Given a family of local systems on a punctured Riemann sphere, with moving singularities, its first parabolic cohomology is a local system on the base space. We study this situation from different points of view. For instance, we derive universal formulas for the monodromy of the resulting local system. We use a particular example of our construction to prove that the simple groups $\PSL_2(p^2)$ admit regular realizations over the field $\QQ(t)$ for primes $p\not\equiv 1,4,16\mod{21}$. Finally, we compute the monodromy of the Euler-Picard equation, reproving a classical result of Picard.
In this article we prove conditions under which a certain parabolic group cohomology space over a finite field F is a faithful module for the Hecke algebra of Katz modular forms over an algebraic closure of F. These results can e.g. be used to compute Katz modular forms of weight one with methods of linear algebra over F. This is essentially Chapter 3 of my thesis.
We continue our study of the variation of parabolic cohomology (math.AG/0310139) and derive an exact formula for the underlying Poincare duality. As an illustration of our methods, we compute the monodromy of the Picard-Euler system and its invariant Hermitian form, reproving a classical theorem of Picard.
We determine generators of the rational cohomology algebras of moduli spaces of parabolic vector bundles on a curve, under some `primality' conditions on the parabolic datum. These generators are canonical in a precise sense. Our results are new even for usual vector bundles (i.e., vector bundles without parabolic structure) whose rank is greater than 2 and is coprime to the degree; in this case, they are generalizations of a theorem of Newstead on the moduli of vector bundles of rank 2 and odd degree.
We study the moduli space of logarithmic connections of rank $2$ on $\mathbb{P}^1 \setminus \{ t_1, \dots, t_5 \}$ with fixed spectral data. The aim of this paper is to compute the cohomology of such space, and this computation will be used to extend the results of Geometric Langlands Correspondence due to D. Arinkin to the case where this type of connections have five simple poles on $\mathbb{P}^1$.
Let $(X,\,D)$ be an $m$-pointed compact Riemann surface of genus at least $2$. For each $x \,\in\, D$, fix full flag and concentrated weight system $α$. Let $P \mathcal{M}_ξ$ denote the moduli space of semi-stable parabolic vector bundles of rank $r$ and determinant $ξ$ over $X$ with weight system $α$, where $r$ is a prime number and $ξ$ is a holomorphic line bundle over $X$ of degree $d$ which is not a multiple of $r$. We compute the Chen-Ruan cohomology of the orbifold for the action on $P \mathcal{M}_ξ$ of the group of $r$-torsion points in ${\rm Pic}^0(X)$.
The cohomology ring of the moduli space of stable holomorphic vector bundles of rank n and degree d over a Riemann surface of genus g>1 has a standard set of generators when n and d are coprime. When n=2 the relations between these generators are well understood, and in particular a conjecture of Mumford, that a certain set of relations is a complete set, is known to be true. In this article generalisations are given of Mumford's relations to the cases when n>2 and also when the bundles are parabolic bundles, and these are shown to form complete sets of relations.
We study the equivariant oriented cohomology ring $h_T(G/P)$ of partial flag varieties using the moment map approach. We define the right Hecke action on this cohomology ring, and then prove that the respective Bott-Samelson classes in $h_{T}(G/P)$ can be obtained by applying this action to the fundamental class of the identity point, hence generalizing previously known results by Brion, Knutson, Peterson, Tymoczko and others. We then focus on the equivariant oriented cohomology theory corresponding to the 2-parameter Todd genus. We give a new interpretation of Deodhar's construction of the pa…
In this version referee's comments have been incorporated. Besides minor corrections, new material has been added on irrational markings. To appear in Ann. Inst. Fourier. We prove a condition for the existence of flat bundles on the punctured two-sphere with prescribed holonomies around the punctures, involving Gromov-Witten invariants of generalized flag varieties. This generalizes the case of special unitary bundles described by S. Agnihotri and the second author and independently P. Belkale.
