We show that the degree of the images of the moduli space of (principally polarized) abelian varieties A_g and of the moduli space of curves M_g in the projective space under the theta constant embedding are equal to the top self-intersection numbers of one half the first Hodge class on them. This allows us to obtain an explicit formula for the degree of A_g, and an explicit upper bound for the degree of M_g.
Knowing the degree of A_g allows us to effectively determine the subvariety itself, i.e. to effectively obtain all polynomial equations satisfied by theta constants. Furthermore, combining the bound on the degree of M_g with effective Nullstellensatz allows us to rewrite the Kadomtsev-Petvsiashvili (KP) partial differential equation as a system of algebraic equations for theta constants, and thus obtain an effective algebraic solution to the Schottky problem.
We prove that the generic point of a Hilbert modular four-fold is not a Jacobian. The proof uses degeneration techniques and is independent of properties of the mapping class group used in preceding papers on locally symmetric subvarieties of the moduli space of abelian varieties contained in the Schottky locus.
We determine the class of the (closure of the) Schottky locus in genus 4 in the Igusa- and the Voronoi compactification of A_4 and comment on the weight 8 modular form which vanishes on it.
We prove a generic Torelli theorem for Jacobian elliptic surfaces, provided that the geometric genus is large compared to the irregularity. The result is effective to the extent that defining equations for the base curve are recovered from the period data.
In this paper, we present a solution to the Schottky problem in the spirit of Schottky and Jung for genus five curves. To do so, we exploit natural incidence structures on the fibers of several maps to reduce all questions to statements about the Prym map for genus six curves. This allows us to find all components of the big Schottky locus and thus, to show that the small Schottky locus introduced by Donagi is irreducible.
We prove a lower bound for the codimension of the Andreotti-Mayer locus N_{g,1} and show that the lower bound is reached only for the hyperelliptic locus in genus 4 and the Jacobian locus in genus 5. In relation with the boundary of the Andreotti-Mayer loci we study subvarieties of principally polarized abelian varieties (B,Theta) parametrizing points b such that Theta and the translate Theta_b are tangentially degenerate along a variety of a given dimension.
We give a solution to the weak Schottky problem for genus five Jacobians with a vanishing theta null, answering a question of Grushevsky and Salvati Manni. More precisely, we show that if a principally polarized abelian variety of dimension five has a vanishing theta null with a quadric tangent cone of rank at most three, then it is in the Jacobian locus, up to extra irreducible components. We employ a degeneration argument, together with a study of the ramification loci for the Gauss map of a theta divisor.
In the paper we consider the Jacobian locus $\overline{J_g}$ and the Prym locus $\overline{P_{g+1}}$, in the moduli space $A_g$ of principally polarized abelian varieties of dimension $g$, for $g\geq 7$, and we study the extrinsic geometry of $\overline{J_g}\subset \overline{P_{g+1}}$, under the inclusion provided by the theory of generalized Prym varieties as introduced by Beauville. More precisely, we study certain geodesic curves with respect to the Siegel metric of $A_g$, starting at a Jacobian variety $[JC]\in A_g$ of a curve $[C]\in M_g$ and with direction $ζ\in T_{[JC]}J_g$. We prove th…
We construct an infinite number of Shimura curves contained in the locus of hyperelliptic Jacobians of genus 3. In the opposite direction, we show that in genus 3 the only possible non-complete (in the moduli space of abelian threefolds) Kuga curves contained in the hyperelliptic locus have the same degeneration data as that of the examples we construct. The locus of genus 3 hyperelliptic Jacobians is a divisor within the moduli space of principally polarized abelian threefolds, and our result demonstrates the techniques we develop more generally for dealing with Shimura curves contained withi…
In this survey of works on a characterization of Jacobians and Prym varieties among indecomposable principally polarized abelian varieties via the soliton theory we focus on a certain circle of ideas and methods which show that the characterization of Jacobians as ppav whose Kummer variety admits a trisecant line and the Pryms as ppav whose Kummer variety admits a pair of symmetric quadrisecants can be seen as an abelian version of pole systems arising in the theory of elliptic solutions to the basic soliton hierarchies. We present also recent results in this direction on the characterization …
