We compute the top-weight rational cohomology of $A_g$ for $g=5$, $6$, and $7$, and we give some vanishing results for the top-weight rational cohomology of $A_8, A_9,$ and $ A_{10}$. When $g=5$ and $g=7$, we exhibit nonzero cohomology groups of $A_g$ in odd degree, thus answering a question highlighted by Grushevsky. Our methods develop the relationship between the top-weight cohomology of $A_g$ and the homology of the link of the moduli space of principally polarized tropical abelian varieties of rank $g$. To compute the latter we use the Voronoi complexes used by Elbaz-Vincent-Gangl-Soulé. Our computations give natural candidates for compactly supported cohomology classes of $A_g$ in weight $0$ that produce the stable cohomology classes of the Satake compactification of $A_g$ in weight $0$, under the Gysin spectral sequence for the latter space.
This is a survey of recent examples of varieties that are not stably rational. We review the specialization method based on properties of the Chow group of zero-cycles used in these examples and explain the point of view of unramified cohomology for the construction of nontrivial stable invariants of the special fiber. In particular, we find an explicit formula for the Brauer group of fourfolds fibered in quadrics of dimension two over a rational surface.
We focus on the rational cohomology of Cornalba's moduli space of spin curves of genus 1 with $n$ marked points. In particular, we show that both its first and its third cohomology group vanish and the second cohomology group is generated by boundary classes.
We compute the rational cohomology ring of \bar R_2, the (compactified) moduli space of Prym curves of genus 2. We also recompute the rational cohomology ring of \bar S_2, the moduli space of spin curves of genus 2, thereby correcting some errors made in an article by G. Bini and C. Fontanari, containing a computation of the same ring.
We compute the rational cohomology of the moduli space of trigonal curves of genus 5. We do this by considering their natural embedding in the first Hirzebruch surface and by using Gorinov-Vassiliev's method.
We study normal compact Kähler spaces whose rational cohomology ring is isomorphic to that of a complex torus. We call them rational cohomology tori. We classify, up to dimension three, those with rational singularities. We then give constraints on the degree of the Albanese morphism and the number of simple factors of the Albanese variety for rational cohomology tori of general type (hence projective) with rational singularities. Their properties are related to the birational geometry of smooth projective varieties of general type, maximal Albanese dimension, and with vanishing holomorphic Eu…
The purpose of this paper is to show that the third unramified cohomology with divisible coefficients of a smooth projective geometrically rational threefold over a finite field must vanish under $\Z_{\ell}$-exactness Hard Lefschetz condition.
We show that the number of generators of the n-th cotangent cohomology group (n >=2) is the same for all rational surface singularities Y. For a large class of rational surface singularities, including quotient singularities, this number is also the dimension. For them we obtain an explicit formula for the corresponding Poincare series.
We present two approaches to the study of the cohomology of moduli spaces of curves. Together, they allow us to compute the rational cohomology of the moduli space \Mbar_4 of stable complex curves of genus 4, with its Hodge structure.
We explicitly describe cohomology of the sheaf of differential forms with poles along a semiample divisor on a complete simplicial toric variety. As an application, we obtain a new vanishing theorem which is an analogue of the Bott-Steenbrink-Danilov vanishing theorem.
We investigate low degree rational cohomology groups of smooth compactifications of moduli spaces of curves with level structures. In particular, we determine $H^k(\sgbar, \Q)$ for $g \ge 2$ and $k \le 3$, where $\sgbar$ denotes the moduli space of spin curves of genus $g$.
We study Weil-etale cohomology, introduced by Lichtenbaum for varieties over finite fields. In the first half of the paper we give an explicit description of the base change from Weil-etale cohomology to etale cohomology. As a consequence, we get a long exact sequence relating Weil-etale cohomology to etale cohomology, show that for finite coefficients the cohomology theories agree, and with rational coefficients a Weil-etale cohomology group is the direct sum of two etale cohomology groups. In the second half of the paper we restrict ourselves to Weil-etale cohomology of the motivic complex. …
We prove the vanishing modulo torsion of the higher direct images of the sheaf of Witt vectors (and the Witt canonical sheaf) for a purely inseparable projective alteration between normal finite quotients over a perfect field. For this, we show that the relative Hodge-Witt cohomology admits an action of correspondences. As an application we define Witt-rational singularities which form a broader class than rational singularities. In particular, finite quotients have Witt-rational singularities. In addition, we prove that the torsion part of the Witt vector cohomology of a smooth, proper scheme…
Let $f: X \rightarrow A$ be an abelian cover from a complex algebraic variety with quotient singularities to an abelian variety. We show that $f^*$ induces an isomorphism between the rational cohomology rings $H^\bullet(A, \mathbb{Q})$ and $H^\bullet(X, \mathbb{Q})$ if and only if $f^*$ induces an isomorphism between the Chow rings with rational coefficients $\mathrm{CH}^\bullet(A)_{\mathbb{Q}}$ and $\mathrm{CH}^\bullet(X)_{\mathbb{Q}}$.
