We prove relations among the classes of certain divisors on the moduli spaces of curves with marked points, generalizing the Brill-Noether Ray Theorem of Eisenbud and Harris.
We define a divisorial motivic zeta function for stable curves with marked points which agrees with Kapranov's motivic zeta function when the curve is smooth and unmarked. We show that this zeta function is rational, and give a formula in terms of the dual graph of the curve.
We study effective divisors on $\overline{M}_{0,n}$, focusing on hypertree divisors introduced by Castravet and Tevelev and the proper transforms of divisors on $\overline{M}_{1,n-2}$ introduced by Chen and Coskun. Results include a database of hypertree divisor classes and closed formulas for Chen--Coskun divisor classes. We relate these two types of divisors, and from this construct extremal divisors on $\overline{M}_{0,n}$ for $n \geq 7$ that furnish counterexamples to the conjectural description of the effective cone of $\overline{M}_{0,n}$ given by Castravet and Tevelev.
The moduli space of canonical divisors (with prescribed zeros and poles) on nonsingular curves is not compact since the curve may degenerate. We define a proper moduli space of twisted canonical divisors in the moduli space of Deligne-Mumford stable pointed curves which includes the space of canonical divisors as an open subset. The theory leads to geometric/combinatorial constraints on the closures of the moduli spaces of canonical divisors. In case the differentials have at least one pole (the strictly meromorphic case), the moduli spaces of twisted canonical divisors on genus g curves are o…
We study birational projective models of ${\mathcal M}_{2,2}$ obtained from the moduli space of curves with nonspecial divisors. We describe geometrically which singular curves appear in these models and show that one of them is obtained by blowing down the Weierstrass divisor in the moduli stack of ${\mathcal Z}$-stable curves $\overline{\mathcal M}_{2,2}({\mathcal Z})$ defined by Smyth. As a corollary, we prove projectivity of the coarse moduli space $\overline{M}_{2,2}({\mathcal Z})$.
Given a moduli problem with a nice coarse moduli space, which is the most intrinsic and natural divisor on this moduli space? We describe a general method of constructing effective divisors on a large class of moduli spaces using the syzygies of the parametrized objects. In this paper we treat the case of the moduli space of curves and we compute the slope of a doubly infinite sequence of Koszul divisors on M_g. We present a single formula which apart from giving myriads of new counterexamples to the Harris-Morrison Slope Conjecture it also encodes virtually all interesting divisor class calcu…
We prove that the moduli b-divisor of an lc-trivial fibration from a log canonical pair is log abundant. The result follows from a theorem on the restriction of the moduli b-divisor, based on a theory of lc-trivial morphisms, which allows us to treat $\mathbb{R}$-divisors and proper morphisms possibly with disconnected fibres. We also prove a theorem on extending a finite cover over a closed subvariety to that over a variety in arbitrary characteristic.
In this note, we extend work of Farkas and Rimányi on applying quadric rank loci to finding divisors of small slope on the moduli space of curves by instead considering all divisorial conditions on the hypersurfaces of a fixed degree containing a projective curve. This gives rise to a large family of virtual divisors on $\overline{\mathcal{M}_g}$. We determine explicitly which of these divisors are candidate counterexamples to the Slope Conjecture. The potential counterexamples exist on $\overline{\mathcal{M}_g}$, where the set of possible values of $g\in \{1,\ldots,N\}$ has density $Ω(\log(N)…
In this paper we give a lower bound for the codimension of the Andreotti-Mayer loci in the moduli space of principally polarized complex abelian varieties. We also present a conjecture on this codimension.
We show that a cubic fourfold F that is apolar to a Veronese surface has the property that its variety of power sums VSP(F,10) is singular along a K3 surface of genus 20. We prove that these cubics form a divisor in the moduli space of cubic fourfolds and that this divisor is not a Noether-Lefschetz divisor. We use this result to prove that there is no nontrivial Hodge correspondence between a very general cubic and its VSP.
S. Kondō used periods of $K3$ surfaces to prove that the moduli space of genus three curves is birational to an arithmetic quotient of a complex 6-ball. In this paper we study Heegner divisors in the ball quotient, given by arithmetically defined hyperplane sections of the ball. We show that the corresponding loci of genus three curves are given by: hyperelliptic curves, singular plane quartics and plane quartics admitting certain rational "splitting curves".
In this mostly expository paper we review several known results about the cohomology of moduli spaces of smooth and stable curves, focusing in particular on low degree cohomology. We also give a new proof of Harer's theorem describing the second cohomology group of the moduli space of smooth n-pointed curves of given genus
Let $X$ be a smooth projective complex curve of genus $g \geq 2$ and let $\M_X(2,Λ)$ be the moduli space of semi-stable rank-$2$ vector bundles over $X$ with fixed determinant $Λ$. We show that the wobbly locus, i.e., the locus of semi-stable vector bundles admitting a non-zero nilpotent Higgs field is a union of divisors $\Ww_k \subset \M_X(2,Λ)$. We show that on one wobbly divisor the set of maximal subbundles is degenerate. We also compute the class of the divisors $\Ww_k$ in the Picard group of $\M_X(2,Λ)$.