We show that a given rational Shimura curve Y with strictly maximal Higgs field in the moduli space of g-dimensional abelian varieties does not generically intersect the Schottky locus for large g. We achieve this by using a result of Viehweg and Zuo which says that if Y parameterizes a family of curves of genus g, then the corresponding family of Jacobians is isogenous over Y to the g-fold product of a modular family of elliptic curves. After reducing the situation from the field of complex numbers to a finite field, we will see, combining the Weil and Sato-Tate conjectures, that this is impo…
We study the singular locus on the algebraic surface $§_n$ of genus 2 curves with a $(n, n)$-split Jacobian. Such surface was computed by Shaska in \cite{deg3} for $n=3$, and Shaska at al. in \cite{deg5} for $n=5$. We show that the singular locus for $n=2$ is exactly th locus of the curves of automorphism group $D_4$ or $D_6$. For $n=3$ we use a birational parametrization of the surface $§_3$ discovered in \cite{deg3} to show that the singular locus is a 0-dimensional subvariety consisting exactly of three genus 2 curves (up to isomorphism) which have automorphism group $D_4$ or $D_6$. We furt…
We study the locus of intermediate Jacobians of cubic threefolds within the moduli space of complex principally polarized abelian fivefolds, and its generalization to arbitrary genus - the locus of abelian varieties with a singular odd two-torsion point on the theta divisor. Assuming that this locus has expected codimension (which we show to be true for genus up to 5), we compute the class of this locus, and of is closure in the perfect cone toroidal compactification, in the Chow, homology, and the tautological ring. We work out the cases of genus up to 5 in detail, obtaining explicit expressi…
We present a new perspective on the Schottky problem that links numerical computing with tropical geometry. The task is to decide whether a symmetric matrix defines a Jacobian, and, if so, to compute the curve and its canonical embedding. We offer solutions and their implementations in genus four, both classically and tropically. The locus of cographic matroids arises from tropicalizing the Schottky-Igusa modular form.
We prove the following converse of Riemann's Theorem: let (A,Θ) be an indecomposable principally polarized abelian variety whose theta divisor can be written as a sum of a curve and a codimension two subvariety Θ=C+Y. Then C is smooth, A is the Jacobian of C, and Y is a translate of W_{g-2}(C). As applications, we determine all theta divisors that are dominated by a product of curves and characterize Jacobians by the existence of a d-dimensional subvariety with curve summand whose twisted ideal sheaf is a generic vanishing sheaf.
It is well known that, fixed an even, unimodular, positive definite quadratic form, one can construct a modular form in each genus; this form is called the theta series associated to the quadratic form. Varying the quadratic form, one obtains the ring of stable modular forms. We show that the differences of theta series associated to specific pairs of quadratic forms vanish on the locus of hyperelliptic Jacobians in each genus. In our examples, the quadratic forms have rank 24, 32 and 48. The proof relies on a geometric result about the boundary of the Satake compactification of the hyperellip…
The recent extensive work on different approaches to the Schottky problem has produced marked progress on several fronts. At the same time, it has become apparent that there exist very close connections between the various characterizations of Jacobian varieties described in Mumford's classic lectures {\it Curves and Their Jacobians\/}. Until now, the approach via double translation manifolds has seemed to be quite different from other approaches to the Schottky problem. The purpose of this paper is to bring this last approach ``into the fold'' as it were, and to show precisely how it relates …
We give an explicit weak solution to the Schottky problem, in the spirit of Riemann and Schottky. For any genus $g$, we write down a collection of polynomials in genus $g$ theta constants, such that their common zero locus contains the locus of Jacobians of genus $g$ curves as an irreducible component. These polynomials arise by applying a specific Schottky-Jung proportionality to an explicit collection of quartic identities for theta constants in genus $g-1$, which are suitable linear combinations of Riemann's quartic relations.
