Given a closed complex manifold $X$ of even dimension, we develop a systematic (vertex) algebraic approach to study the rational orbifold cohomology rings $\orbsym$ of the symmetric products. We present constructions and establish results on the rings $\orbsym$ including two sets of ring generators, universality and stability, as well as connections with vertex operators and W algebras. These are independent of but parallel to the main results on the cohomology rings of the Hilbert schemes of points on surfaces as developed in our earlier works joint with W.-P. Li. We introduce a deformation of the orbifold cup product and explain how it is reflected in terms of modification of vertex operators in the symmetric product case. As a corollary, we obtain a new proof of the isomorphism between the rational cohomology ring of Hilbert schemes and the ring $\orbsym$ (after some modification of signs), when X is a projective surface with a numerically trivial canonical class; we show that no sign modification is needed if both cohomology rings use complex coefficients.
We combine our results on symmetric products and second quantization with our description of discrete torsion in order to explain the ring structure of the cohomology of the Hilbert scheme of points on a K3 surface. This is achieved in terms of an essentially unique symmetric group Frobenius algebra twisted by a specific discrete torsion. This twist is realized in form of a tensor product with a twisted group algebra that is defined by a discrete torsion cocycle. We furthermore show that the form of this cocycle is dictated by the geometry of the Hilbert scheme as a resolution of singularities…
The integral cohomology ring of the Hilbert scheme of n-tuples on the affine plane is shown to be isomorphic to the graded ring associated to a filtration of the ring of integral class functions on the symmetric group.
We introduce the notion of symmetric obstruction theory and study symmetric obstruction theories which are compatible with C*-actions. We prove that the contribution of an isolated fixed point under a C*-action to equivariant Donaldson-Thomas type invariants is +/- 1. As an application, we compute weighted Euler characteristics of all Hilbert schemes of points on any 3-fold. Moreover, we calculate the zero-dimensional Donaldson-Thomas invariants of any projective Calabi-Yau 3-fold. This proves a conjecture of Maulik-Nekrasov-Okounkov-Pandharipande.
Let A[X]_U be a fraction ring of the polynomial ring A[X] in the variable X over a commutative ring A. We show that the Hilbert functor {Hilb}^n_{A[X]_U} is represented by an affine scheme $\text{Symm}^n_A(A[X]_U)$ give as the ring of symmetric tensors of $\otimes_A^nA[X]_U$. The universal family is given as $\text{Symm}^{n-1}_A(A[X]_U)\times_A \text{Spec}(A[X]_U)$.
We consider the Hilbert scheme Hilb^{d+1}(C^d) of (d+1) points in affine d-space C^d (d > 2), which includes the square of any maximal ideal. We describe equations for the most symmetric affine open subscheme of Hilb^{d+1}(C^d), in terms of Schur modules. In addition we prove that Hilb^{d+1}(C^d) is reducible for n>d>11.
Hilbert proved in 1888 that a positive semidefinite (psd) real form is a sum of squares (sos) of real forms if and only if $n=2$ or $d=1$ or $(n,2d)=(3,4)$, where $n$ is the number of variables and $2d$ the degree of the form. We study the analogue for even symmetric forms. We establish that an even symmetric $n$-ary $2d$-ic psd form is sos if and only if $n=2$ or $d=1$ or $(n,2d)=(n,4)_{n \geq 3}$ or $(n,2d)= (3,8)$.
We obtain a formula for the generating series of (the push-forward under the Hilbert-Chow morphism of) the Hirzebruch homology characteristic classes of the Hilbert schemes of points for a smooth quasi-projective variety of arbitrary pure dimension. This result is based on a geometric construction of a motivic exponentiation generalizing the notion of motivic power structure, as well as on a formula for the generating series of the Hirzebruch homology characteristic classes of symmetric products. We apply the same methods for the calculation of generating series formulae for the Hirzebruch cla…
A famous theorem of Hilbert from 1888 states that a positive semidefinite (psd) real form is a sum of squares (sos) of real forms if and only if $n=2$ or $d=1$ or $(n,2d)=(3,4)$, where $n$ is the number of variables and $2d$ the degree of the form. In 1976, Choi and Lam proved the analogue of Hilbert's Theorem for symmetric forms by assuming the existence of psd not sos symmetric $n$-ary quartics for $n \geq 5$. In this paper we complete their proof by constructing explicit psd not sos symmetric $n$-ary quartics for $n \geq 5$.