This paper is an expository survey of results about the effective divisors on moduli spaces, with a focus on what is known about the effective cones of moduli spaces of stable curves and of principally polarized abelian varieties. This version incorporates clarifications and suggestions of Ana-Maria Castravet and the referee, both of whom we thank. To appear in the proceedings of the conference, "Joe at 60:A Celebration of Algebraic Geometry" edited by Brendan Hassett, James McKernan, Jason Starr and Ravi Vakil.
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 $2k$.
Let $f \colon (X,Δ) \to Y$ be a fibration such that $K_X + Δ$ is torsion along the fibres of $f$. Assume that $Y$ has dimension 2, or that $Y$ has dimension 3 and the fibres have dimension at most 3. Then the restriction of the moduli part to its augmented base locus is semiample.
We introduce a new technique for proving positivity of certain divisor classes on $\bar{M}_{0,n}$ and its weighted variants. Our methods give an unconditional description of the spaces of symmetric weighted pointed rational curves as log canonical models of $\bar{M}_{0,n}$.
Roughly speaking, by using the semi-stable minimal model program, we prove that the moduli part of an lc-trivial fibration coincides with that of a klt-trivial fibration induced by adjunction after taking a suitable generically finite cover. As an application, we obtain that the moduli part of an lc-trivial fibration is b-nef and abundant by Ambro's result on klt-trivial fibrations.
We construct a moduli space of adequately marked Enriques surfaces that have a supersingular K3 cover over fields of characteristic $p \geq 3$. We show that this moduli space exists as a scheme locally of finite type over $\mathbb{F}_p$. Moreover, there exists a period map from this moduli space to a period scheme and we obtain a Torelli theorem for supersingular Enriques surfaces.
In this paper for each $n\ge g\ge 0$ we consider the moduli stack $\widetilde{\mathcal U}^{ns}_{g,n}$ of curves $(C,p_1,\ldots,p_n,v_1,\ldots,v_n)$ of arithmetic genus $g$ with $n$ smooth marked points $p_i$ and nonzero tangent vectors $v_i$ at them, such that the divisor $p_1+\ldots+p_n$ is nonspecial (has no $h^1$) and ample. With some mild restrictions on the characteristic we show that it is a scheme, affine over the Grassmannian $G(n-g,n)$. We also construct an isomorphism of $\widetilde{\mathcal U}^{ns}_{g,n}$ with a certain relative moduli of $A_\infty$-structures (up to an equivalence)…
We consider the moduli space of log smooth pairs formed by a cubic surface and an anticanonical divisor. We describe all compactifications of this moduli space which are constructed using Geometric Invariant Theory and the anticanonical polarization. The construction depends on a weight on the divisor. For smaller weights the stable pairs consist of mildly singular surfaces and very singular divisors. Conversely, a larger weight allows more singular surfaces, but it restricts the singularities on the divisor. The one-dimensional space of stability conditions decomposes in a wall-chamber struct…
We determine generators for the codimension 1 Chow group of the moduli spaces of genus zero stable maps to flag varieties G/P. In the case of SL flags, we find all relations between our generators, showing that they essentially come from $\bar M_{0,n}$. In addition, we analyze the codimension 2 classes on the moduli spaces of stable maps to Grassmannians and prove a new codimension 2 relation. This will lead to a partial reconstruction theorem for the Grassmannian of 2 planes.
We complete the proof of the fact that the moduli space of rank two bundles with trivial determinant embeds into the linear system of divisors on $Pic^{g-1}C$ which are linearly equivalent to $2Θ$. The embedded tangent space at a semi-stable non-stable bundle $ξ\oplusξ^{-1}$, where $ξ$ is a degree zero line bundle, is shown to consist of those divisors in $|2Θ|$ which contain $Sing(Θ_ξ)$ where $Θ_ξ$ is the translate of $Θ$ by $ξ$. We also obtain geometrical results on the structure of this tangent space.
In this paper, we initiate our investigation of log canonical models for the moduli space of curves with the boundary divisor $\a \d$ as we decrease $\a$ from 1 to 0. We prove that for the first critical value $\a = 9/11$, the log canonical model is isomorphic to the moduli space of pseudostable curves, which have nodes and cusps as singularities. We also show that $\a = 7/10$ is the next critical value, i.e., the log canonical model stays the same in the interval $(7/10, 9/11]$. In the appendix, we develop a theory of log canonical models of stacks that explains how these can be expressed in …
We study here the tautological rings of the moduli spaces of compact Riemann surfaces of genus 1,2,3 and 4 with marked points. The paper presents the complete descriptions of these rings by describing the groups of all degrees.