This article shows explicit relation between fractional expressions of Schottky-Klein type for hyperelliptic $σ$-functions and a product of differences of the algebraic coordinates on each stratum of natural stratification in a hyperelliptic Jacobian.
We find an asymptotic description of the period locus of simply connected Jacobian elliptic surfaces and of the period locus of hyperelliptic curves. The two descriptions are essentially the same, and are given by the alkanes of organic chemistry.
We study submanifolds of A_g that are totally geodesic for the locally symmetric metric and which are contained in the closure of the Jacobian locus but not in its boundary. In the first section we recall a formula for the second fundamental form of the period map due to Pirola, Tortora and the first author. We show that this result can be stated quite neatly using a line bundle over the product of the curve with itself. We give an upper bound for the dimension of a germ of a totally geodesic submanifold passing through [C] in M_g in terms of the gonality of C. This yields an upper bound for t…
We show that a smooth projective curve of genus $g$ can be reconstructed from its polarized Jacobian $(X, Θ)$ as a certain locus in the Hilbert scheme $\mathrm{Hilb}^d(X)$, for $d=3$ and for $d=g+2$, defined by geometric conditions in terms of the polarization $Θ$. The result is an application of the Gunning--Welters trisecant criterion and the Castelnuovo--Schottky theorem by Pareschi--Popa and Grushevsky, and its scheme theoretic extension by the authors.
We complete the proof of the fact that the moduli space of rank two bundles with trivial determinant embeds into the linear system of divisors on $Pic^{g-1}C$ which are linearly equivalent to $2Θ$. The embedded tangent space at a semi-stable non-stable bundle $ξ\oplusξ^{-1}$, where $ξ$ is a degree zero line bundle, is shown to consist of those divisors in $|2Θ|$ which contain $Sing(Θ_ξ)$ where $Θ_ξ$ is the translate of $Θ$ by $ξ$. We also obtain geometrical results on the structure of this tangent space.
In this survey we discuss some of the classical and modern methods in studying the (Riemann-)Schottky problem, the problem of characterizing Jacobians of curves among principally polarized abelian varieties. We present many of the recent results in this subject, and describe some directions of current research. This paper is based on the talk given at the "Classical algebraic geometry today" workshop at MSRI in January 2009.
The subject of this paper is a Jacobian, introduced by F. Lazzeri, (unpublished), associated to every compact oriented riemannian manifold of dimension twice an odd number. We start the investigation of Torelli type problems and Schottky type problem for Lazzeri's Jacobian; in particular we examine the case of tori with flat metrics. Besides we study Lazzeri's Jacobian for Kahler manifolds and its relationship with other Jacobians. Finally we examine Lazzeri's Jacobian of a bundle.
In this paper, an explicit hierarchy of differential equations for the $τ$-functions defining the moduli space of curves with automorphisms as a subscheme of the Sato Grassmannian is obtained. The Schottky problem for Riemann surfaces with automorphisms consists of characterizing those p.p.a.v. that are Jacobian varieties of a curve with a non-trivial automorphism. A characterization in terms of hierarchies of p.d.e. for theta functions is also given.
In this paper we study the infinitesimal deformations of a trigonal curve that preserve the trigonal series and such that the associate infinitesimal variation of Hodge structure (IVHS) is of rank 1. We show that if the genus g is greater or equal to 8 or g=6,7 and the curve is Maroni general, this locus is zero dimensional. Moreover, we complete a result of Naranjo and Pirola. We show in fact that if the genus g is greater or equal to 6, the hyperelliptic locus is the only 2g-1-dimensional sub-locus Y of the moduli space of curves of genus g, such that for the general element [C] in Y, its Ja…
We study families of Galois covers of curves of positive genus. It is known that under a numerical condition these families yield Shimura subvarieties generically contained in the Jacobian locus. We prove that there are only 6 families satisfying this condition, all of them in genus 2,3 or 4. We also show that these families admit two fibrations in totally geodesic subvarieties, generalizing a result of Grushevsky and Möller. Countably many of these fibres are Shimura. Thus the Jacobian locus contains infinitely many Shimura subvarieties of positive dimension of any $g \leq 4$.
