Let M be the moduli space of SO(r)-bundles on a curve, and L the determinant bundle on M. We define an isomorphism of H^0(M,L) onto the dual of the space of r-th order theta functions on the Jacobian of C. This isomorphism identifies the map M -->|L|* defined by the linear system |L| with the map M -->|r Theta| which associates to a quadratic bundle (E,q) the Theta divisor of the vector bundle E . The two components M+ and M- of M are mapped into the subspaces of even and odd theta functions respectively. Finally we discuss the analogous question for Sp(2r)-bundles.
In this paper we show that semistable vector bundles on a Castelnuovo curve of genus g >= 2 have theta divisors. As a corollary, we deduce that semistable vector bundles on a smooth, general curve of genus g >= 2 which extend to semistable vector bundles on any Castelnuovo degeneration of the general curve admit a theta divisor.
We show that the locus of stable rank four vector bundles without theta divisor over a smooth projective curve of genus two is in canonical bijection with the set of theta-characteristics. We give several descriptions of these bundles and compute the degree of the rational theta map.
In this paper we approach the study of generalized theta linear series on moduli of vector bundles on curves via vector bundle techniques on abelian varieties. We study what are called the Verlinde bundles in order to obtain information about duality between theta functions and effective global and normal generation on these moduli spaces.
A generic strictly semistable bundle of degree zero over a curve X has a reducible theta divisor, given by the sum of the theta divisors of the stable summands of the associated graded bundle. The converse is not true: Beauville and Raynaud have each constructed stable bundles with reducible theta divisors. For X of genus at least 5, we construct stable vector bundles over X of rank $r$ for all $r \geq 5$, with reducible and nonreduced theta divisors. We also adapt the construction to symplectic bundles. In the appendix, Raynaud's original example of a stable rank 2 vector bundle with reducibl…
We study the bundles of generalized theta functions constructed from moduli spaces of sheaves over abelian surfaces. In degree 0, the splitting type of these bundles is expressed in terms of indecomposable semihomogeneous factors. Furthermore, Fourier-Mukai symmetries of the Verlinde bundles are found, consistently with strange duality. Along the way, a transformation formula for the theta bundles is derived, extending a theorem of Drezet-Narasimhan from curves to abelian surfaces.
This is a (short) survey lecture on the "theta map" from the moduli space of SL_r bundles on a curve C to the projective space of r-th order theta functions on JC . Some recent results and a few open problems about that map are discussed.
Let $E$ be a smooth elliptic curve over $\mathbb{C}$. For $E$ embedded into $\mathbb{P}^2$ as Hesse cubic and $V$ an Ulrich bundle on $E$ we derive a explicit presentation of $V$ using Moore matrices and theta functions.
Let C be a curve of genus g and L a line bundle of degree 2g on C . Let M be the kernel of the evaluation map from the trivial bundle with fibre H^0(C,L) into L . We show that when L is general enough, the rank g bundle M and its exterior powers are stable and admit a reducible theta divisor.
Let C be a curve of genus g, and let SU(r) be the moduli space of vector bundles of rank r on C, with trivial determinant. A general E in SU(r) defines a theta divisor in the linear system |r Theta|, where Theta is the canonical theta divisor in Pic^{g-1}(C). This defines a rational map SU(r) - - > |r Theta|, which is the map associated to the determinant bundle on SU(r) (the positive generator of Pic(SU(r)). In this paper we prove that in genus 2 this map is generically finite and dominant. The same method, together with some classical work of Morin, shows that in rank 3 and genus 3 the theta…
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.
We study base points of the generalized Theta-divisor on the moduli space of vector bundles on a smooth algebraic curve X of genus g defined over an algebraically closed field. To do so, we use the derived categories D(Pic(X)), D(Jac(X)), and the equivalence between them given by the Fourier-Mukai transform coming from the Poincaré bundle. The vector bundles P(m) on the curve X defined by Raynaud play a central role in this description. Indeed, we show that a vector bundle E is a base point of the generalized Theta-divisor, if and only if there exists a nontrivial homomorphism P(rk(E)g+1) --> …
We generalize to $n$-torsion a result of Kempf's describing $2$-torsion points lying on a theta divisor. This is accomplished by means of certain semihomogeneous vector bundles introduced and studied by Mukai and Oprea. As an application, we prove a sharp upper bound for the number of $n$-torsion points on a theta divisor, and show that this is achieved only in the case of products of elliptic curves, settling in the affirmative a conjecture of Auffarth, Pirola and Salvati Manni.