We establish a new moduli theory for divisors, that interpolates between the Hilbert scheme and the Cayley-Chow variety. This completes the last step in the construction of a good moduli theory for stable pairs $(X,Δ)$.
Naruki gave an explicit construction of the moduli space of marked cubic surfaces, starting from a toric variety and proceeding with blow ups and contractions. Using his result, we compute the Chow groups and the Chern classes of this moduli space.As an application we relate a recent result of Freitag on the Hilbert polynomial of a certain ring of modular forms to the Riemann-Roch theorem for the moduli space.
We give a bound on which singularities may appear on Kollár--Shepherd-Barron--Alexeev stable surfaces for a wide range of topological invariants and use this result to describe all stable numerical quintic surfaces (KSBA-stable surfaces with $K^2=χ=5$) whose unique non Du Val singularity is a Wahl singularity. We then extend the deformation theory of Horikawa to the log setting in order to describe the boundary divisor of the moduli space $\overline{\mathcal{M}}_{5,5}$ corresponding to these surfaces. Quintic surfaces are the simplest examples of surfaces of general type and the question of de…
We perform an intersection theoretic study of the rational map between two different moduli spaces of stable curves which associates to a curve its corresponding Brill-Noether locus (in the case this locus has virtual dimension 1). We then use these results to describe the cone of moving divisors on M_g. Several other applications to moduli spaces of Prym varieties are presented. In a different direction, we prove that the locus in M_g of curves failing to satisfy the Gieseker-Petri theorem is supported in codimension 1 for every possible type of linear series.
The relation between the uniformizing equation of the complex hyperbolic structure on the moduli space of marked cubic surfaces and an Appell-Lauricella hypergeometric system in nine variables is clarified.
We compute all the top intersection numbers of divisors on the total space of the Poincare bundle restricted to the product of a curve and the abelian variety. We use these computations to find the class of the universal theta divisor and $m$-theta divisor inside the universal corank 1 semiabelian variety -- the boundary of the partial toroidal compactification of the moduli space of abelian varieties. We give two computational examples: we compute the boundary coefficient of the Andreotti-Mayer divisor (computed by Mumford but in a much harder and ad hoc way), and the analog of this for the u…
We carry out a complete birational classification of the universal theta divisor Th_g over the moduli space of curves of genus g, and show that Th_g enjoys good rationality properties for g<12, and is a variety of general type for g\geq 12. The key ingredient is an intersection-theoretic study of the universal antiramification locus of the Gauss map. We also present a complete classification of the universal symmetric product of degree g-2 over M_g.
In this paper we give a construction of algebraic (Artin) stacks endowed with a modular map onto the moduli stack of n-pointed stable curves of genus g, for g greater than 2. These stacks are smooth, irreducible and have dimension 4g-3+n, yielding a geometrically meaningful compactification of the degree d universal Picard stack over the moduli stack of smooth curves with marked points.
The Jacobian varieties of smooth curves fit together to form a family, the universal Jacobian, over the moduli space of smooth marked curves, and the theta divisors of these curves form a divisor in the universal Jacobian. In this paper we describe how to extend these families over the moduli space of stable marked curves (or rather an open subset thereof) using a stability parameter. We then prove a wall-crossing formula describing how the theta divisor varies with the stability parameter. We use that result to analyze a divisor on the moduli space of smooth marked curves that has recently be…
Let M_g be the moduli space of smooth curves of genus g >= 3, and \bar{M}_g the Deligne-Mumford compactification in terms of stable curves. Let \bar{M}_g^{[1]} be an open set of \bar{M}_g consisting of stable curves of genus g with one node at most. In this paper, we determine the necessary and sufficient condition to guarantee that a Q-divisor D on \bar{M}_g is nef over \bar{M}_g^{[1]}, that is, (D . C) >= 0 for all irreducible curves C on \bar{M}_g with C \cap \bar{M}_g^{[1]} \not= \emptyset.
We provide methods to construct explicit examples of $K3$ surfaces. This leads to unirational constructions of Noether--Lefschetz divisors inside the moduli space of $K3$ surfaces of genus $g$. We implement Mukai's unirationality construction of the moduli spaces of $K3$ surfaces of genus $g\in\{6,\dots, 10, 12\}$, and we also present a new constructive proof of the unirationality of the moduli space of $K3$ surfaces of genus $11$. Furthermore, we show the existence of three unirational hypersurfaces in any moduli space of $K3$ surfaces of genus $g$.