We study general symmetric powers $S^k L^{[n]}$ of a tautological bundle $L^{[n]}$ on the Hilbert scheme $X^{[n]}$ of $n$ points over a smooth quasi-projective surface $X$, associated to a line bundle $L$ on $X$. Let $V_L$ be the $\mathfrak{S}_n$-vector bundle on $X^n$ defined as the exterior direct sum $L \boxplus \cdots \boxplus L$. We prove that the Bridgeland-King-Reid transform $\mathbfΦ(S^k L^{[n]})$ of symmetric powers $S^k L^{[n]}$ is quasi isomorphic to the last term of a finite decreasing filtration on the natural vector bundle $S^k V_L$, defined by kernels of operators $D^l_L$, whic…
In this survey paper we study the relationships between the coarse moduli space which parameterizes the finite dimensional linear representations of an associative alegebra, the non commutative hilbert scheme and the affine scheme which is the spectrum of the abelianization of algebra of the divided powers. In particular we will show a map which specialize to the Hlibert - Chow morphism when the associative algebra is commutative. The extension to the positive characteristic case of some of the results due to L. Le Bruyn on noncommutative desingularization is outlined. The possibility to use o…
The Jack symmetric polynomials $P_λ^{(α)}$ form a class of symmetric polynomials which are indexed by a partition $λ$ and depend rationally on a parameter $α$. They reduced to the Schur polynomials when $α=1$, and to other classical families of symmetric polynomials for several specific parameters. It is well-known that Schur polynomials can be realized as certain elements of homology groups of Grassmann manifolds. The purpose of this paper is to give a similar geometric realization for Jack polynomials. However, spaces which we use are totally different. Our spaces are Hilbert schemes of poin…
Let X be the quasi-projective symplectic surface that is given by the total space of the invertible sheaf O(-2) over the projective line. Let Hilb X be the family of Hilbert schemes of points on X. We give and prove a closed formula expressing any multiplicative characteristic class evaluated on the Hilb X in terms of the standard Fock space description of the cohomology of the Hilb X. As a side result, we also deduce a formula for the Chern character of the tangent bundles of the Hilb X. The results found here are another step towards a complete description of the tangent bundle of the Hilber…
We prove that, for 3 < m < n-1, the Grassmannian of m-dimensional subspaces of the space of skew-symmetric forms over a vector space of dimension n is birational to the Hilbert scheme of the degeneracy loci of m global sections of Omega(2), the twisted cotangent bundle on P^{n-1}. For 3=m<n-1 and n odd, this Grassmannian is proved to be birational to the set of Veronese surfaces parametrized by the Pfaffians of linear skew-symmetric matrices of order n.
We compute some cohomology spaces for the symmetric power of the tautological bundle tensor the determinant bundle on the punctual Hilbert scheme of a complex smooth projective surface.
We express the product of the cohomology ring of the Hilbert scheme in terms of the center of the algebra of the symmetric group. We give a conjecture for the case of crepant resolutions of symplectic quotient singularities.
We compute the space of global sections for the symmetric power of the tautological bundle on the punctual Hilbert scheme of a complex smooth projective surface.
In the Hilbert scheme of points on a scheme X there is an open subset parameterizing distinct points. The closure of that open set is by definition the good component. When X is flat over the base, we show that a certain blow-up of the symmetric product of X is the good component. The center of the blow-up we describe by giving generators for its defining ideal. In the non-flat case we obtain similar result by replacing the symmetric product with the divided power product. For smooth surfaces X the good component equals the Hilbert scheme of points.
We construct a categorification of the maximal commutative subalgebra of the type $A$ Hecke algebra. Specifically, we propose a monoidal functor from the (symmetric) monoidal category of coherent sheaves on the flag Hilbert scheme to the (non-symmetric) monoidal category of Soergel bimodules. The adjoint of this functor allows one to match the Hochschild homology of any braid with the Euler characteristic of a sheaf on the flag Hilbert scheme. The categorified Jones-Wenzl projectors studied by Abel, Elias and Hogancamp are idempotents in the category of Soergel bimodules, and they correspond t…
We give a short and elementary proof of a theorem of Procesi, Schacher and (independently) Gondard, Ribenboim that generalizes a famous result of Artin. Let $A$ be an $n \times n$ symmetric matrix with entries in the polynomial ring $\mathbb R[x_1,...,x_m]$. The result is that if $A$ is postive semidefinite for all substitutions $(x_1,...,x_m) \in \mathbb R^m$, then $A$ can be expressed as a sum of squares of symmetric matrices with entries in $\mathbb R(x_1,...,x_m)$. Moreover, our proof is constructive and gives explicit representations modulo the scalar case.
We study the structure of the relative Hilbert scheme for a family of nodal (or smooth) curves via its natural cycle map to the relative symmetric product. We show that the cycle map is the blowing up of the discriminant locus, which consists of cycles with multiple points. We discuss some applications and connections, notably with birational geometry and intersection theory on Hilbert schemes of smooth surfaces. Revised version corrects some minor errors.
