We introduce the moduli space $R \bar{M}_{2k,l}$ of pointed real curves of genus zero and give its natural stratification. The strata of $R \bar{M}_{2k,l}$ correspond to real curves of genus zero with different degeneration types and are encoded by their dual trees with certain decorations. By using this stratification, we calculate the first Stiefel-Whitney class of $R \bar{M}_{2k,l}$ and construct the orientation double cover $R \widetilde{M}_{2k,l}$$ of $R \bar{M}_{2k,l}$.
We run Mori's program for the moduli space of pointed stable rational curves with divisor $K +\sum a_{i}ψ_{i}$. We prove that, without assuming the F-conjecture, the birational model for the pair is the Hassett's moduli space of weighted pointed stable rational curves, without any modification of weight coefficients.
The aim of this paper is to study some modular contractions of the moduli space of stable pointed curves. These new moduli spaces, which are modular compactifications of the moduli space of smooth pointed curves, are related with the minimal model program for the moduli space of stable pointed curves and have been introduced in a previous work of the authors. We interpret them as log canonical models of adjoints divisors and we then describe the Shokurov decomposition of a region of boundary divisors on the moduli space of stable pointed curves.
The notion of $m/Γ$-pointed stable curves is introduced. It should be viewed as a generalization of the notion of m-pointed stable curves of a given genus, where the labels of the marked points are only determined up to the action of a group of permutations $Γ$. The classical moduli spaces and moduli stacks are generalized to this wider setting. Finally, an explicit construction of the new moduli stack of $m/Γ$-pointed stable curves as a quotient stack is given.
The aim of the present paper is to study the (abstract) Picard group and the Picard group scheme of the moduli stack of stable pointed curves over an arbitrary scheme. As a byproduct, we compute the Picard groups of the moduli stack of stable or smooth pointed curves over a field of characteristic different from two.
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.
Using the geometry of an almost del Pezzo threefold, we show that the moduli space of genus $g$ one-pointed ineffective spin hyperelliptic curves is rational for every $g\geq 2$.
We prove that the moduli space of polarized $K3$ surfaces of genus eleven with $n$ marked points is unirational when $n\leq 6$ and uniruled when $n\leq7$. As a consequence, we settle a long standing but not proved assertion about the unirationality of $\cal{M}_{11,n}$ for $n\leq6$. We also prove that the moduli space of polarized $K3$ surfaces of genus eleven with $9$ marked points has non-negative Kodaira dimension.
By the geometry of the 3-fold quadric we show that the coarse moduli space of genus g ineffective spin hyperelliptic curves with two marked points is a rational variety for every $g \geq 2$.
The aim of this paper is to study all the natural first steps of the minimal model program for the moduli space of stable pointed curves. We prove that they admit a modular interpretation and we study their geometric properties. As a particular case, we recover the first few Hassett-Keel log canonical models. As a by-product, we produce many birational morphisms from the moduli space of stable pointed curves to alternative modular projective compactifications of the moduli space of pointed curves.
The object of this note is the moduli spaces of cubic fourfolds (resp., Gushel-Mukai fourfolds) which contain some special rational surfaces. Under some hypotheses on the families of such surfaces, we develop a general method to show the unirationality of the moduli spaces of the $n$-pointed such fourfolds. We apply this to some codimension 1 loci of cubic fourfolds (resp., Gushel-Mukai fourfolds) appeared in the literature recently.
We study the log canonical models of the moduli space MBar_{0,n} of pointed stable genus zero curves with respect to the standard log canonical divisors K+aD, where D denotes the boundary. In particular we show that, as a formal consequence of a conjecture by Fulton regarding the ample cone of MBar_{0,n}, these log canonical models are equal to certain of Hassett's weighted pointed curve spaces.
