For any finite group G we define the moduli space of pointed admissible G-covers and the concept of a G-equivariant cohomological field theory (G-CohFT), which, when G is the trivial group, reduce to the moduli space of stable curves and a cohomological field theory (CohFT), respectively. We prove that by taking the "quotient" by G, a G-CohFT reduces to a CohFT. We also prove that a G-CohFT contains a G-Frobenius algebra, a G-equivariant generalization of a Frobenius algebra, and that the "quotient" by G agrees with the obvious Frobenius algebra structure on the space of G-invariants, after rescaling the metric.
We also introduce the moduli space of G-stable maps into a smooth, projective variety X with G action. Gromov-Witten-like invariants of these spaces provide the primary source of examples of G-CohFTs. Finally, we explain how these constructions generalize (and unify) the Chen-Ruan orbifold Gromov-Witten invariants of the global quotient [X/G] as well as the ring H*(X,G) of Fantechi and Goettsche.
We give a formula for the cohomological invariants of a root stack, which we apply to compute the cohomological invariants and the Brauer group of the stack of admissible double coverings.
We describe the modular operad structure on the moduli spaces of pointed stable curves equipped with an admissible $G$-cover. To do this we are forced to introduce the notion of an operad colored not by a set but by the objects of a category. This construction interpolates in a sense between `framed' and `colored' versions of operads; we hope that it will be of independent interest. An algebra over this operad is the same thing as a $G$-equivariant CohFT, as defined by Jarvis, Kaufmann and Kimura. We prove that the (orbifold) Gromov--Witten invariants of global quotients $[X/G]$ give examples …
We study Hodge Integrals on Moduli Spaces of Admissible Covers. Motivation for this work comes from Bryan and Pandharipande's recent work on the local GW theory of curves, where analogouos intersection numbers, computed on Moduli Spaces of Relative Stable Maps, are the structure coefficients for a Topological Quantum Field Theory. Admissible Covers provide an alternative compactification of the Moduli Space of Maps, that is smooth and doesn't contain boundary components of excessive dimension. A parallel, yet different, TQFT, can then be constructed. In this paper we compute, using localizatio…
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 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…
The moduli space of twisted stable maps into the stack $B(\Z/m\Z)^2$ carries a natural $S_n$-action and so its cohomology may be decomposed into irreducible $S_n$-representations. Working over $\Spec \Z[1/m]$ we show that the alternating part of the cohomology of one of its connected components is exactly the cohomology associated to cusp forms for $Γ(m)$. In particular this offers an alternative to Scholl's construction of the Chow motive associated to such cusp forms. This answers in the affirmative a question of Manin on whether one can replace the Kuga-Sato varieties used by Scholl with so…
A new codimension 2 relation among descendent strata in the moduli space of stable, 3-pointed, genus 2 curves is found. The space of pointed admissible double covers is used in the calculation. The resulting differential equations satisfied by the genus 2 gravitational potentials of varieties in Gromov-Witten theory are described. These are analogous to the WDVV-equations in genus 0 and Getzler's equations in genus 1. As an application, genus 2 descendent invariants of the projective plane are determined, including the classical genus 2 Severi degrees.
We study the cohomology of certain local systems on moduli spaces of principally polarized abelian surfaces with a level 2 structure. The trace of Frobenius on the alternating sum of the étale cohomology groups of these local systems can be calculated by counting the number of pointed curves of genus 2 with a prescribed number of Weierstrass points over the given finite field. This cohomology is intimately related to vector-valued Siegel modular forms. The corresponding scheme in level 1 was carried out in [FvdG]. Here we extend this to level 2 where new phenomena appear. We determine the cont…
In this paper we investigate the cohomological obstruction for the field of moduli of a $G$-cover to be a field of definition, in the case of local fields and covers with tame admissible reduction. This applies in particular to $p$-adic fields where $p$ does not divide the order of the group $G$. We give examples of $G$-covers with field of moduli $\QQ_p$ that cannot be defined over $\QQ_p$, for all primes $p>5$.