We give a combinatorial description of the rational cohomology of the moduli spaces of pointed genus 1 curves with $n$ marked points and level $N$ structures. More precisely, we explicitly describe the $E_2$ term of the Leray spectral sequence of the forgetful mapping $\EuScript{M}_{1,n}(N)\to\EuScript{M}_{1,1}(N)$ and show that the result is isomorphic to the rational cohomology of $\EuScript{M}_{1,n}(N)$ as a rational mixed Hodge structure equipped with an action of the symmetric group $\mathfrak{S}_n$. The classical moduli space $\EuScript{M}_{1,n}$ is the particular case N=1.
We determine the action of the product of symmetric groups on the cohomology of certain moduli of weighted pointed rational curves. The moduli spaces that we study are of stable rational curves with m+n marked points where the first m marked points are distinct from all the others where as the last n may coincide among themselves. We give a recipe for calculating the equivariant Poincaré polynomials and list them for small m and n.
We give a new method for calculating the cohomology of the normal bundles over rational varieties which are smooth projections of Veronese embeddings. The method can be used also when the projections are not smooth, in this case it provides information about the critical locus of maps between projective spaces.
The cotangent cohomology groups T^1 and T^2 play an important role in deformation theory, the first as space of infinitesimal deformations, while the obstructions land in the second. Much work has been done to compute their dimension for rational surface singularities. For such singularities we give explicit dimension formulas for the groups T^i with i>2.
We use intuitive results from algebraic topology and intersection theory to clarify the pullback action on cohomology by compositions of rational maps. We use these techniques to prove a simple sufficient criterion for functoriality of a composition of two rational maps on all degrees of cohomology and we then reprove the criteria of Diller-Favre, Bedford-Kim, and Dinh-Sibony. We conclude with a cautionary example.
Let X be a complex algebraic manifold of dimension n+1 embedded in a sufficiently higher dimensional complex projective space, and Y a generic hyperplane section of X. We describe the mixed Hodge structure on H^p(X-Y,C) and the Hodge filtration of the middle primitive cohomology group H^n(Y,C)_0 of Y in terms of rational integrals on X. (Key words: Primitive cohomology, Rational integral of the 2nd kind, Generalized Poincare residue map, Hodge filtration, Mixed Hodge structure)
The rational cohomology ring of A_3, the moduli space of abelian 3-folds is computed. This is isomorphic to the the rational cohomology ring of the group Sp_3(Z) of 6x6 integral symplectic matrices. The main ingredients in the computation are (1) Looijenga's computation of the rational cohomology ring of M_3, the moduli space of smooth projective curves of genus 3, and (2) the stratified Morse theory of Goresky and MacPherson, which we use to compute the homology of the jacobian locus (in the rank 3 Siegel upper half plane), or equivalently of the extended Torelli group in genus 3. In the revi…
We give algorithms for the computation of the algebraic de Rham cohomology of open and closed algebraic sets inside projective space or other smooth complex toric varieties. The methods, which are based on Gröbner basis computations in rings of differential operators, can also be used to compute the cohomology of intersections of smooth closed and open subsets, and in certain situations the cup-product structure. We give some examples which were carried out with the help of \Mtwo.
We prove that the Poincare' polynomial of the moduli space of smooth genus 4 curves is 1+t^2+t^4+t^5. We show this by producing a stratification of the space, such that all strata are geometric quotients of complements of discriminants.
The toric variety corresponding to the Coxeter fan of type A can also be described as a De Concini-Procesi wonderful model. Using a general result of Rains which relates cohomology of real De Concini-Procesi models to poset homology, we give formulas for the Betti numbers of the real toric variety, and the symmetric group representations on the rational cohomologies. We also show that the rational cohomology ring is not generated in degree 1.
