,X\rightarrow Y$ be a (possibly ramified) cover between two algebraic curves of positive genus. We develop tools that may identify the Prym variety of $ϕ$, up to isogeny, as the Jacobian of a quotient curve $C$ in the Galois closure of the composition of $ϕ$ with a well-chosen map $Y\rightarrow \mathbb{P}^1$. This method allows us to recover all previously obtained descriptions of a Prym variety in terms of a Jacobian that are known to us, besides yielding new applications. We also find algebraic equations for some of these new cases, including one where $X$ has genus $3$, $Y$ has genu…
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.
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}
It is known that the Jacobian of an algebraic curve which is a 2-fold covering of a hyperelliptic curve ramified at two points contains a hyperelliptic Prym variety. Its explicit algebraic description is applied to some of the integrable Henon-Heiles systems with a non-polynomial potential. Namely, we identify the generic complex invariant manifolds of the systems as a hyperelliptic Prym subvariety of the Jacobian of the spectral curve of the corresponding Lax representation. The exact discretization of the system is described as a translation on the Prym variety.
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.
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.
We study Shimura curves of PEL type in the space of polarised abelian varieties $A^δ_p$ generically contained in the ramified Prym locus. We generalise to ramified double covers, the construction done in [10] in the unramified case and in the case of two ramification points. Namely, we construct families of double covers which are compatible with a fixed group action on the base curve. We only consider the case of one-dimensional families and where the quotient of the base curve by the group is ${\mathbb P}^1$. Using computer algebra we obtain 184 Shimura curves contained in the (ramified) Pry…
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.
We study moduli spaces of K3 surfaces endowed with a Nikulin involution and their image in the moduli space R_g of Prym curves of genus g. We observe a striking analogy with Mukai's well-known work on ordinary K3 surfaces. Many of Mukai's results have a very precise Prym-Nikulin analogue, for instance: (1) A general Prym curve from R_g is a section of a Nikulin surface if and only if g\leq 7, g\neq 6. (2) R_7 has the structure of a Mori fibre space over the corresponding moduli space of polarized Nikulin surfaces. (3) In the case of genus next to maximal (g=6), the Prym-Nikulin locus in R_6 is…
Mumford defined a natural isomorphism between the intermediate jacobian of a conic-bundle over $P^2$ and the Prym variety of a naturally defined étale double cover of the discrminant curve of the conic-bundle. Clemens and Griffiths used this isomorphism to give a proof of the irrationality of a smooth cubic threefold and Beauville later generalized the isomorphism to intermediate jacobians of odd-dimensional quadric-bundles over $P^2$. We further generalize the isomorphism to the primitive cohomology of a smooth cubic hypersurface in $P^n$.
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 …
In the moduli space $\mathcal{R}_g$ of double étale covers of curves of a fixed genus $g$, the locus of covers of curves with a semicanonical pencil decomposes as the union of two divisors $\mathcal{T}^e_g$ and $\mathcal{T}^o_g$. Adapting arguments of Teixidor for the divisor of curves having a semicanonical pencil, we prove that both divisors are irreducible and compute their divisor classes in the Deligne-Mumford compactification $\overline{\mathcal{R}}_g$.
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.
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 consider unramified coverings of the moduli space $\mathcal{M}_g$ of smooth projective complex curves of genus $g$. Under some hypothesis on the branch locus of the finite extended map to the Deligne-Mumford compactification, we prove the vanishing of the vector space of holomorphic 1-forms on the preimage of the smooth locus of $\mathcal{M}_g$. This applies to several moduli spaces, as the moduli space of curves with 2-level structures, of spin curves and of Prym curves. In particular, we obtain that there are no non-trivial holomorphic 1-forms on the smooth open set of the P…
Theta-duality and Prym-Torelli for cyclic covers of hyperelliptic curves
Anatoli Shatsila Doctoral School of Exact；Natural Sciences, Jagiellonian University in Krak\'ow, ul. prof. Stanisława Łojasiewicza 6, 30-348 Kraków, Poland
Van Geemen and van der Geer, Donagi, Beauville and Debarre proposed characterizations of the locus of jacobians which use the linear system of $2Θ$-divisors. We give new evidence for these conjectures in the case of Prym varieties.
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…
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…