The Peterson isomorphism relates the homology of the affine Grassmannian to the quantum cohomology of any flag variety. In the case of a partial flag, Peterson's map is only a surjection, and one needs to quotient by a suitable ideal on the affine side to map isomorphically onto the quantum cohomology. We provide a detailed exposition of this parabolic Peterson isomorphism in the case of the Grassmannian of m-planes in complex n-space, including an explicit recipe for doing quantum Schubert calculus in terms of the appropriate subset of non-commutative k-Schur functions. As an application, we …
We study the ring generated by the Chern classes of tautological line bundles on the moduli space of parabolic bundles of arbitrary rank on a Riemann surface. We show the Poincaré duals to these Chern classes have simple geometric representatives. We use this construction to show that the ring generated by these Chern classes vanishes below the dimension of the moduli space, in analogy with the Newstead-Ramanan conjecture for stable bundles.
Let G be a semisimple complex algebraic group with Borel subgroup B and let P be a parabolic subgroup of G. Let T*(G/P) denote the cotangent bundle of G/P. Ranee Brylinski discovered a connection between cohomology of G-equivariant line bundles on T*(G/B) and the so-called Brylinski-Kostant filtration, which describes the action of principal sl_2 triples on G-representations. In this paper we generalize these results to a larger class of sl_2 triples. Along the way we also obtain generalizations of results due to Broer on cohomology of G-equivariant bundles on T*(G/P) for various parabolics P.
The characters of Kazhdan--Lusztig elements of the Hecke algebra over $S_n$ (and in particular, the chromatic symmetric function of indifference graphs) are completely encoded in the (intersection) cohomology of certain subvarieties of the flag variety. Considering the forgetful map to some partial flag variety, the decomposition theorem tells us that this cohomology splits as a sum of intersection cohomology groups with coefficients in some local systems of subvarieties of the partial flag variety. We prove that these local systems correspond to representations of subgroups of $S_n$. An expli…
We study moduli spaces of parabolic Higgs bundles on a curve and their dependence on the choice of weights. We describe the chamber structure on the space of weights and show that, when a wall is crossed, the moduli space undergoes an elementary transformation in the sense of Mukai.
In this paper we explain how non-abelian Hodge theory allows one to compute the $L^2$ cohomology or middle perversity higher direct images of harmonic bundles and twistor D-modules in a purely algebraic manner. Our main result is a new algebraic description for the fiberwise $L^2$ cohomology of a tame harmonic bundle or the corre- sponding flat bundle or tame polystable parabolic Higgs bundle. Specifically we give a formula for the Dolbeault version of the $L^2$ pushforward in terms of a modification of the Dolbeault complex of a Higgs bundle which takes into account the monodromy weight filtr…
Let $X$ be a compact Riemann surface, $Σ$ a finite set of points and $M = X\setminus Σ$. We study the $L^2$ cohomology of a polarized complex variation of Hodge structure on a Galois covering of the Riemann surface of finite type $M$. In this article we treat the case when the covering comes from a branched covering of $X$, and where $M$ is endowed with a metric asymptotic to a Poincaré metric. We prove that after tensorisation with the algebra of affiliated operators, the $L^2$ cohomology admits a pure Hodge structure.
We use $L^2$-Higgs cohomology to determine the Hodge numbers of the parabolic cohomology $H^1(\bar S, j_*\V)$, where the local system $\V$ arises from the third primitive cohomology of family of Calabi-Yau threefolds over a curve $\bar S$. The method gives a way to predict the presence of algebraic 2-cycles in the total space of the family and is applied to some examples.
A systematic study of the contributions at infinity for the cohomology of variations of polarized Hodge structures over quasicompact Kähler manifolds. Several isomorphisms between different cohomologies given.
Insprired by the work of C. Simpson, it is shown that every variation of graded-polarized mixed Hodge structure defined over Q gives rise to a natural Higgs field on the underlying vector bundle. In the context of Mirror Symmetry it is then shown that these Higgs fields share an intimate relationship with Quantum Cohomology.