We show that the degree of Gauss maps on abelian varieties is semicontinuous in families, and we study its jump loci. As an application we obtain that in the case of theta divisors this degree answers the Schottky problem. Our proof computes the degree of Gauss maps by specialization of Lagrangian cycles on the cotangent bundle. We also get similar results for the intersection cohomology of varieties with a finite morphism to an abelian variety; it follows that many components of Andreotti-Mayer loci, including the Schottky locus, are part of the stratification of the moduli space of ppav's de…
We prove and conjecture results which show that Castelnuovo theory in projective space has a close analogue for abelian varieties. This is related to the geometric Schottky problem: our main result is that a principally polarized abelian variety satisfies a precise version of the Castelnuovo Lemma if and only if it is a Jacobian. This result has a surprising connection to the Trisecant Conjecture. We also give a genus bound for curves in abelian varieties.
We study Esteves's fine compactified Jacobians for nodal curves. We give a proof of the fact that, for a one-parameter regular local smoothing of a nodal curve $X$, the relative smooth locus of a relative fine compactified Jacobian is isomorphic to the Néron model of the Jacobian of the general fiber, and thus it provides a modular compactification of it. We show that each fine compactified Jacobian of $X$ admits a stratification in terms of certain fine compactified Jacobians of partial normalizations of $X$ and, moreover, that it can be realized as a quotient of the smooth locus of a suitabl…
Novikov's conjecture on the Riemann-Schottky problem: {\it the Jacobians of smooth algebraic curves are precisely those indecomposable principally polarized abelian varieties (ppavs) whose theta-functions provide solutions to the Kadomtsev-Petviashvili (KP) equation}, was the first evidence of nowadays well-established fact: connections between the algebraic geometry and the modern theory of integrable systems is beneficial for both sides. The purpose of this paper is twofold. Our first goal is to present a proof of the strongest known characterization of a Jacobian variety in this direction: …
We describe algorithms for computing the intersection numbers of divisors and of Chern classes of the Hodge bundle on the moduli spaces of stable pointed curves. We also discuss the implementations and the results obtained. There are several applications. We discuss one in particular: the calculation of the projection in the tautological ring of the moduli space of abelian varieties of the class of the locus of Jacobians.
The Castelnuovo-Schottky theorem of Pareschi-Popa characterizes Jacobians, among indecomposable principally polarized abelian varieties of dimension g, by the existence of g+2 points in general position with respect to the principal polarization, but special with respect to twice the polarization, and furthermore states that such collections of points must be contained in an Abel-Jacobi curve. Building on the ideas in the original paper, we give here a self contained, scheme theoretic proof of the theorem, extending it to finite, possibly nonreduced subschemes.
We show that the infinitesimal deformations of the Brill--Noether locus $W_d$ attached to a smooth non-hyperelliptic curve $C$ are in one-to-one correspondence with the deformations of $C$. As an application, we prove that if a Jacobian $J$ deforms together with a minimal cohomology class out the Jacobian locus, then $J$ is hyperelliptic. In particular, this provides an evidence to a conjecture of Debarre on the classification of ppavs carrying a minimal cohomology class. Finally, we also study simultaneous deformations of Fano surfaces of lines and intermediate Jacobians.
We propose a solution to the hyperelliptic Schottky problem, based on the use of Jacobian Nullwerte and symmetric models for hyperelliptic curves. Both ingredients are interesting on its own, since the first provide period matrices which can be geometrically described, and the second have remarkable arithmetic properties.
