We prove two statements on the slopes of effective divisors on the moduli space of stable curves of genus g: first that the Harris-Morrison Slope Conjecture fails for g=10 and second, that in order to compute the slope of the moduli space of curves for g\leq 23, one only has to consider the coefficients of the Hodge class and that of the boundary divisor δ_0 in the expansion of the relevant divisors. We conjecture that the same statement holds in arbitrary genus.
In this note, we extend work of Farkas and Rimányi on applying quadric rank loci to finding divisors of small slope on the moduli space of curves by instead considering all divisorial conditions on the hypersurfaces of a fixed degree containing a projective curve. This gives rise to a large family of virtual divisors on $\overline{\mathcal{M}_g}$. We determine explicitly which of these divisors are candidate counterexamples to the Slope Conjecture. The potential counterexamples exist on $\overline{\mathcal{M}_g}$, where the set of possible values of $g\in \{1,\ldots,N\}$ has density $Ω(\log(N)…
We study slope stability of smooth surfaces and its connection with exceptional divisors. We show that a surface containing an exceptional divisor with arithmetic genus at least two is slope unstable for some polarisation. In the converse direction we show that slope stability of surfaces can be tested with divisors, and prove that for surfaces with non-negative Kodaira dimension any destabilising divisor must have negative self-intersection and arithmetic genus at least two. We also prove that a destabilising divisor can never be nef, and as an application give an example of a surface that is…
In this paper we compute the pullback of divisor classes under the Prym map (extended to the boundary), and apply this result to get a lower bound on the slope of effective divisors on the perfect cone compactification of the moduli space of principally polarized abelian fivefolds. In the appendix by Klaus Hulek, the notion of slope for arbitrary toroidal compactifications is discussed, and the slope bound is shown to hold in general.
We carry out a detailed intersection theoretic analysis of the Deligne-Mumford compactification of the divisor on M_{10} consisting of curves sitting on K3 surfaces. This divisor is not of classical Brill-Noether type, and is known to give a counterexample to the Slope Conjecture. The computation relies on the fact that this divisor has four different incarnations as a geometric subvariety of the moduli space of curves, one of them as a higher rank Brill-Noether divisor consisting of curves with an exceptional rank 2 vector bundle. As an application we describe the birational nature of the mod…
Given a moduli problem with a nice coarse moduli space, which is the most intrinsic and natural divisor on this moduli space? We describe a general method of constructing effective divisors on a large class of moduli spaces using the syzygies of the parametrized objects. In this paper we treat the case of the moduli space of curves and we compute the slope of a doubly infinite sequence of Koszul divisors on M_g. We present a single formula which apart from giving myriads of new counterexamples to the Harris-Morrison Slope Conjecture it also encodes virtually all interesting divisor class calcu…
We give a simple criterion for slope stability of Fano manifolds $X$ along divisors or smooth subvarieties. As an application, we show that $X$ is slope stable along an ample effective divisor $D\subset X$ unless $X$ is isomorphic to a projective space and $D$ is a hyperplane section. We also give counterexamples to Aubin's conjecture on the relation between the anticanonical volume and the existence of a Kähler-Einstein metric. Finally, we consider the case that $\dim X=3$; we give a complete answer for slope (semi)stability along divisors of Fano threefolds.
We describe a systematic way of constructing effective divisors on the moduli space of stable curves of genus g having exceptionally small slope. We prove that any divisor on \bar{M}_g consisting of curves failing a certain Green-Lazarsfeld syzygy type condition, provides a counterexample to the Harris-Morrison Slope Conjecture. These divisors generalize our original isolated counterexample to the Slope Conjecture which was the divisor on M_{10} of curves lying on K3 surfaces. We also introduce a new stratification of M_g, somewhat similar to the classical stratification given by gonality, but…
We present counterexamples to Fujita's conjecture in positive characteristics. Precisely, we show that over any algebraically closed field $k$ of characteristic $p>0$ and for any positive integer $m$, there exists a smooth projective surface $S$ with an ample Cartier divisor $A$ such that the adjoint linear system $|K_S+mA|$ is not free of base point. Our surface $S$ is a certain kind of generalization of Raynaud surfaces.
We study effective divisors on $\overline{M}_{0,n}$, focusing on hypertree divisors introduced by Castravet and Tevelev and the proper transforms of divisors on $\overline{M}_{1,n-2}$ introduced by Chen and Coskun. Results include a database of hypertree divisor classes and closed formulas for Chen--Coskun divisor classes. We relate these two types of divisors, and from this construct extremal divisors on $\overline{M}_{0,n}$ for $n \geq 7$ that furnish counterexamples to the conjectural description of the effective cone of $\overline{M}_{0,n}$ given by Castravet and Tevelev.
