This article is an extended version of preprint math.AG/9902104. We find an explicit formula for the number of topologically different ramified coverings of a sphere by a genus g surface with only one complicated branching point in terms of Hodge integrals over the moduli space of genus g curves with marked points.
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 $2k$.
By associating to a curve C of genus g=2k and a pencil of degree d=k+1 the so-called trace curve (resp. the reduced trace curve) we define a rational map from the Hurwitz space of admissible covers of genus g=2k and degree d=k+1 to a moduli space of stable curves. We study the induced map between the divisor class groups of these moduli spaces of curves.
Hurwitz numbers are a weighted count of degree d ramified covers of curves with specified ramification profiles at marked points on the codomain curve. Isomorphism classes of these covers can be included as a dense open set in a moduli space, called a Hurwitz space. The Hurwitz space has a forgetful morphism to the moduli space of marked, stable curves, and the degree of this morphism encodes the Hurwitz numbers. Mikhalkin has constructed a moduli space of tropical marked, stable curves, and this space is a tropical variety. In this paper, I construct a tropical analogue of the Hurwitz space i…
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 prove that the moduli space A_3(1,1,4) of polarized abelian threefolds with polarization of type (1,1,4) is unirational. By a result of Birkenhake and Lange this implies the unirationality of the isomorphic moduli space A_3(1,4,4). The result is based on the study the Hurwitz space H_{4,n}(Y) of quadruple coverings of an elliptic curve Y simply branched in n points. We prove the unirationality of its codimension one subvariety H^{0}_{4,A}(Y) which parametrizes quadruple coverings π:X --> Y with Tschirnhausen modules isomorphic to A^{-1}, where A\in Pic^{n/2}Y, and for which π^*:J(Y)--> J(X)…
We prove that the moduli spaces A_3(D) of polarized abelian threefolds with polarizations of types D=(1,1,2), (1,2,2), (1,1,3) or (1,3,3) are unirational. The result is based on the study of families of simple coverings of elliptic curves of degree 2 or 3 and on the study of the corresponding period mappings associated with holomorphic differentials with trace 0. In particular we prove the unirationality of the Hurwitz space H_{3,A}(Y) which parameterizes simply branched triple coverings of an elliptic curve Y with determinants of the Tschirnhausen modules isomorphic to A^{-1}.
We define hypergeometric functions using intersection homology valued in a local system. Topology is emphasized; analysis enters only once, via the Hodge decomposition. By a pull-back procedure we construct special subsets S_{pi}, derived from Hurwitz spaces, of Deligne-Mostow moduli spaces DM(n,mu). Certain DM(n,mu) are known to be ball quotients, uniformized by hypergeometric functions valued in a complex ball (i.e., complex hyperbolic space). We give sufficient conditions for S_{pi} to be a subball quotient. Analyzing the simplest examples in detail, we describe ball quotient structures att…
Hodge classes on the moduli space of admissible covers with monodromy group G are associated to irreducible representations of G. We evaluate all linear Hodge integrals over moduli spaces of admissible covers with abelian monodromy in terms of multiplication in an associated wreath group algebra. In case G is cyclic and the representation is faithful, the evaluation is in terms of double Hurwitz numbers. In case G is trivial, the formula specializes to the well-known result of Ekedahl-Lando-Shapiro-Vainshtein for linear Hodge integrals over the moduli space of curves in terms of single Hurwitz…
The Hurwitz space is a compactification of the space of rational functions of a given degree. We study the intersection of various strata of this space with its boundary. A study of the cohomology ring of the Hurwitz space then allows us to obtain recurrence relations for certain numbers of ramified coverings of a sphere by a sphere with prescribed ramifications. Generating functions for these numbers belong to a very particular subalgebra of the algebra of power series.
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 article we describe cell decompositions of the moduli space of Riemann surfaces and their relationship to a Hurwitz problem. The cells possess natural linear structures and with respect to this they can be described as rational convex polytopes which come equipped with natural integer points and a volume form. We show how to effectively calculate the number of lattice points and the volumes over all the cells and that these calculations contain deep information about the moduli space.
In this paper we describe explicit generating functions for a large class of Hurwitz-Hodge integrals. These are integrals of tautological classes on moduli spaces of admissible covers, a (stackily) smooth compactification of the Hurwitz schemes. Admissible covers and their tautological classes are interesting mathematical objects on their own, but recently they have proved to be a useful tool for the study of the tautological ring of the moduli space of curves, and the orbifold Gromov-Witten theory of DM stacks. Our main tool is Atiyah-Bott localization: its underlying philosophy is to transla…
We consider components of Hurwitz moduli space of G-Galois covers and set up a powerful algebraic framework to study the set of corresponding equivalence classes of monodromy maps. Within that we study geometric stabilisation by various G-covers branched over the disc. Our results addresses the problem to decide equivalence and stable equivalence algebraically. We recover a homological invariant, which we show to distinguish the equivalence classes of given boundary monodromy and Nielsen type, if the latter is sufficiently large in the appropriate sense.
