This paper generalizes for non-abelian theta functions a number of formulae valid for theta functions of Jacobian varieties. The addition formula, the relation with the Szego kernel and with the multicomponent KP hierarchy and the behavior under cyclic coverings are given.
Determinantal formulae for Jacobian theta functions that go back to Klein are elaborated, via an idea due to Matone and Volpato. Also, the natural square roots of theta constants on the moduli space of curves whose existence was shown by Tsuyumine are proved to have a spinorial structure.
We study the birational geometry of some moduli spaces of abelian varieties with extra structure: in particular, with a symmetric theta structure and an odd theta characteristic. For a $(d_1,d_2)$-polarized abelian surface, we show how the parities of the $d_i$ influence the relation between canonical level structures and symmetric theta structures. For certain values of $d_1$ and $d_2$, a theta characteristic is needed in order to define Theta-null maps. We use these Theta-null maps and preceding work of other authors on the representations of the Heisenberg group to study the birational geom…
The primitive cohomology of the theta divisor of a principally polarized abelian variety of dimension $g$ is a Hodge structure of level $g-3$. The Hodge conjecture predicts that it is contained in the image, under the Abel-Jacobi map, of the cohomology of a family of curves in the theta divisor. In this paper we use the Prym map to show that this version of the Hodge conjecture is true for the theta divisor of a general abelian fivefold.
We show that the space of theta functions on tropical tori is identified with a convex polyhedron. We also show a Riemann-Roch inequality for tropical abelian surfaces by calculating the self-intersection numbers of divisors.
We study the bundles of generalized theta functions constructed from moduli spaces of sheaves over abelian surfaces. In degree 0, the splitting type of these bundles is expressed in terms of indecomposable semihomogeneous factors. Furthermore, Fourier-Mukai symmetries of the Verlinde bundles are found, consistently with strange duality. Along the way, a transformation formula for the theta bundles is derived, extending a theorem of Drezet-Narasimhan from curves to abelian surfaces.
We prove that the cotangent bundle of a complete intersection of two general translates of the theta divisor of the jacobian of a general curve of genus 4 is ample. From this the same result for a general principally polarized abelian variety of dimension 4 follows.
We study the loci of principally polarized abelian varieties with points of high multiplicity on the theta divisor. Using the heat equation and degeneration techniques, we relate these loci and their closures to each other, as well as to the singular set of the universal theta divisor. We obtain bounds on the dimensions of these loci and relations among their dimensions, and make further conjectures about their structure.
The formula of expanding the Abel variety theta function restricted to Abel subvariety into theta functions of this subvariety is obtained. With the help of this formula the solution of differential equations with Jacobi theta functions, restricted on a nonprincipally polarized Abel subvariety and their translations are rewritten in terms of the theta functions of these subvarieties. This is exemplified by the CKP equations, the Bogoyavlenskij system, and the Toda $g_2^{(1)}$-chain.
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 prove that the strange duality conjecture of Beauville-Donagi-Tu holds for all curves. We establish first a more extended rank-level duality, interesting in its own right, from which the standard rank-level duality follows by restriction.
In this text we prove that if an abelian variety $A$ admits of an embedding into the Jacobian of a smooth projective curve $C$, and if we consider $\Th_A$ to be the divisor $\Th_C\cap A$, where $\Th_C$ denotes the theta divisor of $J(C)$, then the embedding of $\Th_A$ into $A$ induces an injective push-forward homomorphism at the level of Chow groups. We show that this is the case for every principally polarized abelian varieties.
To any closed subvariety $Y$ of a complex abelian variety one can attach a reductive algebraic group $G$ which is determined by the decomposition of the convolution powers of $Y$ via a certain Tannakian formalism. For a theta divisor $Y$ on a principally polarized abelian variety, this group $G$ provides a new invariant that naturally endows the moduli space $A_g$ of principally polarized abelian varieties of dimension $g$ with a finite constructible stratification. We determine $G$ for a generic principally polarized abelian variety, and for $g=4$ we show that the stratification detects the l…
We associate to a unimodular lattice L, endowed with an automorphism of square -1, a principally polarized abelian variety A:= L_R/L. We show that the configuration of i-invariant theta divisors of A follows a pattern very similar to the classical theory of theta characteristics; as a consequence we find that A has a high number of vanishing thetanulls. When L = E_8 we recover the 10 vanishing thetanulls of the abelian fourfold discovered by R. Varley.
