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 study the geometry of quintic threefolds $X\subset \mathbb{P}^4$ with only ordinary triple points as singularities. In particular, we show that if a quintic threefold $X$ has a reducible hyperplane section then $X$ has at most $10$ ordinary triple points, and that this bound is sharp. We construct various examples of quintic threefolds with triple points and discuss their defect.
The present paper deals with lines contained in a smooth complex cubic threefold. It is well-known that the set of lines of the second type on a cubic threefold is a curve on its Fano surface. Here we give a description of the singularities of this curve.
We study the components of the Hurwitz scheme of ramified coverings of $\mathbb{P}^1$ with monodromy given by the alternating group $A_6$ and elements in the conjugacy class of product of two disjoint cycles. In order to detect the connected components of the Hurwitz scheme, inspired by the case of the spin structures studied by Fried for the $3$-cycles, we use as invariant the lifting to the Valentiner group, triple covering of $A_6$. We prove that the Hurwitz scheme has two irreducible components when the genus of the covering is greater than zero, in accordance with the asymptotic solution …
For a point $p\in CP^2$ and a triple $(g,d,\ell)$ of non-negative integers we define a {\em Hurwitz--Severi number} ${\mathfrak H}_{g,d,\ell}$ as the number of generic irreducible plane curves of genus $g$ and degree $d+\ell$ having an $\ell$-fold node at $p$ and at most ordinary nodes as singularities at the other points, such that the projection of the curve from $p$ has a prescribed set of local and remote tangents and lines passing through nodes. In the cases $d+\ell\ge g+2$ and $d+2\ell \ge g+2 > d+\ell$ we express the Hurwitz--Severi numbers via appropriate ordinary Hurwitz numbers. The …
In this paper, we prove a stronger form of the Bogomolov-Gieseker (BG) inequality for stable sheaves on two classes of Calabi-Yau threefolds, namely, weighted hypersurfaces inside the weighted projective spaces $\mathbb{P}(1, 1, 1, 1, 2)$ and $\mathbb{P}(1, 1, 1, 1, 4)$. Using the stronger BG inequality as a main technical tool, we construct open subsets in the spaces of Bridgeland stability conditions on these Calabi-Yau threefolds.
If $\mathcal S$ is a Beauville surface $({\mathcal C}_1\times{\mathcal C}_2)/G$, then the Hurwitz bound implies that $|G|\le 1764\,χ({\mathcal S})$, with equality if and only if the Beauville group $G$ acts as a Hurwitz group on both curves ${\mathcal C}_i$. Equivalently, $G$ has two generating triples of type $(2,3,7)$, such that no generator in one triple is conjugate to a power of a generator in the other. We show that this property is satisfied by alternating groups $A_n$, their double covers $2.A_n$, and special linear groups $SL_n(q)$ if $n$ is sufficiently large, but by no sporadic simp…
In this paper we establish a congruence on the degree of the map from a component of a Hurwitz space of covers of elliptic curves to the moduli stack of elliptic curves. Combinatorially, this can be expressed as a congruence on the cardinalities of Nielsen equivalence classes of generating pairs of finite groups. Building on the work of Bourgain, Gamburd, and Sarnak, we apply this congruence to show that for all but finitely many primes $p$, the group of Markoff automorphisms acts transitively on the nonzero $\mathbb{F}_p$-points of the Markoff equation $x^2 + y^2 + z^2 - 3xyz = 0$. This yield…
We explicitly describe the KSBA/Hacking compactification of a moduli space of log surfaces of Picard rank 2. The space parametrizes log pairs $(S, D)$ where $S$ is a degeneration of $\mathbb{P}^1 \times \mathbb{P}^1$ and $D \subset S$ is a degeneration of a curve of class $(3,3)$. We prove that the compactified moduli space is a smooth Deligne--Mumford stack with 4 boundary components. We relate it to the moduli space of genus 4 curves; we show that it compactifies the blow-up of the hyperelliptic locus. We also relate it to a compactification of the Hurwitz space of triple coverings of $\math…
We introduce a higher rank analog of the Pandharipande-Thomas theory of stable pairs on a Calabi-Yau threefold $X$. More precisely, we develop a moduli theory for frozen triples given by the data $O^r(-n)\rightarrow F$ where $F$ is a sheaf of pure dimension 1. The moduli space of such objects does not naturally determine an enumerative theory: that is, it does not naturally possess a perfect symmetric obstruction theory. Instead, we build a zero-dimensional virtual fundamental class by hand, by truncating a deformation-obstruction theory coming from the moduli of objects in the derived categor…
Let $C$ be a smooth projective curve of genus $g\geq 3$ and let $η$ be an odd theta characteristic on it such that $h^0(C,η) = 1$. Pick a point $p$ from the support of $η$ and consider the one-dimensional linear system $|η+ p|$. In general this linear system is base-point free and all its ramification points (i.e. ramification points of the corresponding branched cover $C\to\mathbb P^1\simeq \mathbb PH^0(C,η+p)$) are simple. We study the locus in the moduli space of odd spin curves where the linear system $|η+ p|$ fails to have this general behavior. This locus splits into a union of three div…