Starting from a beautiful idea of Kanev, we construct a uniformization of the moduli space A_6 of principally polarized abelian 6-folds in terms of curves and monodromy data. We show that the general ppav of dimension 6 is a Prym-Tyurin variety corresponding to a degree 27 cover of the projective line having monodromy the Weyl group of the E_6 lattice. Along the way, we establish numerous facts concerning the geometry of the Hurwitz space of such E_6-covers, including: (1) a proof that the canonical class of the Hurwitz space is big, (2) a concrete geometric description of the Hodge-Hurwitz ei…
We give a short and direct proof of the $λ_g$-Conjecture. The approach is through the Ekedahl-Lando-Shapiro-Vainshtein theorem, which establishes the ``polynomiality'' of Hurwitz numbers, from which we pick off the lowest degree terms. The proof is independent of Gromov-Witten theory. We briefly describe the philosophy behind our general approach to intersection numbers and how it may be extended to other intersection number conjectures.
Moduli spaces of algebraic curves and closely related to them Hurwitz spaces, that is, spaces of meromorphic functions on the curves, arise naturally in numerous problems of algebraic geometry and mathematical physics, especially in relationship with the string theory and Gromov--Witten invariants. In particular, the classical Hurwitz problem about enumeration of topologically distinct ramified coverings of the sphere with prescribed ramification type reduces to the study of geometry and topology of these spaces. The cohomology rings of such spaces are complicated even in the simplest cases of…
Moduli spaces for Galois covers of p-adic Mumford curves by Mumford curves are constructed using Herrlich's Teichmuller spaces, Andre's orbifold fundamental groups, and Kato's graphs of groups encoding ramification data of charts for Mumford orbifolds.
We define the dimension 2g-1 Faber-Hurwitz Chow/homology classes on the moduli space of curves, parametrizing curves expressible as branched covers of P^1 with given ramification over infinity and sufficiently many fixed ramification points elsewhere. Degeneration of the target and judicious localization expresses such classes in terms of localization trees weighted by ``top intersections'' of tautological classes and genus 0 double Hurwitz numbers. This identity of generating series can be inverted, yielding a ``combinatorialization'' of top intersections of psi-classes. As genus 0 double Hur…
In this paper we study relations between intersection numbers on moduli spaces of curves and Hurwitz numbers. First, we prove two formulas expressing Hurwitz numbers of (generalized) polynomials via intersections on moduli spaces of curves. Then we show, how intersection numbers can be expressed via Hurwitz numbers. And then we obtain an algorithm expressing intersection numbers $<τ_{n,m}\prod_{i=0}^{r-1}τ_{0,i}^{k_i}>_g$ via correlation functions of primaries.
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.
In this paper we find an explicit formula for the number of topologically different ramified coverings $C\to\CP^1$ (C is a compact Riemann surface of genus g) with only one complicated branching point in terms of Hodge integrals over the moduli space of genus g curves with marked points.
Goulden, Jackson and Vakil observed a polynomial structure underlying one-part double Hurwitz numbers, which enumerate branched covers of $\mathbb{CP}^1$ with prescribed ramification profile over $\infty$, a unique preimage over 0, and simple branching elsewhere. This led them to conjecture the existence of moduli spaces and tautological classes whose intersection theory produces an analogue of the celebrated ELSV formula for single Hurwitz numbers. In this paper, we present three formulas that express one-part double Hurwitz numbers as intersection numbers on certain moduli spaces. The first …
Ekedahl, Lando, Shapiro, and Vainshtein announced a remarkable formula expressing Hurwitz numbers (counting covers of the projective line with specified simple branch points, and specified branching over one other point) in terms of Hodge integrals. We give a proof of this formula using virtual localization on the moduli space of stable maps, and describe how the proof could be simplified by the proper algebro-geometric definition of a "relative space".