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…
The primal cohomology $\mathbb{K}_\mathbb{Q}$ of the theta divisor $Θ$ of a principally polarized abelian fivefold (ppav) is the direct sum of its invariant and anti-invariant parts $\mathbb{K}_\mathbb{Q}^{+1}$, resp. $\mathbb{K}_\mathbb{Q}^{-1}$ under the action of $-1$. For smooth $Θ$, these have dimension $6$ and $72$ respectively. We show that $\mathbb{K}_\mathbb{Q}^{+1}$ consists of Hodge classes and, for a very general ppav, $\mathbb{K}_\mathbb{Q}^{-1}$ is a simple Hodge structure of level $2$.
We discuss variations of Hodge structures on abelian varieties that arise from intersecting translates of theta divisors with a special focus on the case of abelian varieties of dimension 4
We discuss a family of multi-term addition formulae for Weierstrass functions on specialized curves of genus one and two with many automorphisms. In the genus one case we find new addition formulae for the equianharmonic and lemniscate cases, and in genus two we find some new addition formulae for a number of curves, including the Burnside curve.
In this paper we prove a conjecture of Hershel Farkas that if a 4-dimensional principally polarized abelian variety has a vanishing theta-null, and the hessian of the theta function at the corresponding point of order two is degenerate, the abelian variety is a Jacobian. We also discuss possible generalizations to higher genera, and an interpretation of this condition as an infinitesimal version of Andreotti and Mayer's local characterization of Jacobians by the dimension of the singular locus of the theta divisor.
We construct families of principally polarized abelian varieties whose theta divisor is irreducible and contains an abelian subvariety. These families are used to construct examples when the Gauss map of the theta divisor is only generically finite and not finite. That is, the Gauss map in these cases has at least one positive-dimensional fiber. We also obtain lower-bounds on the dimension of Andreotti-Mayer loci.
In this paper we prove a Thomae derivative formula for trigonal curves admitting a non-singular affine model. This formula relates the derivatives of theta functions with rational characteristics on the curve to explicit expressions in the branching values.
Geometric Quantization links holomorphic geometry with real geometry, a relation that is a prototype for the modern development of mirror symmetry. We show how to use this treatment to construct a special basis in every space of conformal blocks. This is a direct generalization of the basis of theta functions with characteristics in every complete linear system on an Abelian variety (see Mumford's "Tata lectures on theta" cite(Mumford)). The same construction generalizes the classical theory of theta functions to vector bundles of higher rank on Abelian varieties and K3 surfaces. We also discu…
The classes of two theta divisors on an abelian variety in the naive Grothendieck ring of varieties need not be congruent modulo the class of the affine line.
In the abelian case (the subject of several beautiful books) fixing some combinatorial structure (so called theta structure of level k) one obtains a special basis in the space of sections of canonical polarization powers over the jacobians. These sections can be presented as holomorphic functions on the "abelian Schottky space". This fact provides various applications of these concrete analytic formulas to the integrable systems, classical mechanics and PDE's. Our practical goal is to do the same in the non abelian case that is to give an answer to the Beauville's question. In future we hope …
We prove that the fourth powers of theta functions with even characteristics form a basis of the space of even theta functions of order four on a principally polarized Abelian variety without vanishing theta-null.
This paper is a survey on relations between secant identities and soliton equations and applications of soliton equations to problems of algebraic geometry, i.e., the Riemann-Schottky problem and its analogues. A short introduction into the analytic theory of theta functions is also given.