We give a combinatorial description of the rational cohomology of the moduli spaces of pointed genus 1 curves with $n$ marked points and level $N$ structures. More precisely, we explicitly describe the $E_2$ term of the Leray spectral sequence of the forgetful mapping $\EuScript{M}_{1,n}(N)\to\EuScript{M}_{1,1}(N)$ and show that the result is isomorphic to the rational cohomology of $\EuScript{M}_{1,n}(N)$ as a rational mixed Hodge structure equipped with an action of the symmetric group $\mathfrak{S}_n$. The classical moduli space $\EuScript{M}_{1,n}$ is the particular case N=1.
We construct the Mumford-Knudsen space of n pointed stable rational curves by a sequence of explicit blow-ups from the GIT quotient (P^1)^n//SL(2) with respect to the symmetric linearization O(1,...,1). The intermediate blown-up spaces turn out to be the moduli spaces of weighted pointed stable curves for suitable ranges of weights. As an application, we provide a new unconditional proof of M. Simpson's Theorem about the log canonical models of the Mumford-Knudsen space. We also give a basis of the Picard group of the moduli spaces of weighted pointed stable curves.
We determine the action of the product of symmetric groups on the cohomology of certain moduli of weighted pointed rational curves. The moduli spaces that we study are of stable rational curves with m+n marked points where the first m marked points are distinct from all the others where as the last n may coincide among themselves. We give a recipe for calculating the equivariant Poincaré polynomials and list them for small m and n.
This is the authors doctoral thesis written at the Humboldt-University Berlin. It contains material from the three separate papers: "On the Kodaira dimension of the moduli space of nodal curves", "On quotients of $\overline{\mathcal{M}}_{g,n}$ by certain subgroups of $S_n$" and "The moduli space of hyperelliptic curves with marked points".
We compute the Mori cone of curves of the moduli space \M_{g,n} of stable n-pointed curves of genus g in the case when g and n are relatively small. For instance, we show that for g<14 every curve in \M_g is numerically equivalent to an effective sum of 1-strata (loci of curves with 3g-4 nodes). We also prove that the nef cone of \M_{0,6} is composed of 11 natural subcones all contained in the convex hull of boundary classes. We apply this result to classify the fibrations of the moduli space of rational curves with n<7 marked points.
We prove that the moduli space ${\Cal M}_{g,n}$ of smooth curves of genus $g$ with $n$ marked points is rational for $g=6$ and $1 \le n \le 8$, and it is unirational for $g=8$ and $1 \le n \le 11$, $g=10$ and $1 \le n \le 3$, $g=12$ and $n = 1$.
We prove that, assuming the F-conjecture, the log canonical model of the pair $(\bar{M}_{0,n}, \sum a_i ψ_i)$ is the Hassett's moduli space of weighted pointed stable rational curves without any modification of weight coefficients. For the boundary weight cases, we prove that the birational model is the GIT quotient of the product of the projective lines. This is a generalization of Simpson's theorem for symmetric weight cases.
A weighted pointed curve consists of a nodal curve and a sequence of marked smooth points, each assigned a number between zero and one. A subset of the marked points may coincide if the sum of the corresponding weights is no greater than one. We construct moduli spaces for these objects using methods of the log minimal model program, and describe the induced birational morphisms between moduli spaces as the weights are varied. In the genus zero case, we explain the connection to Geometric Invariant Theory quotients of points in the projective line, and to compactifications of moduli spaces stu…
We show that the moduli spaces of non-triple cyclic coverings of genus 2 curves and that of even spin curves of genus 2 are birationally isomorphic via the Prym map. We describe the log canonical models of the moduli space of even spin curves of genus 2 and use this to extend the above birational map.
We prove that the coarse moduli space of curves of genus 6 is birational to an arithmetic quotient of a bounded symmetric domain of type IV by giving a period map to the moduli space of some lattice-polarized K3 surfaces.
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 $\bar{M}_{0,n}$.