While there is much work and many conjectures surrounding the intersection theory of the moduli space of curves, relatively little is known about the intersection theory of the Hurwitz space $\mathcal{H}_{k, g}$ parametrizing smooth degree $k$, genus $g$ covers of $\mathbb{P}^1$. Let $k = 3, 4, 5$. We prove that the rational Chow rings of $\mathcal{H}_{k,g}$ stabilize in a suitable sense as $g$ tends to infinity. In the case $k = 3$, we completely determine the Chow rings for all $g$. We also prove that the rational Chow groups of the simply branched Hurwitz space $\mathcal{H}^s_{k,g} \subset …
In this paper, we prove Hurwitz-Eichler type formulas for Hurwitz class numbers with each level $ M $ when the modular curve $ X_0(M) $ has genus zero. A key idea is to calculate intersection numbers of modular correspondences with the level in two different ways. A generalization of Atkin-Lehner involutions for $ Γ_0(M) $ and its subgroup $ Γ_0^{(M')}(M) $ is introduced to calculate intersection multiplicities of modular correspondences at cusps.
We investigate the universal Jacobian of degree n line bundles over the Hurwitz stack of double covers of P^1 by a curve of genus g. Our main results are: the construction of a smooth, irreducible, universally closed (but not separated) moduli compactification of this universal Jacobian; a description of the global geometry and moduli properties of these stacks; and a computation of the Picard groups of these stacks in the cases when n-g is even. An important ingredient of our work is the parametrization of line bundles on double covers by binary quadratic forms. This parametrization generaliz…
We speculate about an algebro-geometric proof of Harer's theorem on the rational Picard group of the moduli space of smooth complex curves. In particular, we refine the approach of Diaz and Edidin involving the Hurwitz space which parameterizes smooth covers of the projective line.
Let $ϕ$ be a post-critically finite branched covering of a two-sphere. By work of Koch, the Thurston pullback map induced by $ϕ$ on Teichmüller space descends to a multi-valued self-map --- a Hurwitz correspondence $\mathcal{H}_ϕ$ --- of the moduli space $\mathcal{M}_{0,P}$. We study the dynamics of Hurwitz correspondences via numerical invariants called dynamical degrees. We show that the sequence of dynamical degrees of $\mathcal{H}_ϕ$ is always non-increasing, and the behavior of this sequence is constrained by the behavior of $ϕ$ at and near points of its post-critical set.
We define the tropical moduli space of covers of a tropical line in the plane as weighted abstract polyhedral complex, and the tropical branch map recording the images of the simple ramifications. Our main result is the invariance of the degree of the branch map, which enables us to give a tropical intersection-theoretic definition of tropical triple Hurwitz numbers. We show that our intersection-theoretic definition coincides with the one given by Bertrand, Brugallé and Mikhalkin in the article "Tropical Open Hurwitz numbers" where a Correspondence Theorem for Hurwitz numbers is proved. Thus …
We provide a general method for computing rational Chow rings of moduli of smooth complete intersections. We specialize this result in different ways: to compute the integral Picard group of the associated stack ; to obtain an explicit presentation of rational Chow rings of moduli of smooth complete intersections of codimension two; to prove old and new results on moduli of smooth curves of genus $\leq 5$ and polarized K3 surfaces of degree $\leq 8$.
Hurwitz numbers count ramified covers of a Riemann surface with prescribed monodromy. As such, they are purely combinatorial objects. Tautological classes, on the other hand, are distinguished classes in the intersection ring of the moduli spaces of Riemann surfaces of a given genus, and are thus ``geometric.'' Localization computations in Gromov-Witten theory provide non-obvious relations between the two. This paper makes one such computation, and shows how it leads to a ``master'' relation (Theorem 0.1) that reduces the ratios of certain interesting tautological classes to the pure combinato…
We construct moduli spaces of rational covers of an arbitrary smooth tropical curve in R^r as tropical varieties. They are contained in the balanced fan parametrizing tropical stable maps of the appropriate degree to R^r. The weights of the top-dimensional polyhedra are given in terms of certain lattice indices and local Hurwitz numbers.
This is a note on calculating intersection numbers on moduli spaces of curves. A codimension 3 relation among tautological classes on the moduli space of genus 4 curves is given.
We study the relationship between tropical and classical Hurwitz moduli spaces. Following recent work of Abramovich, Caporaso and Payne, we outline a tropicalization for the moduli space of generalized Hurwitz covers of an arbitrary genus curve. Our approach is to appeal to the geometry of admissible covers, which compactify the Hurwitz scheme. We define and construct a moduli space of tropical admissible covers, and study its relationship with the skeleton of the Berkovich analytification of the classical space of admissible covers. We use techniques from non-archimedean geometry to show that…
We establish the Airy curve case of a conjecture of Gukov and Sułkowski by reducing to Dijkgraaf-Verlinde-Verlinde Virasoro constraints satisfied by the intersection numbers on moduli spaces of algebraic curves.
We give an algebro-geometric derivation of the known intersection theory on the moduli space of stable rank 2 bundles of odd degree over a smooth curve of genus g. We lift the computation from the moduli space to a Quot scheme, where we obtain the intersections by equivariant localization with respect to a natural torus action.