We describe an efficient algorithm for the computation of separable isogenies between abelian varieties represented in the coordinate system given by algebraic theta functions. Let $A$ be an abelian variety of dimension $g$ defined over a field of odd characteristic. Our algorithm decomposes in two principal steps. First, given a theta null point for $A$ and a subgroup $K$ isotropic for the Weil pairing, we explain how to compute the theta null point corresponding to the quotient abelian variety $A/K$. Then, from the knowledge of a theta null point of $A/K$, we give an algorithm to obtain a ra…
We study the geometry of some varieties of sums of powers related to the Klein quartic. This allows us to describe the birational geometry of certain moduli spaces of abelian surfaces. In particular we show that the moduli space $\mathcal{A}_2(1,7)^{-}_{sym}$ of $(1,7)$-polarized abelian surfaces with a symmetric theta structure and an odd theta characteristic is unirational by showing that it admits a dominant morphism from a unirational conic bundle.
We study the birational geometry of irregular varieties and the singularities of Theta divisors of PPAV's in positive characteristic by applying recent generic vanishing results of Hacon and Patakfalvi. In particular, we prove that irreducible Theta divisors of principally polarized abelian varieties are strongly F-regular, which extends an old result of Ein and Lazarsfeld to fields of positive characteristic. In order to prove this, we formulate a positive characteristic analogue of another result of Ein and Lazarsfeld, to the effect that the Albanese image of a smooth projective variety of m…
We prove that an analogue of Jordan's theorem on finite subgroups of general linear groups does not hold for the groups of birational automorphisms of products of an elliptic curve and the projective line. This gives a negative answer to a question of V. L. Popov, arXiv:1001.1311 [math.AG].
We define a tropicalization procedure for theta functions on abelian varieties over a non-Archimedean field. We show that the tropicalization of a non-Archimedean theta function is a tropical theta function, and that the tropicalization of a non-Archimedean Riemann theta function is a tropical Riemann theta function, up to scaling and an additive constant. We apply these results to the construction of rational functions with prescribed behavior on the skeleton of a principally polarized abelian variety. We work with the Raynaud--Bosch--Lütkebohmert theory of non-Archimedean theta functions for…
We study ample divisors X with only rational singularities on abelian varieties that decompose into a sum of two lower dimensional subvarieties, X=V+W. For instance, we prove an optimal lower bound on the degree of the corresponding addition map, and show that the minimum can only be achieved if X is a theta divisor. Conjecturally, the latter happens only on Jacobians of curves and intermediate Jacobians of cubic threefolds. As an application, we prove that nondegenerate generic vanishing subschemes of indecomposable principally polarized abelian varieties are automatically reduced and irreduc…
We provide a bound on the $Θ$-regularity of an arbitrary reduced and irreducible curve embedded in a polarized abelian variety in terms of its degree and codimension. This is an "abelian" version of Gruson-Lazarsfeld-Peskine's bound on the Castelnuovo--Mumford regularity of a non-degenerate curve embedded in a projective space. As an application, we provide a Castelnuovo type bound for the genus of a curve in a (non necessarily principally) polarized abelian variety. Finally, we bound the $Θ$-regularity of a class of higher dimensional subvarieties in Jacobian varieties, i.e. the Brill-Noether…
In this article we compute new theta relations which define the moduli space of abelian surfaces with real multiplication by square root three. We give the locus of square root three abelian surfaces in terms of the canonical coordinates on Mumford's moduli space of abelian surfaces with theta structure. The method that we use to compute the real multiplication theta relations is of purely algebraic nature. It differs from Runge's method and recent work by Gruenewald. We expect that our method generalizes to higher discriminants.
In this paper we study the sections of the canonical line bundle on the moduli space of parabolic semistable vector bundles with trivial determinant and fixed parabolic structure of type $\underlineλ=(λ_1,..., λ_s)$ (with each weight $λ_i$ in $P_{\ell}(\SL(r))$) on a smooth projective irreducible curve over $\C$ of genus $g \geq 1$. We give a nontrivial lower bound for the dimension of the sections (that are called generalized parabolic SL(r)-theta functions) when $\sum_{1}^{s} λ_i$ is in the root lattice.
This paper gives a natural extension of Frobenius-Stickelberger formula and Kiepert formula to Abelian functions for "Purely Trigonal Curves", especially, of degree four. A description on the theory of Abelian functions for general trigonal curves of degree four is also included.