The dimension of the moduli space of smooth pointed curves with prescribed Weierstrass semigroup at the market point is computed for three families of symmetric semigroups of multiplicity six. We also collect the dimensions of such moduli spaces for all semigroups of genus not greater than seven. A question related to an improvement of a Deligne--Pinkham's bound is also formulated, suggesting that the positive graded part of the first module of the cotangent complex associated to a semigroup algebra is a missing invariant. The answer for this question is positive for all these moduli that we k…
We prove that the orbifold desingularization of the moduli space of stable maps of genus g = 1 recently constructed by Vakil and Zinger has vanishing rational cohomology groups in odd degree k < 10.
Given a collection of boundary divisors in the moduli space of stable genus-zero n-pointed curves, Giansiracusa proved that their intersection is nonempty if and only if all pairwise intersections are nonempty. We give a complete classification of the pairs (g,n) for which the analogous statement holds in the moduli space of n-pointed curves of genus g.
We compute the rational cohomology of the moduli space of trigonal curves of genus 5. We do this by considering their natural embedding in the first Hirzebruch surface and by using Gorinov-Vassiliev's method.
The global geometry of the moduli spaces of higher spin curves and their birational classification is largely unknown for g >= 2 and r > 2. Using quite related geometric constructions, we almost complete the picture of the known results in genus g <= 4 showing the rationality of the moduli spaces of even and odd 4-spin curves of genus 3, of odd spin curves of genus 4 and of 3-spin curves of genus 4.
We compute cohomology of the moduli space of genus three curves with level two structure and some related spaces. In particular, we determine the cohomology groups of the moduli space of plane quartics with level two structure as representations of the symplectic group on a six dimensional vector space over the field of two elements. We also make the analogous computations for some related spaces such as moduli spaces of genus three curves with a marked points and strata of the moduli space of Abelian differentials of genus three.
We investigate the (small) quantum cohomology ring of the moduli spaces of stable n-pointed curves of genus 0. In particular, we determine an explicit presentation in the case n=5 and we outline a computational approach to the case n=6.
In this article we consider the moduli space of smooth $n$-pointed non-hyperelliptic curves of genus 3. In the pursuit of cohomological information about this space, we make $\mathbb{S}_n$-equivariant counts of its numbers of points defined over finite fields for $n \leq 7$. Combining this with results on the moduli spaces of smooth pointed curves of genus 0, 1 and 2, and the moduli space of smooth hyperelliptic curves of genus 3, we can determine the $\mathbb{S}_n$-equivariant Galois and Hodge structure of the ($\ell$-adic respectively Betti) cohomology of the moduli space of stable curves of…
A formula for the generating function of the Weil-Petersson volumes of moduli spaces of pointed curves that is identical to the genus expansion of the free energy in two dimensional gravity is obtained. The contribution of arbitrary genus is expressed in terms of the Bessel function $J_0$.
We describe a natural open stratum in the moduli space of smooth real pointed quartic curves in the projective plane. This stratum consists of real isomorphism classes of pairs $(C, p)$ with $p$ a real point on the curve $C$ such that the tangent line at $p$ intersects the curve in two distinct points besides $p$. We will prove that this stratum consists of $20$ connected components. Each of these components has a real toric structure defined by an involution in the Weyl group of type $E_7$.
We construct a smooth Artin stack parameterizing the stable weighted curves of genus one with twisted fields and prove that it is isomorphic to the blowup stack of the moduli of genus one weighted curves studied by Hu and Li. This leads to a blowup-free construction of Vakil-Zinger's desingularization of the moduli of genus one stable maps to projective spaces. This construction provides the cornerstone of the theory of stacks with twisted fields, which is thoroughly studied in arXiv:2005.03384 and leads to a blowup-free resolution of the stable map moduli of genus two.
We study the moduli space of stable sheaves of Euler characteristic 2, supported on curves of arithmetic genus 2 contained in a smooth quadric surface. We show that this moduli space is rational. We compute its Betti numbers and we give a classification of the stable sheaves involving locally free resolutions.