We establish sharp bounds for the slopes of curves in $\bar{M}_g$ that sweep the locus of trigonal curves, proving Stankova-Frenkel's conjectured bound of $7+6/g$ for even $g$ and obtaining the bound $7+20/(3g+1)$ for odd $g$. For even $g$, we find an explicit expression of the so-called Maroni divisor in the Picard group of the space of admissible triple covers. For odd $g$, we describe the analogous extremal effective divisor and give a similar explicit expression.
We study the cone of moving divisors on the moduli space ${\mathcal A}_g$ of principally polarized abelian varieties. Partly motivated by the generalized Rankin-Cohen bracket, we construct a non-linear holomorphic differential operator that sends Siegel modular forms to Siegel modular forms, and we apply it to produce new modular forms. Our construction recovers the known divisors of minimal moving slope on ${\mathcal A}_g$ for $g\leq 4$, and gives an explicit upper bound for the moving slope of ${\mathcal A}_5$ and a conjectural upper bound for the moving slope of ${\mathcal A}_6$.
We describe the moduli space G^r_d of triples consisting of a curve C, a line bundle L on C of degree d, and a linear system V on L of dimension r. This moduli space extends over a partial compactification {\tilde M_g} of M_g inside {\bar M_g}. For the proper map h : G^r_d --> \tilde M_g, we compute the push-forward on Chow 1-cocyles in the case where h has relative dimension zero. As a consequence we obtain another counterexample to the Harris-Morrison slope conjecture as well as an infinite sequence of potential counterexamples.
Consider genus $g$ curves that admit degree $d$ covers to elliptic curves only branched at one point with a fixed ramification type. The locus of such covers forms a one parameter family $Y$ that naturally maps into the moduli space of stable genus $g$ curves $\bar{\mathcal M}_{g}$. We study the geometry of $Y$, and produce a combinatorial method by which to investigate its slope, irreducible components, genus and orbifold points. As a by-product of our approach, we find some equalities from classical number theory. Moreover, a correspondence between our method and the viewpoint of square-tile…
The Hilbert scheme of n points in the projective plane parameterizes degree n zero-dimensional subschemes of the projective plane. We examine the dual cones of effective divisors and moving curves on the Hilbert scheme. By studying interpolation, restriction, and stability properties of certain vector bundles on the plane we fully determine these cones for just over three fourths of all values of n. A general Steiner bundle on P^N is a vector bundle admitting a linear resolution of a particular form. We complete the classification of slopes of semistable Steiner bundles on P^N by showing every…
Inside the symmetric product of a very general curve, we consider the codimension-one subvarieties of symmetric tuples of points imposing exceptional secant conditions on linear series on the curve of fixed degree and dimension. We compute the classes of such divisors, and thus obtain improved bounds for the slope of the cone of effective divisor classes on symmetric products of a very general curve. By letting the moduli of the curve vary, we study more generally the classes of the related divisors inside the moduli space of stable pointed curves.
Raynaud has shown that over a general curve of genus $g \ge 2$, every semistable bundle of rank three and integral slope admits a theta divisor. We show that this can fail for special curves: Over any bielliptic curve of genus $g \ge 5$, we construct a stable rank three bundle of trivial determinant with no theta divisor. This gives a partial answer to a question of Beauville.
Let $f:\,S \to B$ be a locally non-trivial relatively minimal fibration of genus $g\geq 2$ with relative irregularity $q_f$. It was conjectured by Barja and Stoppino that the slope $λ_f\geq \frac{4(g-1)}{g-q_f}$. We prove the conjecture when $q_f$ is small with respect to $g$; we also construct counterexamples when $g$ is odd and $q_f=(g+1)/2$.
We resolve pathological wall-crossing phenomena for moduli spaces of sheaves on higher-dimensional base manifolds. This is achieved by considering slope-semistability with respect to movable curves rather than divisors. Moreover, given a projective n-fold and a curve C that arises as the complete intersection of n-1 very ample divisors, we construct a modular compactification of the moduli space of vector bundles that are slope-stable with respect to C. Our construction generalises the algebro-geometric construction of the Donaldson-Uhlenbeck compactification by Joseph Le Potier and Jun Li. Fu…
We study the birational geometry of $\bar{M}_{3,1}$ and $\bar{M}_{4,1}$. In particular, we pose a pointed analogue of the Slope Conjecture and prove it in these low-genus cases. Using variation of GIT, we construct birational contractions of these spaces in which certain divisors of interest -- the pointed Brill-Noether divisors -- are contracted. As a consequence, we see that these pointed Brill-Noether divisors generate extremal rays of the effective cones for these spaces.