We discuss the conjecture of Buchstaber and Krichever that their multi-dimensional vector addition formula for Baker-Akhiezer functions characterizes Jacobians among principally polarized abelian varieties, and prove that it is indeed a weak characterization, i.e. that it is true up to additional components, or true precisely under a general position assumption. We also show that this addition formula is equivalent to Gunning's multisecant formula for the Kummer variety. We then use Buchstaber-Krichever's computation of the coefficients in the addition formula to obtain cubic relations among t…
In this paper we prove a conjecture of Hershel Farkas that if a 4-dimensional principally polarized abelian variety has a vanishing theta-null, and the hessian of the theta function at the corresponding point of order two is degenerate, the abelian variety is a Jacobian. We also discuss possible generalizations to higher genera, and an interpretation of this condition as an infinitesimal version of Andreotti and Mayer's local characterization of Jacobians by the dimension of the singular locus of the theta divisor.
We consider two cycles on the moduli space of compact type curves and prove that they coincide. The first is defined by pushing forward the virtual fundamental classes of spaces of relative stable maps to an unparameterized rational curve, while the second is obtained as the intersection of the Abel section of the universal Jacobian with the zero section. Our comparison extends results of Cavalieri-Marcus-Wise where the same identity was proved over on the locus of rational tails curves.
We show that on the Jacobian $(JC,θ)$ of a smooth curve $C$ of genus $g$, any effective cycle in $JC$ with cohomology class $θ^d/d!$ is a translate of $W_{g-d}(C)$ or $-W_{g-d}(C)$. We then use this result to prove that for $1<d<g$, the Jacobian locus (\resp the locus of intermediate Jacobians of cubic threefolds) is an irreducible component of the set of principally polarized abelian varieties of dimension $g$ for which $θ^d/d!$ (\resp $θ^3/3!$) is the class of an effective algebraic cycle. Moreover, on the intermediate Jacobian of a generic cubic threefold, $θ^2/2!$ is not the class of an ef…
Using the compactified universal jacobian over the moduli space of stable marked curves, we give an expression in terms of natural classes of the zero section of the compactified universal jacobian the (rational) Chow ring. After extending variants of the Abel-Jacobi map to a locus containing curves of treelike type we give a formula for the pullback of the said zero section along these extensions. The same approach is also applied to recover known formulas for the pullback of theta divisors to the moduli space of marked stable curves.
Let $C$ be a hyperelliptic curve embedded in its Jacobian $J$ via an Abel-Jacobi map. We compute the scheme structure of the Hilbert scheme component of $\textrm{Hilb}_J$ containing the Abel-Jacobi curve as a point. We relate the result to the ramification (and to the fibres) of the Torelli morphism $\mathcal M_g\rightarrow \mathcal A_g$ along the hyperelliptic locus. As an application, we determine the scheme structure of the moduli space of Picard sheaves (introduced by Mukai) on a hyperelliptic Jacobian.
We introduce deformation theoretic methods for determining when a curve $X$ in a non-hyperelliptic jacobian $JC$ will deform with $JC$ to a non-jacobian. We apply these methods to a particular class of curves in symmetric powers $C^{(e)}$ of $C$ where $3\leq e\leq g-3$. More precisely, given a pencil $g^1_d$ of degree $d$ on $C$, let $X$ be the curve parametrizing divisors of degree $e$ in divisors of $g^1_d$ (see the paper for the precise scheme-theoretical definition). Under certain genericity assumptions on the pair $(C, g^1_d)$, we prove that if $X$ deforms infinitesimally out of the jacob…
Let $A_g^S$ be the Satake compactification of the moduli space $A_g$ of principally polarized abelian $g$-folds and $M_g^S$ the closure of the image of the moduli space $M_g$ of genus $g$ curves in $A_g$ under the Jacobian morphism. Then $A_g^S$ lies in the boundary of $A_{g+m}^S$ for any $m$. We prove that $M_{g+m}^S$ and $A_g^S$ do not meet transversely in $A_{g+m}^S$, but rather that their intersection contains the $m$th order infinitesimal neighbourhood of $M_g^S$ in $A_g^S$. We deduce that there is no non-trivial stable Siegel modular form that vanishes on $M_g$ for every $g$. In particul…
