Consider a smooth irreducible Hodge generic curve $S$ defined over $\bar{\Q}$ in the Torelli locus $T_g\subset \mathcal{A}_g$. We establish Zilber-Pink-type statements for such curves depending on their intersection with the boundary of the Baily-Borel compactification of $\mathcal{A}_g$. For example, when our curve intersects the $0$-dimensional stratum of this boundary and $g$ is odd, we show that there are only finitely many points in the curve for which the corresponding Jacobian variety is non-simple.
These results follow as a special case of height bounds for exceptional points in $1$-parameter variations of geometric Hodge structures via André's G-functions method, which we extend here to the setting of such variations of odd weight.
We prove the non-existence of Shimura subvarieties of positive dimension contained generically in the hyperelliptic Torelli locus for curves of genus at least 8, which is an analogue of Oort's conjecture in the hyperelliptic case.
For infinitely many Hurwitz spaces parametrizing cyclic covers of the projective line, we provide a method to determine the integral PEL datum of the Shimura variety that contains the image of the Hurwitz space under the Torelli morphism.
We study the Torelli locus T_g in the moduli space A_g of abelian varieties. We consider special subvarieties (Shimura subvarieties) contained in the Torelli locus. We review the construction of some non-trivial examples, and we discuss some conjectures, techniques and recent progress.
Let $g \geq 2$ and let the Torelli map denote the map sending a genus $g$ curve to its principally polarized Jacobian. We show that the restriction of the Torelli map to the hyperelliptic locus is an immersion in characteristic not $2$. In characteristic $2$, we show the Torelli map restricted to the hyperelliptic locus fails to be an immersion because it is generically inseparable; moreover, the induced map on tangent spaces has kernel of dimension $g-2$ at every point.
Oort has conjectured that there do not exist Shimura curves lying generically in the Torelli locus of curves of genus $g \geq 8$. We show that there do not exist one-dimensional Shimura families of semi-stable curves of genus $g\geq 5$ of Mumford type. We also show that there do not exist Shimura curves lying generically in the Torelli locus of hyperelliptic curves of genus $g\geq 8$. The first result proves a slightly weaker form of the conjecture for the case of Shimura curves of Mumford type. The second result proves the conjecture for the Torelli locus of hyperelliptic curves. We also pres…
We study the problem of non-existence of totally geodesic complex ball quotients in the open Torelli locus in a moduli space of principally polarized Abelian varieties using analytic techniques.
Oort has conjectured that there do not exist Shimura curves contained generically in the Torelli locus of genus-$g$ curves when $g$ is large enough. In this paper we prove the Oort conjecture for Shimura curves of Mumford type and Shimura curves parameterizing principally polarized $g$-dimensional abelian varieties isogenous to $g$-fold self-products of elliptic curves for $g>11$. We also prove that there do not exist Shimura curves contained generically in the Torelli locus of hyperelliptic curves of genus $g>7$. As a consequence, we obtain a finiteness result regarding smooth genus-$g$ curve…
Genus $g$ Torelli space is the moduli space of genus $g$ curves of compact type equipped with a homology framing. The hyperelliptic locus is a closed analytic subvariety consisting of finitely many mutually isomorphic components. We use properties of the hyperelliptic Torelli group to show that when $g\geq 3$ these components do not have the homotopy type of a finite CW complex. Specifically, we show that the second rational homology of each component is infinite-dimensional. We give a more detailed description of the topological features of these components when $g=3$ using properties of genu…
An algebraic subvariety Z of A_g is totally geodesic if it is the image via the natural projection map of some totally geodesic submanifold X of the Siegel space. We say that X is the symmetric space uniformizing Z. In this paper we determine which symmetric space uniformizes each of the low genus counterexamples to the Coleman-Oort conjecture obtained studying Galois covers of curves. It is known that the counterexamples obtained via Galois covers of elliptic curves admit two fibrations in totally geodesic subvarieties. The second result of the paper studies the relationship between these fib…
We prove the generic exclusion of certain Shimura varieties of unitary and orthogonal types from the Torelli locus. The proof relies on a slope inequality on surface fibration due to G. Xiao, and the main result implies that certain Shimura varieties only meet the Torelli locus in dimension zero.