We give a bound on the number of points of order two on the theta divisor of a principally polarized abelian variety A. When A is the Jacobian of a curve C the result can be applied in estimating the number of effective square roots of a fixed line bundle on C.
This paper proves the following converse to a theorem of Mumford: Let $A$ be a principally polarized abelian variety of dimension five, whose theta divisor has a unique singular point, and suppose that the multiplicity of the singular point is three. Then $A$ is isomorphic as a principally polarized abelian variety to the intermediate Jacobian of a smooth cubic threefold. The method of proof is to analyze the possible singularities of the theta divisor of $A$, and eventually to show that $A$ is the Prym variety of a possibly singular plane quintic.
A linear algebraic group $G$ is represented by the linear space of its algebraic functions $F(G)$ endowed with multiplication and comultiplication which turn it into a Hopf algebra. Supplying $G$ with a Poisson structure, we get a quantized version $F_q(G)$ which has the same linear structure and comultiplication, but deformed multiplication. This paper develops a similar theory for abelian varieties. A description of abelian varieties $A$ in terms of linear algebra data was given by Mumford: $F(G)$ is replaced by the graded ring of theta functions with symmetric automorphy factors, and comult…
Let $(A,Θ)$ be a complex principally polarized abelian variety of dimension $g\geq 4$. Based on vanishing theorems, differentiation techniques and intersection theory, we show that whenever the theta divisor $Θ$ is irreducible, its multiplicity at any point is at most $g-2$. This improves work of Kollár, Smith-Varley, and Ein-Lazarsfeld. We also introduce some new ideas to study the same type of questions for pluri-theta divisors.
This paper outlines an approach to the non-abelian theta functions of the $SU(2)$-Chern-Simons theory with the methods used by A. Weil for studying classical theta functions. First we translate in knot theoretic language classical theta functions, the action of the finite Heisenberg group, and the discrete Fourier transform. Then we explain how the non-abelian counterparts of these arise in the framework of the quantum group quantization of the moduli space of flat $SU(2)$-connections on a surface, in the guise of the non-abelian theta functions, the action of a skein algebra, and the Reshetik…
This paper extends joint work with R. Friedman to show that the closure of the locus of intermediate Jacobians of smooth cubic threefolds, in the moduli space of principally polarized abelian varieties (ppav's) of dimension five, is an irreducible component of the locus of ppav's whose theta divisor has a point of multiplicity three or more. This paper also gives a sharp bound on the multiplicity of a point on the theta divisor of an irreducible ppav of dimension less than or equal to five; for dimensions four and five, this improves the bound due to J. Kollár, R. Smith-R. Varley, and L. Ein-R…
In an earlier paper we constructed a Cartier divisor on the theta divisor of a principally polarised abelian variety whose support is precisely the ramification locus of the Gauss map. In this note we discuss a Green's function associated to this locus. For jacobians we relate this Green's function to the canonical Green's function of the corresponding Riemann surface.