Let $X$ be a normal and geometrically integral projective variety over a global field $K$ and let $\overline{D}$ be an adelic Cartier divisor on $X$. We prove a conjecture of Chen, showing that the essential minimum $ζ_{\mathrm{ess}}(\overline{D})$ of $\overline{D}$ equals its asymptotic maximal slope under mild positivity assumptions. As an application, we see that $ζ_{\mathrm{ess}}(\overline{D})$ can be read on the Okounkov body of the underlying divisor $D$ via the Boucksom--Chen concave transform. This gives a new interpretation of Zhang's inequalities on successive minima and a criterion …
Let $C$ be a Petri general curve of genus $g$ and $E$ a general stable vector bundle of rank $r$ and slope $g-1$ over $C$ with $h^0 (C, E) = r+1$. For $g > (2r+2)(2r+1)$, we show how the bundle $E$ can be recovered from the tangent cone to the theta divisor $Θ_E$ at ${\mathcal O}_C$. We use this to give a constructive proof and a sharpening of Brivio and Verra's theorem that the theta map $SU_C (r) -rightarrow |r Θ|$ is generically injective for large values of $g$.
Using the notion of generalized divisors introduced by Hartshorne, we adapt the theory of adjoint forms to the case of Gorenstein curves. We show an infinitesimal Torelli-type theorem for vector bundles on Gorenstein curves. We also construct explicit counterexamples to the infinitesimal Torelli claim in the case of a reduced reducible Gorenstein curve.
This paper is a sequel to \cite{C}, in which the author studies secant planes to linear series on a curve that is general in moduli. In that paper, the author proves that a general curve has no linear series with exceptional secant planes, in a very precise sense. Consequently, it makes sense to study effective divisors on $\ov{\mc{M}}_g$ associated to curves equipped with secant-exceptional linear series. Here we describe a strategy for computing the classes of those divisors. We pay special attention to the extremal case of $(2d-1)$-dimensional series with $d$-secant $(d-2)$-planes, which ap…
We describe the final log canonical model of the moduli space of stable curves of genus four. We prove that the rational map from $\bar{M}_4$ to this model contracts the Petri and the boundary divisors and flips the hyperelliptic locus. As an application, we find an exact bound on slopes of moving divisors on $\bar{M}_4$.
We establish a structure result for the universal abelian variety over the moduli space A_5, in terms of discriminant curves of conic bundles over a del Pezzo surface. In particular, this gives a very simple unirational parametrization of the boundary divisor of the moduli space A_6 of principally polarized abelian varieties of dimension 6. Using this we derive a lower bound on the slope of all effective divisors on A_6.
We investigate two families of divisors which we expect to play a distinguished role in the global geometry of Hurwitz space. In particular, we show that they are extremal and rigid in the small degree regime $d \leq 5$. We further show their significance in the problem of computing the sweeping slope of Hurwitz space in these degrees. In the process, we prove various general results about the divisor theory of Hurwitz space, including a proof of the independence of the boundary components of the admissible covers compactification. Some basic open questions and further directions are discussed…
In previous works, the authors investigated the relationships between linear stability of a generated linear series $|V|$ on a curve $C$, and slope stabillity of the vector bundle $M_{V,L} := \ker (V \otimes \mathcal{O}_C \to L)$. In particular, the second named author and L. Stoppino conjecture that, for a complete linear system $|L|$, linear (semi)stability is equivalent to slope (semi)stability of $M_V$, and the first and third named authors proved that this conjecture holds for hyperelliptic and for generic curves. In this work we provide a counterexample to this conjecture on any smooth p…
Given two vector bundles E and F on a variety X and a morphism from Sym^2(E) to F, we compute the cohomology class of the locus in X where the kernel of this morphism contains a quadric of prescribed rank. Our formulas have many applications to moduli theory: (i) we find a simple proof of Borcherds' result that the Hodge class on the moduli space of polarized K3 surfaces of fixed genus is of Noether-Lefschetz type, (ii) we construct an explicit canonical divisor on the Hurwitz space parametrizing degree k covers of the projective line from curves of genus 2k-1, (iii) we provide a closed formul…
The twistor space of representations on an open variety maps to a weight two space of local monodromy transformations around a divisor component at infinty. The space of $σ$-invariant sections of this slope-two bundle over the twistor line is a real 3 dimensional space whose parameters correspond to the complex residue of the Higgs field, and the real parabolic weight of a harmonic bundle.