Given a family of Galois coverings of the projective line we give a simple sufficient condition ensuring that the closure of the image of the family via the period mapping is a special (or Shimura) subvariety in A_g. By a computer program we get the list of all families in genus up to 8 satisfying our condition. There is no family in genus 8, all of them are in genus at most 7. These examples are related to a conjecture of Oort. Among them we get the cyclic examples constructed by various authors (Shimura, Mostow, De Jong-Noot, Rohde, Moonen and others) and the abelian non-cyclic examples foun…
In this note we survey recent results on the extrinsic geometry of the Jacobian locus inside $\mathsf{A}_g$. We describe the second fundamental form of the Torelli map as a multiplication map, recall the relation between totally geodesic subvarieties and Hodge loci and survey various results related to totally geodesic subvarieties and the Jacobian locus.
In this paper we give a geometric interpretation of the second fundamental form of the period map of curves and we use it to improve the upper bounds on the dimension of a totally geodesic subvariety Y of A_g generically contained in the Torelli locus obtained in [3], [7]. We get dim Y < 2g if g is even, dim Y < 2g+1 if g is odd. We also study totally geodesic subvarieties Z of A_g generically contained in the hyperelliptic Torelli locus and we show that dim Z < g+2.
We study Shimura subvarieties of $\mathsf{A}_g$ obtained from families of Galois coverings $f: C \rightarrow C'$ where $C'$ is a smooth complex projective curve of genus $g' \geq 1$ and $g= g(C)$. We give the complete list of all such families that satisfy a simple sufficient condition that ensures that the closure of the image of the family via the Torelli map yields a Shimura subvariety of $\mathsf{A}_g$ for $g' =1,2$ and for all $g \geq 2,4$ and for $g' > 2$ and $g \leq 9$. In a previous work of the first and second author together with A. Ghigi [FGP] similar computations were done in the c…
We prove that the hyperelliptic Torelli group is generated by Dehn twists about separating curves that are preserved by the hyperelliptic involution. This verifies a conjecture of Hain. The hyperelliptic Torelli group can be identified with the kernel of the Burau representation evaluated at t=-1 and also the fundamental group of the branch locus of the period mapping, and so we obtain analogous generating sets for those. One application is that each component in Torelli space of the locus of hyperelliptic curves becomes simply connected when curves of compact type are added.
Mess showed that the genus 2 Torelli group $T_2$ is isomorphic to a free group of countably infinite rank by showing that genus 2 Torelli space is homotopy equivalent to an infinite wedge of circles. As an application of his computation, we compute the homotopy type of the zero locus of any classical genus 2 theta function in $\mathfrak{h}_2 \times \mathbb{C}^2$, where $\mathfrak{h}_2$ denotes rank 2 Siegel space. Specifically, we show that the zero locus of any such function is homotopy equivalent to an infinite wedge of 2-spheres.
We study the Torelli morphism from the moduli space of stable curves to the moduli space of principally polarized stable semi-abelic pairs. We give two characterizations of its fibers, describe its injectivity locus, and give a sharp upper bound on the cardinality of the finite fibers. We also bound the dimension of the infinite fibers. In particular, we obtain that the compactified Torelli map is injective away from curve with separating nodes if and only if the genus is at most 4.
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.
We describe the intersection of the Torelli locus $j(\mathcal{M}_4^{ct}) = \mathcal{J}_4$ with Newton and Ekedahl-Oort strata related to the supersingular locus in characteristic two. We show that the locus of supersingular Jacobians $\mathcal{S}_4\cap\mathcal{J}_4$ in characteristic two is pure of dimension three. One way to obtain that result uses an analysis of the data of smooth genus four curves and principally polarized abelian fourfolds defined over $\mathbb{F}_2$, and another involves studying the Ekedahl-Oort types and using the indecomposability of some $\mathrm{BT}_1$ group schemes.