We prove dimension formulas for the cotangent spaces $T^{1}$ and $T^{2}$ for a class of rational surface singularities by calculating a correction term in the general dimension formulas. We get that it is zero if the dual graph of the rational surface singularity $X$ does not contain a particular type of configurations, and this generalizes a result of Theo de Jong stating that the correction term $c(X)$ is zero for rational determinantal surface singularities. In particular our result implies that $c(X)$ is zero for Riemenschneiders quasi-determinantal rational surface singularities, and this…
The Hurwitz space is a compactification of the space of rational functions of a given degree. The Lyashko-Looijenga map assigns to a rational function the set of its critical values. It is known that the number of ramified coverings of CP^1 by CP^1 with prescribed ramification points and ramification types is related to the degree of the Lyashko--Looijenga map on various strata of the Hurwitz space. Here we explain how the degree of the Lyashko-Looijenga map is related to the intersection theory on this space. We describe the cohomology algebra of the Hurwitz space and prove several relations …
We compute rational $T$-equivariant elliptic cohomology of CP(V), where $T$ is the circle group, and CP(V) is the $T$-space of complex lines for a finite dimensional complex $T$-representation V. Starting from an elliptic curve C over the complex numbers and a coordinate data around the identity, we achieve this computation by proving that the $T$-equivariant elliptic cohomology theory $EC_T$ built in [Gre05], and the $T^2$-equivariant elliptic cohomology theory $EC_{T^2}$ built in [Bar22] are 1x$T$-split. This result allows us to reduce the computation of $EC_T(CP(V))$ to the computation of $…
We give a recursive algorithm for computing the character of the cohomology of the moduli space $\Mmb_{0,n}$ of stable $n$-pointed genus zero curves as a representation of the symmetric group $\Sg_n$ on $n$ letters. Using the algorithm we can show a formula for the maximum length of this character. Our main tool is connected to the moduli spaces of weighted stable curves introduced by Hassett.
This note gives the complete projective classification of rational, cuspidal plane curves of degree at least 6, and having only weighted homogeneous singularities. It also sheds new light on some previous characterizations of free and nearly free curves in terms of Tjurina numbers. Finally, we suggest a stronger form of Terao's conjecture on the freeness of a line arrangement being determined by its combinatorics.
We construct a rational $T^2$-equivariant elliptic cohomology theory for the 2-torus $T^2$, starting from an elliptic curve C over the complex numbers and a coordinate data around the identity. The theory is defined by constructing an object $EC_{T^2}$ in the algebraic model category $dA(T^2)$, which by Greenlees and Shipley is Quillen-equivalent to rational $T^2$-spectra. This result is a generalization to the 2-torus of the construction [Gre05] for the circle. The object $EC_{T^2}$ is directly built using geometric inputs coming from the Cousin complex of the structure sheaf of the surface C…
We show a counterexample to a conjecture of de Bobadilla, Luengo, Melle-Hernández and Némethi on rational cuspidal projective plane curves. The counterexample is a tricuspidal curve of degree 8. On the other hand, we show that if the number of cusps is at most 2, then the original conjecture can be deduced from the recent results of Borodzik and Livingston and (lattice cohomology) computations of Némethi and Román. Then we formulate a `simplified' (slightly weaker) version, more in the spirit of the motivation of the original conjecture (comparing index type numerical invariants), and we prove…
In this note we extend some of the results of a previous paper \url{arXiv:math/0511593} to algebraically closed fields of finite characteristic. In particular, we show that there is an explicit expression in $n$ and $d$ which is divisible by the prime to $p$ part of the order of the the automorphism group of a smooth degree $d$ hypersurface $\subset \mathbb{P}^n_k$ for $k$ an algebraically closed field of characteristic $p$.
In this paper, motivated by a problem posed by Barry Mazur, we show that for smooth projective varieties over the rationals, the odd cohomology groups of degree less than or equal to the dimension can be modeled by the cohomology of an abelian variety, provided the geometric coniveau is maximal. This provides an affirmative answer to Mazur's question for all uni-ruled threefolds, for instance. Concerning cohomology in degree three, we show that the image of the Abel--Jacobi map admits a distinguished model over the rationals.