We compute Betti numbers of both the components of the moduli space of rank 2 semi-stable torsion-free sheaves with fixed determinant over a reducible nodal curve with two smooth components intersecting at a node. We also compute the intersection Betti numbers of the moduli space.
In this paper, we collect a number of facts about double Hurwitz numbers, where the simple branch points are replaced by their more general analogues --- completed (r+1)-cycles. In particular, we give a geometric interpretation of these generalised Hurwitz numbers and derive a cut-and-join operator for completed (r+1)-cycles. We also prove a strong piecewise polynomiality property in the sense of Goulden-Jackson-Vakil. In addition, we propose a conjectural ELSV/GJV-type formula, that is, an expression in terms of some intrinsic combinatorial constants that might be related to the intersection …
We study properties of the tropical double Hurwitz loci defined by Bertram, Cavalieri and Markwig. We show that all such loci are connected in codimension one. If we mark preimages of simple ramification points, then for a generic choice of such points the resulting cycles are weakly irreducible, i.e. an integer multiple of an irreducible cycle. We study how Hurwitz cycles can be written as divisors of rational functions and show that they are numerically equivalent to a tropical version of a representation as a sum of boundary divisors. The results and counterexamples in this paper were obtai…
We explain how to compute top-dimensional intersections of psi-classes on moduli spaces of m-stable curves. On the moduli spaces of Deligne-Mumford stable pointed curves of genus one, these intersection numbers are determined by two recursions, namely the string equation and the dilaton equation. We establish, for each integer m>0, an analogous pair of recursions which determine these intersection numbers on the moduli spaces of m-stable pointed curves of genus one.
We study the moduli space of smooth complete intersections of two quadrics in $\mathbb{P}^n$ by relating it to the geometry of the singular members of the corresponding pencils. Giving an alternative presentation for the moduli space of complete intersections, we compute the Picard group for all $n\geq 3$.
We consider a class of tautological top intersection products on the moduli space of stable pairs consisting of semistable vector bundles together with N sections on a smooth complex projective curve C. We show that when N is large, these intersection numbers can equally be computed on the Grothendieck Quot scheme of coherent sheaf quotients of the rank N trivial sheaf on C. The result has applications to the calculation of the intersection theory of the moduli space of semistable bundles on C.
We introduce conjectures relating the Chow ring of a smooth Artin stack $\mathcal{X}$ to the Chow groups of its possibly singular good moduli space $X$. In particular, we conjecture the existence of an intersection product on a subgroup of the full Chow group $A^*(X)$ coming from strong cycles on $\mathcal{X}$.
Hausel and Rodriguez-Villegas conjectured that the intersection form on the moduli space of stable PGL_n-Higgs bundles on a curve vanishes if the degree is coprime to n. In this note we prove this conjecture. Along the way we show that moduli spaces of stable chains are irreducible for stability parameters larger than the stability condition induced form stability of Higgs bundles.
Let $g$ and $g'$ be two integers and $p$ a prime number. Denote by $\mathscr H_{g, g', p}^c$ the moduli space of morphisms of degree $p$ between smooth curves of genus $g$ and $g'$ and with constant ramification. The purpose of this article is to construct and describe a modular compactification of this space.
Consider the 1-dimensional Hurwitz space parameterizing covers of P^1 branched at four points. We study its intersection with divisor classes on the moduli space of curves. As an application, we calculate the slope of the Teichmuller curve parameterizing square-tiled cyclic covers and recover the sum of its Lyapunov exponents obtained by Forni, Matheus and Zorich. Motivated by the work of Eskin, Kontsevich and Zorich, we exhibit a relation among the slope of Hurwitz spaces, the sum of Lyapunov exponents and the Siegel-Veech constant for the moduli space of quadratic differentials.
We show that intersection numbers on the moduli space of stable bundles of coprime rank and degree over a smooth complex curve can be recovered as highest-degree asymptotics in formulas of Vafa-Intriligator type. In particular, we explicitly evaluate all intersection numbers appearing in the Verlinde formula. Our results are in agreement with previous computations of Witten, Jeffrey-Kirwan and Liu. Moreover, we prove the vanishing of certain intersections on a suitable Quot scheme which can be interpreted as giving equations between counts of maps to the Grassmannian.
Using the celebrated Witten-Kontsevich theorem, we prove a recursive formula of the $n$-point functions for intersection numbers on moduli spaces of curves. It has been used to prove the Faber intersection number conjecture and motivated us to find some conjectural vanishing identities for Gromov-Witten invariants. The latter has been proved recently by X. Liu and R. Pandharipande. We also give a combinatorial interpretation of $n$-point functions in terms of summation over binary trees.