We prove that the ramified Prym map $\mathcal P_{g, r}$ which sends a covering $π:D\longrightarrow C$ ramified in $r$ points to the Prym variety $P(π):=\text{Ker}(\text{Nm}_π)$ is an embedding for all $r\ge 6$ and for all $g(C)>0$. Moreover, by studying the restriction to the locus of coverings of hyperelliptic curves, we show that $\mathcal P_{g, 2}$ and $\mathcal P_{g, 4}$ have positive dimensional fibers.
In this paper we study the Oort conjecture on Shimura subvarieties contained generically in the Torelli locus in the Siegel modular variety $\mathcal{A}_g$. Using the poly-stability of Higgs bundles on curves and the slope inequality of Xiao on fibred surfaces, we show that a Shimura curve $C$ is not contained generically in the Torelli locus if its canonical Higgs bundles contains a unitary Higgs subbundle of rank at least $(4g+2)/5$. From this we prove that a Shimura subvariety of $\mathbf{SU}(n,1)$-type is not contained generically in the Torelli locus when a numerical inequality holds, whi…
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
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…
We show the existence of two new Shimura subvarieties of $\mathcal{A}_2, \mathcal{A}_3$ generically contained in the Torelli locus. They provide the first examples of Shimura subvarieties obtained by means of Jacobians carrying non-trivial endomorphisms not directly induced by the automorphisms of the curves. We also obtain a new example of a Shimura subvariety of $\mathcal{A}_4$ generically contained in the Prym locus.
Let $\mathcal{A}_{g}$ be the moduli space of $g$-dimensional principally polarized abelian varieties over $\mathbb{Z}$, and let $\mathcal{T} \subset \mathcal{A}_{g}$ be a closed locus, also defined over $\mathbb{Z}$. Motivated by unlikely intersection conjectures, we study the intersection of $\mathcal{T}_{\mathbb{F}_{p}}$ with the Bruhat strata in $\mathcal{A}_{g,\mathbb{F}_{p}}$ as $p$-varies; these are strata characterized by the existence of certain subgroup schemes inside the $p$-torsion of the fibres. We find that, away from a finite set of primes, positive-dimensional ``unlikely'' inter…
As for any symmetric space the tangent space to Siegel upper-half space is endowed with an operation coming from the Lie bracket on the Lie algebra. We consider the pull-back of this operation to the moduli space of curves via the Torelli map. We characterize it in terms of the geometry of the curve, using the Bergman kernel form associated to the curve. It is known that the second fundamental form of the Torelli map outside the hyperelliptic locus can be seen as the multiplication by a certain meromorphic form. Our second result says that the Bergman kernel form is the harmonic representative…
This article is a generalisation of results of Ciliberto and Sernesi. For a general canonically embedded curve $C$ of genus $g\geq 5$, let $d\le g-1$ be an integer such that the Brill--Noether number $ρ(g,d,1)=g-2(g-d+1)\geq 1$. We study the family of $d$-secant $\mathbb{P}^{d-2}$'s to $C$ induced by the smooth locus of the Brill--Noether locus $W^1_d(C)$. Using the theory of foci and a structure theorem for the rank one locus of special $1$-generic matrices by Eisenbud and Harris, we prove a Torelli-type theorem for general curves by reconstructing the curve from its Brill--Noether loci $W^1_…
This paper contains two results on Hodge loci in the moduli space of curves. The first concerns fibrations over curves with a non-trivial flat part in the Fujita decomposition. If local Torelli theorem holds for the fibres and the fibration is non-trivial, an appropriate exterior power of the cohomology of the fiber admits a Hodge substructure. In the case of curves it follows that the moduli image of the fibers is contained in a proper Hodge locus. The second result deals with divisors in the moduli space of curves. It is proved that the image of a divisor in the moduli of principally polariz…
Let $C$ be a hyperelliptic curve embedded in its Jacobian $J$ via an Abel-Jacobi map. We compute the scheme structure of the Hilbert scheme component of $\textrm{Hilb}_J$ containing the Abel-Jacobi curve as a point. We relate the result to the ramification (and to the fibres) of the Torelli morphism $\mathcal M_g\rightarrow \mathcal A_g$ along the hyperelliptic locus. As an application, we determine the scheme structure of the moduli space of Picard sheaves (introduced by Mukai) on a hyperelliptic Jacobian.