Consider the holomorphic bundle with connection on $\mathbb P^1-\{0,1,\infty\}$ corresponding to the regular hypergeometric differential operator \[ \prod_{j=1}^h(D-α_j)-z\prod_{j=1}^h(D-β_j), \qquad D=z\frac{d}{dz}. \] If the numbers $α_i$ and $β_j$ are real and for all $i$ and $j$ the number $α_i-β_j$ is not integer, then the bundle with connection is known to underlie a complex polarizable variation of Hodge structures. We calculate some Hodge invariants for this variation, in particular, the Hodge numbers. From this we derive a conjecture of Corti and Golyshev. We also use non-abelian Hodg…
A string theoretic derivation is given for the conjecture of Hausel, Letellier, and Rodriguez-Villegas on the cohomology of character varieties with marked points. Their formula is identified with a refined BPS expansion in the stable pair theory of a local root stack, generalizing previous work of the first two authors in collaboration with G. Pan. Haiman's geometric construction for Macdonald polynomials is shown to emerge naturally in this context via geometric engineering. In particular this yields a new conjectural relation between Macdonald polynomials and refined local orbifold curve co…
We construct explicit geometric models for moduli spaces of semi-stable strongly parabolic Higgs bundles over the Riemann sphere, in the case of rank two, four marked points, arbitrary degree, and arbitrary weights. The mechanism of construction relies on elementary geometric and combinatorial techniques, based on a detailed study of orbit stability of (in general non-reductive) bundle automorphism groups on certain carefully crafted spaces. The aforementioned techniques are not exclusive to the case we examine, and this work elucidates a general approach to construct arbitrary moduli spaces o…
We study the rational Chow motives of certain moduli spaces of vector bundles on a smooth projective curve with additional structure (such as a parabolic structure or Higgs field). In the parabolic case, these moduli spaces depend on a choice of stability condition given by weights; our approach is to use explicit descriptions of variation of this stability condition in terms of simple birational transformations (standard flips/flops and Mukai flops) for which we understand the variation of the Chow motives. For moduli spaces of parabolic vector bundles, we describe the change in motive under …
In this paper, we prove that the Grothendieck-Riemann-Roch formula in Deligne cohomology computing the determinant of the cohomology of a holomorphic vector bundle on the fibers of a proper submersion between abstract complex manifolds is invariant by deformation of the bundle.
Let X be a smooth complex projective variety, let $j:U\into X$ an immersion of a Zariski open subset, and let V be a variation of Hodge structure of weight n over U. Then IH^k(X, j_*V) is known to carry a pure Hodge structure of weight k+n, while H^k(U,V) carries a mixed Hodge structure of weight $\ge k+n$. In this note it is shown that the image of the natural map $IH^k(X,j_*V) \to H^k(U,V)$ is the lowest weight part of this mixed Hodge structure. The proof uses Saito's theory of mixed Hodge modules.
Given a smooth, proper family of varieties in characteristic $p>0$, and a cycle $z$ on a fibre of the family, we formulate a Variational Tate Conjecture characterising, in terms of the crystalline cycle class of $z$, whether $z$ extends cohomologically to the entire family. This is a characteristic $p$ analogue of Grothendieck's Variational Hodge Conjecture. We prove the conjecture for divisors, and an infinitesimal variant of the conjecture for cycles of higher codimension. This can be used to reduce the $\ell$-adic Tate conjecture for divisors over finite fields to the case of surfaces.
The non-abelian Hodge correspondence identifies complex variations of Hodge structures with certain Higgs bundles. In this work we analyze this relationship, and some of its ramifications, when the variations of Hodge structures are determined by a (complete) one-dimensional family of compact Calabi-Yau manifolds. This setup enables us to apply techniques from mirror symmetry. For example, the corresponding Higgs bundles extend to parabolic Higgs bundles to the compactification of the base of the families. We determine the parabolic degrees of the underlying parabolic bundles in terms of the e…
Moduli spaces of stable parabolic bundles of parabolic degree $0$ over the Riemann sphere are stratified according to the Harder--Narasimhan filtration of underlying vector bundles. Over a Zariski open subset $\mathscr{N}_{0}$ of the open stratum depending explicitly on a choice of parabolic weights, a real-valued function $\mathscr{S}$ is defined as the regularized critical value of the non-compact Wess--Zumino--Novikov--Witten action functional. The definition of $\mathscr{S}$ depends on a suitable notion of parabolic bundle `uniformization map' following from the Mehta--Seshadri and Birkhof…
Let $M$ be the moduli space of rank 3 parabolic vector bundles over a Riemann surface with several punctures. By the Mehta-Seshadri correspondence, this is the space of rank 3 unitary representations of the fundamental group of the punctured surface with specified conjugacy classes of the images of each boundary component, up to conjugation by elements of the unitary group. For each puncture we consider the torus bundle on $M$ consisting of those representations where the image of the corresponding boundary component is a fixed element of the torus. We associate line bundles to these torus bun…