In this article formulas for the quantum product of a rational surface are given, and used to give an algebro-geometric proof of the associativity of the quantum product for strict Del Pezzo surfaces, those for which $-K$ is very ample. An argument for the associativity in general is proposed, which also avoids resorting to the symplectic category. The enumerative predictions of Kontsevich and Manin concerning the degree of the rational curve locus in a linear system are recovered. The associativity of the quantum product for the cubic surface is shown to be essentially equivalent to the class…
Let $X$ be a rational homogeneous space and let $QH^*(X)_{loc}^\times$ be the group of invertible elements in the small quantum cohomology ring of $X$ localised in the quantum parameters. We generalise results of arXiv:math/0609796 and realise explicitly the map $π_1({\rm Aut}(X))\to QH^*(X)_{loc}^\times$ described in arXiv:dg-ga/9511011. We even prove that this map is an embedding and realise it in the equivariant quantum cohomology ring $QH^*_T(X)_{loc}^\times$. We give explicit formulas for the product by these elements. The proof relies on a generalisation, to a quotient of the equivariant…
In this follow-up paper we show that smooth Hodge-proper stacks over $\mathcal O_K$ are $\mathbb Q_p$-locally acyclic: namely the natural map between étale $\mathbb Q_p$-cohomology of the algebraic and Raynaud generic fibers is an equivalence. This establishes the $\mathbb Q_p$-case of general conjectures made in our previous work. As a corollary, we get that if a smooth Artin stack over $K$ has a smooth Hodge-proper model over $\mathcal O_K$, its $\mathbb Q_p$-étale cohomology is a crystalline Galois representation. We then also establish a truncated version of the above results in more gener…
In this expository article we give a categorical definition of the integral cohomology ring of a stack. We show that for quotient stacks the categorical cohomology may be identified with equivariant cohomology. Via this identification we show that for Deligne-Mumford quotient stacks this cohomology is rationally isomorphic to the rational cohomology of the coarse moduli space. The theory is presented with a focus on the stacks of smooth and stable curves.
The main goal of the present paper are new formulae for degrees of strata in Hurwitz spaces of rational functions having two degenerate critical values with preimages of prescribed multiplicities. We consider the case where the multiplicities of the preimages of one critical value are arbitrary, while the second critical value has degeneracy of codimension~$1$. Our formulae are based on the universal cohomological expressions for codimension~$1$ strata in terms of certain basic cohomology classes in general Hurwitz spaces of rational functions obtained by M.~Kazarian and S.~Lando. We prove new…
The main purpose of this paper is to show that the mixed Hodge polynomial of the ``space of equations'' for smooth complete intersections of given multidegree in $\mathbb{C} P^n$ is divisible by the mixed Hodge polynomial of the group $\mathrm{GL}_{n+1}(\mathbb{C})$, the quotient being the mixed Hodge polynomial of the corresponding quotient space. As a by-product of the method used in the proof, we obtain expressions divisible by the order the automorphism group of any smooth projective hypersurface of given dimension and degree
These are detailed notes on a variant of the non-abelian cohomology developed by Minhyong Kim in arXiv:0409456 (published in Invent. Math.) to study rational points of varieties over number fields. The current variant is used in arXiv:1001.5008 to study rational points of the restriction of the universal curve to the generic point of M_{g,n}.
For $x$ an element of a field other than $0$ or $1$, we compute the order $n$ Massey products $$\langle (1-x)^{-1}, x^{-1}, \ldots, x^{-1}, (1-x)^{-1} \rangle$$ of $n-2$ factors of $x^{-1}$ and two factors of $(1-x)^{-1}$ by embedding $\mathbb{P}^1 - \{0,1,\infty\}$ into its Picard variety and constructing $\operatorname{Gal}(k^s/k)$ equivariant maps from $π_1$ applied to this embedding to unipotent matrix groups. This method produces obstructions to $π_1$-sections of $\mathbb{P}^1 - \{0,1,\infty\}$, partial computations of obstructions of Jordan Ellenberg, and also computes the Massey product…
We prove that given any rational Hodge isometry $ψ:H^2(S_1,\mathbb{Q})\rightarrow H^2(S_2,\mathbb{Q})$ between any two Kähler $K3$ surfaces $S_1$ and $S_2$ the cohomology class of $ψ$ in $H^{2,2}(S_1\times S_2)$ is a polynomial in Chern classes of coherent analytic sheaves over $S_1 \times S_2$. Consequently, the cohomology class of $ψ$ is algebraic whenever $S_1$ and $S_2$ are algebraic.
We show that for quasi-compact quasi-separated schemes of finite dimension, the constructibility condition in real étale cohomology agrees with a notion of constructibility arising naturally from topology. As application we prove that the derived direct image functor preserves constructibility under some assumptions, and compute the Grothendieck group of the constructible rational stable motivic homotopy category for reasonable schemes. We prove the generic base change property for constructible real étale sheaves, and deduce the same property for rational motivic spectra and $b$-sheaves.
We compute the rational cohomology of the moduli space of non-singular non-hyperelliptic complex projective curves of genus 3 with an odd theta characteristic.
We study the Fulton-Macpherson operational Chow rings of good moduli spaces of properly stable, smooth, Artin stacks. Such spaces are étale locally isomorphic to geometric invariant theory quotients of affine schemes, and are therefore natural extensions of GIT quotients. Our main result is that, with rational coefficients, every operational class can be represented by a so-called topologically strong cycle on the corresponding stack. Moreover, this cycle is unique modulo rational equivalence on the stack. Using out methods, we prove that if $X$ is the good moduli space of a properly stable, s…