We prove a sharp relative Clifford inequality for relatively special divisors on varieties fibered by curves. It generalizes the classical Clifford inequality about a single curve to a family of curves. It yields a geographical inequality for varieties of general type and Albanese-fibered by curves, extending the work of Horikawa, Persson, and Xiao in dimension two to arbitrary dimensions. We also apply it to deduce a slope inequality for some arbitrary dimensional families of curves. It sheds light on the existence of a most general Cornalba-Harris-Xiao type inequality for families of curves.…
We define tautological Chow classes on the moduli space of curves with linear series. In the case where the forgetful morphism to the moduli space of curves has relative dimension zero, we describe the images of these classes in the Chow group of Mgbar. As an application, we compute the (virtual) slopes of several different classes of divisors on Mgbar.
We show $\overline{\mathcal{M}}_{10,10}$ and $\mathcal{F}_{11,9}$ have Kodaira dimension zero. Our method relies on the construction of a number of curves via nodal Lefschetz pencils on blown-up $K3$ surfaces. The construction further yields that any effective divisor in $\overline{\mathcal{M}}_{g}$ with slope $<6+(12-δ)/(g+1)$ must contain the locus of curves that are the normalization of a $δ$-nodal curve lying on a $K3$ surface of genus $g+δ$.
Consider genus g curves that admit degree d covers to an elliptic curve simply branched at 2g-2 points. Vary a branch point and the locus of such covers forms a one-parameter family W. We investigate the geometry of W by using admissible covers to study its slope, genus and components. The results can also be applied to study slopes of effective divisors on the moduli space of genus g curves.
Fujita's second theorem for Kähler fibre spaces over a curve asserts that the direct image $V$ of the relative dualizing sheaf splits as the direct sum $ V = A \oplus Q$, where $A$ is ample and $Q$ is unitary flat. We focus on our negative answer (\cite{cd}) to a question by Fujita: is $V$ semiample? We give here an infinite series of counterexamples using hypergeometric integrals and we give a simple argument to show that the monodromy representation is infinite. Our counterexamples are surfaces of general type with positive index, explicitly given as abelian coverings with group $(\mathbb Z/…
Let T be a general bidegree (2,2) divisor in the product of two projective planes. Recently A.Verra proved that the existence of two conic bundle structures (c.b.s.) on T implies a new counterexample to the Torelli theorem for Prym varieties. Let J(T) be the jacobian of T. In this paper we prove that any of the two c.b.s. on T admits a parametrisation of the theta divisor of J(T) by the Abel-Jacobi image of a special family of elliptic curves of degree 9 (minimal sections of the given c.b.s.) on T. This result is an analogue of the well-known Riemann theorem for curves. In particular, this imp…
Tropical Weierstrass points and Weierstrass weights
CNRS - Laboratoire de Mathématiques d’Orsay, Université Paris-Saclay（法国国家科学研究中心-奥赛数学实验室，巴黎萨克雷大学）；Institut de mathématiques de Marseille, Université d’Aix-Marseille, CNRS, Centrale Marseille（马赛数学研究所，艾克斯-马赛大学，法国国家科学研究中心，中央马赛）；Department of Mathematics, University of Washington — Mathematics Division, National Center for Theoretical Sciences（华盛顿大学数学系，国家理论科学中心）
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 study the Severi variety $V_{d,g}$ of plane curves of degree $d$ and geometric genus $g$. Corresponding to every such variety, there is a one-parameter family of genus $g$ stable curves whose numerical invariants we compute. Building on the work of Caporaso and Harris, we derive a recursive formula for the degrees of the Hodge bundle on the families in question. For $d$ large enough, these families induce moving curves in $\bar{M}_g$. We use this to derive lower bounds for the slopes of effective divisors on $\bar{M}_g$. Another application of our results is to various enumerative problems …
We propose an intersection-theoretic method to reduce questions in genus zero logarithmic Gromov-Witten theory to questions in the Gromov-Witten theory of smooth pairs, in the presence of positivity. The method is applied to the enumerative geometry of rational curves with maximal contact orders along a simple normal crossings divisor and to recent questions about its relationship to local curve counting. Three results are established. We produce counterexamples to the local/logarithmic conjectures of van Garrel-Graber-Ruddat and Tseng-You. We prove that a weak form of the conjecture holds for…
We study the moduli of trigonal curves. We establish the exact upper bound of ${36(g+1)}/(5g+1)$ for the slope of trigonal fibrations. Here, the slope of any fibration $X\to B$ of stable curves with smooth general member is the ratio $δ_B/λ_B$ of the restrictions of the boundary class $δ$ and the Hodge class $λ$ on the moduli space $\bar{\mathfrak{M}}_g$ to the base $B$. We associate to a trigonal family $X$ a canonical rank two vector bundle $V$, and show that for Bogomolov-semistable $V$ the slope satisfies the stronger inequality ${δ_B}/{λ_B}\leq 7+{6}/{g}$. We further describe the rational…