We study relations between two fundamental constructions associated to vector bundles on a smooth complex projective curve: the theta function (a section of a line bundle on the moduli space of vector bundles) and the Szegö kernel (a section of a vector bundle on the square of the curve). Two types of relations are demonstrated. First, we establish a higher--rank version of the prime form, describing the pullback of determinant line bundles by difference maps, and show the theta function pulls back to the determinant of the Szegö kernel. Next, we prove that the expansion of the Szegö kernel at…
The moduli space M_2 of rank four semistable symplectic vector bundles over a curve X of genus two is an irreducible projective variety of dimension ten. Its Picard group is generated by the determinantal line bundle Ξ. The base locus of the linear system |Ξ| consists of precisely those bundles without theta divisors, that is, admitting nonzero maps from every line bundle of degree -1 = 1-g over X. We show that this base locus consists of six distinct points, which are in canonical bijection with the Weierstrass points of the curve. We relate our construction of these bundles to another of Ray…
Let U(r) be the moduli space of rank r vector bundles with trivial determinant on a smooth curve of genus 2. The map theta_r: U(r) -> |r Theta|, which associates to a general bundle its theta divisor, is generically finite. In this paper we give a geometric interpretation of the generic fibre of theta_r.
This paper shows that on the moduli space of semi-stable vector bundles of fixed rank and determinant (of any degree) on a smooth curve of genus at least two, the base locus of the generalized theta divisor is large provided the rank is sufficiently large. It also shows that the base locus is large for positive multiples of the theta divisor. This work extends results already known for the case where the determinant is of degree zero.
We consider the following question: for which invariants $g$ and $e$ is there a geometrically ruled surface $S \rightarrow C$ over a curve $C$ of genus $g$ with invariant $e$ such that $S$ is the support of an Ulrich line bundle with respect to a very ample line bundle? A surprising relation between the existence of certain proper Theta divisors on some moduli spaces of vector bundles on $C$ with the existence of Ulrich line bundles on $S$ will be the key to completely solve the above question. The relation is realized by translating the vanishing conditions characterizing Ulrich line bundles …
In this paper I present a new geometric approach to the factorization rule for generalised theta functions. Let $X$ be an irreducible projective nodal curve with one singularity and let $Y$ be its normalization. Recently I have constructed the moduli stack $GVB(X)$ of rank $n$ Gieseker vector bundles on $X$ and have shown that its normalization is a locally trivial fibration over the moduli stack $VB(Y)$ of vector bundles on $Y$, where the fibre is a canonical compactification of $Gl_n$. In this paper I prove a canonical direct sum decomposition of the space of global sections of a power of th…
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.
Given a vector bundle $E$ of rank $r$ and degree $d$ on a curve $C$ of genus $g$, one can associate to $E$ in a natural way several other vector bundles. For example, one can take wedge powers of $E$. If $E$ is generated by global sections, the kernel of the evaluation map of sections is again a vector bundle. Also, new vector bundles can be produced by taking elementary transformations centered at a fixed point. Under suitable conditions on degree and rank, these constructions can be carried out globally. While all this processes seem quite elementary, very little is known about the resulting…
Let X be a smooth projective connected curve of genus $g \ge 2$ and let I be a finite set of points of X. Fix a parabolic structure on I for rank r vector bundles on X. Let $M^{par}$ denote the moduli space of parabolic semistable bundles and let $L^{par}$ denote the parabolic determinant bundle. In this paper we show that the n-th tensor power line bundle ${L^{par}}^n$ on the moduli space $M^{par}$ is globally generated, as soon as the integer n is such that $n \ge [\frac{r^2}{4}]$. In order to get this bound, we construct a parabolic analogue of the Quot scheme and extend the result of Popa …
We construct natural maps (the Klein and Wirtinger maps) from moduli spaces of vector bundles on an algebraic curve $X$ to affine spaces, as quotients of the nonabelian theta linear series. We prove a finiteness result for these maps over generalized Kummer varieties (moduli of torus bundles), leading us to conjecture that the maps are finite in general. The conjecture provides canonical explicit coordinates on the moduli space. The finiteness results give low--dimensional parametrizations of Jacobians (in $\Pp^{3g-3}$ for generic curves), described by $2Θ$ functions or second logarithmic deri…