We present a systematic approach to studying the geometric aspects of Vinberg theta-representations. The main idea is to use the Borel-Weil construction for representations of reductive groups as sections of homogeneous bundles on homogeneous spaces, and then to study degeneracy loci of these vector bundles. Our main technical tool is to use free resolutions as an "enhanced" version of degeneracy loci formulas. We illustrate our approach on several examples and show how they are connected to moduli spaces of Abelian varieties. To make the article accessible to both algebraists and geometers, w…
We show that a generic principally polarized abelian variety (ppav) is uniquely determined by its theta hyperplanes. These are the non-projectivized version of those studied by Caporaso and Sernesi (see math.AG/0204164), which in a sense are a generalization to ppavs of bitangents of plane quartics, and of hyperplanes tangent to a canonical curves of genus $g$ in $g-1$ points. More precisely, we show that, generically, the set of gradients of all odd theta functions at the point zero uniquely determines a ppav with level (4,8) structure. We also show that our map is an immersion of the moduli …
We give a comprehensive treatment of the transformation laws of theta functions from an algebro-geometric perspective, that is, in terms of moduli of abelian schemes. This is accomplished by introducing geometric notions of theta-descent structures, metaplectic stacks, and bundles of half-forms, whose analytic incarnations underlie different aspects of the classical transformation laws. As an application, we lay the foundations for a geometric theory of modular forms of half-integral weight and, more generally, for modular forms taking values in the Weil representation. We discuss further appl…
Abelian covers of $\mathbb{CP}^{1}$, with fixed Galois group $A$, are classified, as a first step, by a discrete set of parameters. Any such cover $X$, of genus $g\geq1$ say, carries a finite set of $A$-invariant divisors of degree $g-1$ on $X$ that produce non-zero theta constants on $X$. We show how to define a quotient involving a power of the theta constant on $X$ that is associated with such a divisor $Δ$, some polynomial in the branching values, and a fixed determinant on $X$ that does not depend on $Δ$, such that the quotient is constant on the moduli space of $A$-covers with the given …
The purpose of this paper is to compute determinant index bundles of certain families of Real Dirac type operators on Klein surfaces as elements in the corresponding Grothendieck group of Real line bundles in the sense of Atiyah. On a Klein surface these determinant index bundles have a natural holomorphic description as theta line bundles. In particular we compute the first Stiefel-Whitney classes of the corresponding fixed point bundles on the real part of the Picard torus. The computation of these classes is important, because they control to a large extent the orientability of certain modu…
In this paper we establish the relationships between theta functions of arbitrary order and their derivatives. We generalize our previous work math.AG/0310085 and prove that for any n>1 the map sending an abelian variety to the set of Gauss images of its points of order 2n is an embedding into an appropriate Grassmannian (note that for n=1, i.e. points of order 2, we only get generic injectivity). We further discuss the generalizations of Jacobi's derivative formula for any dimension and any order. The series of embedding of the level covers of moduli spaces of principally polarized abelian va…
The paper consists of two sections. The first section provides a new definition of mirror symmetry of abelian varieties making sense also over $p$-adic fields. The second section introduces and studies quantized theta-functions with two-sided multipliers, which are functions on non-commutative tori. This is an extension of an earlier work by the author. In the Introduction and in the Appendix the constructions of this paper are put into a wider context.
We look into a construction of principal abelian varieties attached to certain spin manifolds, due to Witten and Moore-Witten around 2000 and try to place it in a broader framework. This is related to Weil intermediate Jacobians but it also suggests to associate abelian varieties to polarized even weight Hodge structures. The latter construction can also be explained in terms of algebraic groups which might be useful from the point of view of Tannakian categories. The constructions depend on moduli much as in Teichmüller theory although the period maps in general are only real analytic. One of…
The purpose of this paper is to show how the generic vanishing theorems of M. Green and the second author can be used to settle several questions and conjectures concerning the geometry of irregular complex projective varieties. First, we prove a conjecture of Arbarello and DeConcini characterizing principally polarized abelian varieties whose theta divisors are singular in codimension one. Secondly, we study the holomorphic Euler characteristics of varieties of general type having maximal Albanese dimension: we verify a conjecture of Kollar for subvarieties of abelian varieties, but show that…
We give an algebraic analog of the functional equation of Riemann's theta function. More precisely, we define a `theta multiplier' line bundle over the moduli stack of principally polarized abelian schemes with theta characteristic and prove that its dual is isomorphic to the determinant bundle over the moduli stack. We do so by explicitly computing with Picard groups over the moduli stack. This is all done over the ring R=Z[1/2,i]: passing to the complex numbers, we recover the classical functional equation.
This is a survey covering aspects of varied work of the authors with Mohammed Abouzaid, Paul Hacking, and Sean Keel. While theta functions are traditionally canonical sections of ample line bundles on abelian varieties, we motivate, using mirror symmetry, the idea that theta functions exist in much greater generality. This suggestion originates with the work of the late Andrei Tyurin. We outline how to construct theta functions on the degenerations of varieties constructed in previous work of the authors, and then explain applications of this construction to homological mirror symmetry and con…