Let $(X, D_{X})$ be an arbitrary pointed stable curve of topological type $(g_{X}, n_{X})$ over an algebraically closed field of characteristic $p>0$. We prove that the generalized Hasse-Witt invariants of prime-to-$p$ cyclic admissible coverings of $(X, D_{X})$ attain maximum. As applications, we obtain an anabelian formula for $(g_{X}, n_{X})$, and prove that the field structures associated to inertia subgroups of marked points can be reconstructed group-theoretically from open continuous homomorphisms of admissible fundamental groups. Moreover, the formula for maximum generalized Hasse-Witt…
We extend B. Hassett's theory of weighted stable pointed curves ([Has03]) to weighted stable maps. The space of stability conditions is described explicitly, and the wall-crossing phenomenon studied. This can be considered as a non-linear analog of the theory of stability conditions in abelian and triangulated categories. We introduce virtual fundamental classes and thus obtain weighted Gromov-Witten invariants. We show that by including gravitational descendants, one obtains an $\LL$-algebra as introduced in [LM04] as a generalization of a cohomological field theory.
We compute an explicit formula for the first Chern class of the Hodge Bundle over the space of admissible cyclic $\mathbb{Z}/3\mathbb{Z}$ covers of $n$-pointed rational stable curves as a linear combination of boundary strata. We then apply this formula to give a recursive formula for calculating certain Hodge integrals containing $λ_1$. We also consider covers with a ${\mathbb{Z}}/{2\mathbb{Z}}$ action for which we compute $λ_2$ as a linear combination of codimension two boundary strata.
We introduce the stack of r-spin maps. These are stable maps into a variety V from n-pointed algebraic curves of genus g, with the additional data of an r-spin structure on the curve. We prove that this stack is a Deligne-Mumford stack, and we define analogs of the Gromov-Witten classes associated to these spaces. We show that these classes yield a cohomological field theory (CohFT) that is the tensor product of the CohFT associated to the usual Gromov-Witten invariants of V and the r-spin CohFT. When r=2, our construction gives the usual Gromov-Witten invariants of V. Restricting to genus zer…
We study twists of the Burkhardt quartic threefold over non-algebraically closed base fields of characteristic different from 2,3,5. We show they all admit quartic models in projective four-space. We identify a Galois-cohomological obstruction that measures if a given twist is birational to a moduli space of abelian varieties. This obstruction has implications for the rational points on these varieties. As a result, we see that all possible 3-level structures can be realized by abelian surfaces, whereas Kummer 3-level structures that group-theoretically may be admissible, may not be realizable…
The focus of our paper is on the complex Grassmann manifolds $G_{n,2}$ which appear as one of the fundamental objects in developing the interaction between algebraic geometry and algebraic topology. In his well-known paper Kapranov has proved that the Deligne-Mumford compactification $\overline{\mathcal{M}}(0,n)$ of $n$-pointed curves of genus zero can be realized as the Chow quotient $G_{n,2}\!/\!/(\mathbb{C} ^{\ast})^{n}$. In our recent papers, the constructive description of the orbit space $G_{n,2}/T^n$ has been obtained. In getting this result our notions of the CW-complex of the admissib…
This article treats various aspects of the geometry of the moduli of r-spin curves and its compactification. Generalized spin curves, or r-spin curves, are a natural generalization of 2-spin curves (algebraic curves with a theta-characteristic), and have been of interest lately because of the similarities between the intersection theory of these moduli spaces and that of the moduli of stable maps. In particular, these spaces are the subject of a remarkable conjecture of E. Witten relating their intersection theory to the Gelfand-Dikii (rth KdV) heirarchy. There is also a W-algebra conjecture f…
In this series of papers, we investigate a new anabelian phenomenon of curves over algebraically closed fields of positive characteristic. Let $\overline M_{g, n}$ be the moduli space of curves of type $(g, n)$ over $\overline {\mathbb{F}}_p$. We introduce a topological space $\overline Π_{g, n}$ which can be determined group-theoretically from admissible fundamental groups of pointed stable curves of type $(g, n)$. By introducing a certain equivalence relation $\sim_{fe}$ on the underlying topological space $|\overline M_{g, n}|$ of $\overline M_{g, n}$, we obtain a topological space $\overli…
Hassett constructed a class of modular compactifications of the moduli space of pointed curves by adding weights to the marked points. This leads to a natural wall and chamber decomposition of the domain of admissible weights where the moduli space and universal family remain constant inside a chamber, and may change upon crossing a wall. The goal of this paper is to count the number of chambers in this decomposition. We relate these chambers to a class of boolean functions known as linear threshold functions (LTFs), and discover a subclass of LTFs which are in bijection with the chambers. Usi…