We study the cone of Moriwaki divisors on \bar{M}_g by means of augmented base loci. Using a result of Moriwaki, we prove that an R-divisor D satisfies the strict Moriwaki inequalities if and only if the augmented base locus of D is contained in the boundary of \bar{M}_g. Then we draw some interesting consequences on the Zariski decomposition of divisors on \bar{M}_g, on the minimal model program of \bar{M}_g and on the log canonical models \bar{M}_g(α).
In this paper, we present explicit toric construction of moduli space of quasi maps from $\mathbb{P}^1$ with two marked points to $\mathbb{P}^1 \times \mathbb{P}^1$, which was first proposed by Jinzenji and prove that it is a compact orbifold. We also determine its Chow ring and compute its Poincaré polynomial for some lower degree cases.
We complete Mori's program with symmetric divisors for the moduli space of stable six pointed rational curves. As an application, we give an alternative proof of the complete Mori's program of the moduli space of genus two stable curves, done by Hassett.
Theta functions were defined for varieties with effective anticanonical divisor and are related to certain punctured Gromov-Witten invariants. In this paper we show that in the case of a log Calabi-Yau surface (X,D) with smooth very ample anticanonical divisor we can circumvent the notion of punctured Gromov-Witten invariants and relate theta functions and their multiplicative structure to certain 2-marked log Gromov-Witten invariants. This is a natural extension of the correspondence between wall functions and 1-marked log Gromov-Witten invariants.
We complete Mori's program with symmetric divisors for the moduli space of stable seven pointed rational curves. We describe all birational models in terms of explicit blow-ups and blow-downs. We also give a moduli theoretic description of the first flip, which have not appeared in literature.
We completely describe all Brill-Noether loci on metric graphs consisting of a chain of g cycles with arbitrary edge lengths, generalizing work of Cools, Draisma, Payne, and Robeva. The structure of these loci is determined by displacement tableaux on rectangular partitions, which we define. More generally, we fix a marked point on the rightmost cycle, and completely analyze the loci of divisor classes with specified ramification at the marked point, classifying them using displacement tableaux. Our results give a tropical proof of the generalized Brill-Noether theorem for general marked curve…
After a general discussion of group actions, orbifolds, and "weak orbifolds" this note will provide elementary introductions to two basic moduli spaces over the real or complex numbers: First the moduli space of effective divisors with finite stabilizer on the projective space ${\mathbb P}^1$ modulo the group ${\rm PGL}_2$ of projective transformations of ${\mathbb P}^1$; and then the moduli space of effective 1-cycles with finite stabilizer on ${\mathbb P}^2$ modulo the group ${\rm PGL}_3$ of projective transformations of ${\mathbb P}^2$.
In this paper, we construct toric data of moduli space of quasi maps of degree $d$ from P^{1} with two marked points to weighted projective space P(1.1,1,3). With this result, we prove that the moduli space is a compact toric orbifold. We also determine its Chow ring. Moreover, we give a proof of the conjecture proposed by Jinzenji that a series of intersection numbers of the moduli spaces coincides with expansion coefficients of inverse function of -log(j(tau)).
Allcock and Freitag recently showed that the moduli space of marked cubic surfaces is a subvariety of a nine dimensional projective space which is defined by cubic equations. They used the theory of automorphic forms on ball quotients to obtain these results. Here we describe the same embedding using Naruki's toric model of the moduli space. We also give an explicit parametrization of the tritangent divisors, we discuss another way to find equations for the image and we show that the moduli space maps, with degree at least ten, onto the unique quintic hypersurface in a five dimensional project…
In [BM14b], the first author and Macrì constructed a family of nef divisors on any moduli space of Bridgeland-stable objects on a smooth projective variety X. In this article, we extend this construction to the setting of any separated scheme Y of finite type over a field, where we consider moduli spaces of Bridgeland-stable objects on Y with compact support. We also show that the nef divisor is compatible with the polarising ample line bundle coming from the GIT construction of the moduli space in the special case when Y admits a tilting bundle and the stability condition arises from a θ-stab…
We prove that if $m \ge n-3$ then every $S_m$-invariant F-nef divisor on the moduli space of stable $n$-pointed curves of genus zero is linearly equivalent to an effective combination of boundary divisors. As an application, we determine the Mori cone of the moduli spaces of stable curves of small genus with few marked points.
We describe two geometrically meaningful compactifications of the moduli space of elliptic K3 surfaces via stable slc pairs, for two different choices of a polarizing divisor, and show that their normalizations are two different toroidal compactifications of the moduli space, one for the ramification divisor and another for the rational curve divisor. In the course of the proof, we further develop the theory of integral affine spheres with 24 singularities. We also construct moduli of rational (generalized) elliptic stable slc surfaces of types ${\bf A_n}$ ($n\ge1$), ${\bf C_n}$ ($n\ge0$) and …