We show that the coarse moduli space $\cR_5$ of étale double covers of curves of genus~5 over the complex numbers is unirational. We give two slightly different arguments, one purely geometric and the other more computational.
Let X_n := \bar M_{0,n}, the moduli space of n-pointed stable genus zero curves, and let X_{n,m} be the quotient of X_n by the action of the symmetric group S_{n-m} on the last n-m marked points. The cones of effective divisors of X_{n,m}, m = 0,1,2, are calculated. Using this, upper bounds for the cones Mov(X_{n,m}) generated by divisors with moving linear systems are calculated, m = 0,1, along with the induced bounds on the cones of ample divisors of \bar M_g and \bar M_{g,1}. As an application, the cone of effective divisors of \bar M_{2,1} is analyzed in detail.
Using the connection discovered by Hassett between the Noether-Lefschetz moduli space of special cubic fourfolds of discriminant 42 and the moduli space F_{22} of polarized K3 surfaces of genus 22, we show that the universal K3 surface over F_{22} is unirational.
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 $2k$.
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 compute the stringy E function of the moduli space of rank 2 bundles over a Riemann surface of genus 3. In doing so, we answer a question of Batyrev about the stringy E functions of the GIT quotients of linear representations.
We consider the moduli space $\Hh_{g,n}$ of $n$-pointed smooth hyperelliptic curves of genus $g$. In order to get cohomological information we wish to make $\s_n$-equivariant counts of the numbers of points defined over finite fields of this moduli space. We find recurrence relations in the genus that these numbers fulfill. Thus, if we can make $\s_n$-equivariant counts of $\Hh_{g,n}$ for low genus, then we can do this for every genus. Information about curves of genus 0 and 1 is then found to be sufficient to compute the answers for $\Hh_{g,n}$ for all $g$ and for $n \leq 7$. These results ar…
In this paper, we investigate the moduli of surfaces of general type admitting genus 2 fibrations with irregularity q = g_b + 1, where g_b >= 2 is the genus of the base. We prove that smooth fibrations are parametrized by a unique component in the moduli space. The same result applies to nonsmooth fibrations with special values of g_b. In the general case, we give a bound on the dimension of the corresponding connected components.
This article is a survey of P. Katsylo's proof that the moduli space of smooth projective complex curves of genus 3 is rational. We hope to make the argument more comprehensible and transparent by emphasizing the underlying geometry in the proof and its key structural features.
In this paper we study the moduli stack ${\mathcal U}_{1,n}^{ns}$ of curves of arithmetic genus 1 with n marked points, forming a nonspecial divisor. In arXiv:1511.03797 this stack was realized as the quotient of an explicit scheme $\widetilde{\mathcal U}_{1,n}^{ns}$, affine of finite type over ${\Bbb P}^{n-1}$, by the action of ${\Bbb G}_m^n$ . Our main result is an explicit description of the corresponding GIT semistable loci in $\widetilde{\mathcal U}_{1,n}^{ns}$. This allows us to identify some of the GIT quotients with some of the modular compactifications of ${\mathcal M}_{1,n}$ defined …
We show that certain structures and constructions of the Whitham theory, an essential part of the perturbation theory of soliton equations, can be instrumental in understanding the geometry of the moduli spaces of Riemann surfaces with marked points. We use the ideas of the Whitham theory to define local coordinates and construct foliations on the moduli spaces. We use these constructions to give a new proof of the Diaz' bound on the dimension of complete subvarieties of the moduli spaces. Geometrically, we study the properties of meromorphic differentials with real periods, and their degenera…
We study the moduli space of stable sheaves of Euler characteristic 1, supported on curves of arithmetic genus 2 contained in a smooth quadric surface. We show that this moduli space is rational. We give a classification of the stable sheaves involving locally free resolutions or extensions. We compute the Betti numbers by studying the variation of the moduli spaces of alpha-semi-stable pairs.