We introduce and study (strict) Schottky G-bundles over a compact Riemann surface X, where G is a connected reductive algebraic group. Strict Schottky representations are shown to be related to branes in the moduli space of G-Higgs bundles over X, and we prove that all Schottky $G$-bundles have trivial topological type. Generalizing the Schottky moduli map introduced in Florentino to the setting of principal bundles, we prove its local surjectivity at the good and unitary locus. Finally, we prove that the Schottky map is surjective onto the space of flat bundles for two special classes: when G…
Given a family of intermediate Jacobians (for a polarized variation of Hodge structure of weight -1) on a Zariski-open subset of a complex manifold, we construct an analytic space that naturally extends the family. Its two main properties are: (a) the horizontal and holomorphic sections are precisely the admissible normal functions without singularities; (b) the graph of any admissible normal function has an analytic closure inside our space. As a consequence, we obtain a new proof for the zero locus conjecture of M. Green and P. Griffiths. The construction uses filtered D-modules and M. Saito…
In this note we survey recent results on the extrinsic geometry of the Jacobian locus inside $\mathsf{A}_g$. We describe the second fundamental form of the Torelli map as a multiplication map, recall the relation between totally geodesic subvarieties and Hodge loci and survey various results related to totally geodesic subvarieties and the Jacobian locus.
We show that the gradient and the hessian of the Riemann theta function in dimension n can be combined to give a theta function of order n+1 and modular weight (n+5)/2 defined on the theta divisor. It can be seen that the zero locus of this theta function essentially gives the ramification locus of the Gauss map. For jacobians this leads to a description in terms of theta functions and their derivatives of the Weierstrass point locus on the associated Riemann surface.
We construct modular compactifications of the universal Jacobian stack over the moduli stack of reduced curves with marked points depending on stability parameters obtained out of fixing a vector bundle on the universal curve. When restricted to the locus of stable marked curves, our compactifications are Deligne-Mumford irreducible smooth stacks endowed with projective moduli spaces and, following Esteves approach to the construction of fine compactifications of Jacobians, they parametrize torsion-free rank-1 simple sheaves satisfying a stability condition with respect to the fixed vector bun…
Let Y->P^n be a flat family of integral Gorenstein curves, such that the compactified relative Jacobian X=\bar{J}^d(Y/P^n) is a Lagrangian fibration. We prove that the degree of the discriminant locus Delta in P^n is at least 4n+2, and we prove that X is a Beauville-Mukai integrable system if the degree of Delta is greater than 4n+20.
It is well known that every smooth cubic threefold is the zero locus of the Pfaffian of a 6 x 6 skew-symmetric matrix of linear forms in P^4. To compactify the space of such Pfaffian representations of a given cubic and to study the construction in families as well as for singular or reducible cubics, it is thus natural to consider the incidence correspondence of Pfaffian representations inside the product of the space of semistable skew-symmetric 6 x 6 matrices of linear forms in P^4 and the space of cubics. Here we describe concretely the irreducible component of this incidence correspondenc…
Let SU_C(2) denote the moduli variety of rank 2 semistable vector bundles with trivial determinant on an algebraic curve C. We prove that if C is trigonal then there exists a projective moduli variety N_C containing SU_C(2) as a subvariety and smooth of dimension 7g-14 away from SU_C(2). N_C parametrises Galois Spin(8)-bundles on the Galois closure of C over P^1. Moreover, if x in J_C[2] is a 2-torsion point let R(x) be the Recillas tetragonal curve whose Jacobian is isomorphic to Prym(C,x). Then there is an injection of SU_R(x)(2) into N_C giving a `nonabelian Schottky configuration' in N_C s…
In an earlier paper we constructed a Cartier divisor on the theta divisor of a principally polarised abelian variety whose support is precisely the ramification locus of the Gauss map. In this note we discuss a Green's function associated to this locus. For jacobians we relate this Green's function to the canonical Green's function of the corresponding Riemann surface.