Let $C$ be a smooth complex irreducible projective curve of genus $g$ with general moduli, and let $(L,H^0(L))$ be a generated complete linear series of type $(d,r+1)$ over $C$. The syzygy bundle, denoted by $M_L$, is the kernel of the evaluation map $H^0(L)\otimes\mathcal O_C\to L$. In this work we have a double purpose. The first one is to give new examples of stable syzygy bundles admitting theta divisor over general curves. We prove that if $M_L$ is strictly semistable then $M_L$ admits reducible theta divisor. The second purpose is to study the cohomological semistability of $M_L$, and in…
Let E and F be vector bundles over a complex projective smooth curve X, and suppose that 0 -> E -> W -> F -> 0 is a nontrivial extension. Let G be a subbundle of F, and D an effective divisor on X. We give a criterion for the subsheaf G(-D) \subset F to lift to W, in terms of the geometry of a scroll in the extension space \PP H^1 (X, Hom(F, E)). We use this criterion to describe the tangent cone to the generalised theta divisor on the moduli space of semistable bundles of rank r and slope g-1 over X, at a stable point. This gives a generalisation of a case of the Riemann-Kempf singularity the…
We compute all the top intersection numbers of divisors on the total space of the Poincare bundle restricted to the product of a curve and the abelian variety. We use these computations to find the class of the universal theta divisor and $m$-theta divisor inside the universal corank 1 semiabelian variety -- the boundary of the partial toroidal compactification of the moduli space of abelian varieties. We give two computational examples: we compute the boundary coefficient of the Andreotti-Mayer divisor (computed by Mumford but in a much harder and ad hoc way), and the analog of this for the u…
This article is based on lecture notes prepared for the August 2006 Cologne Summer School. The first part contains background material and references for beginners. The second (and main) part is a survey of the current status in the theory of pluri-theta linear series and generalized theta divisors on moduli spaces of vector bundles on curves. It emphasizes relatively new techniques employed in the analysis of linear series on these moduli spaces, namely the use of moduli spaces of stable maps for understanding Quot schemes, and the Fourier-Mukai functor in the study of coherent sheaves on abe…
We prove canonical isomorphisms between Spin Verlinde spaces, i.e, spaces of global sections of a determinant line bundle over the moduli space of semistable Spin-bundles over a smooth projective curve C, and the dual spaces of theta functions over Prym varieties of unramified double covers of C.
According to Mukai, any prime Fano threefold X of genus 7 is a linear section of the spinor tenfold in the projectivized half-spinor space of Spin(10). The orthogonal linear section of the spinor tenfold is a canonical genus-7 curve G, and the intermediate Jacobian J(X) is isomorphic to the Jacobian of G. It is proven that, for a generic X, the Abel-Jacobi map of the family of elliptic sextics on X factors through the moduli space of rank-2 vector bundles with c_1=-K_X and deg c_2=6 and that the latter is birational to the singular locus of the theta divisor of J(X).
Let $\cM_r$ denote the moduli space of semi-stable rank-$r$ vector bundles with trivial determinant over a smooth projective curve $C$ of genus $g$. In this paper we study the base locus $\cB_r \subset \cM_r$ of the linear system of the determinant line bundle $\cL$ over $\cM_r$, i.e., the set of semi-stable rank-$r$ vector bundles without theta divisor. We construct base points in $\cB_{g+2}$ over any curve $C$, and base points in $\cB_4$ over any hyperelliptic curve.
In this paper we give a birational model for the theta divisor of the intermediate Jacobian of a generic cubic threefold $X$. We use the standard realization of $X$ as a conic bundle and a $4-$dimensional family of plane quartics which are totally tangent to the discriminant quintic curve of such a conic bundle structure. The additional data of an even theta characteristic on the curves in the family gives us a model for the theta divisor.
Let $X$ be an abelian variety defined over an algebraically closed field $k$. We consider theta groups associated to \emph{simple semi-homogenous vector bundles of separable type} on $X$. We determine the structure and representation theory of these groups. In doing so we relate work of Mumford, Mukai, and Umemura. We also consider adelic theta groups associated to line bundles on $X$. After reviewing Mumford's construction of these groups we determine functorial properties which they enjoy and then realize the Neron-Severi group of $X$ as a subgroup of the cohomology group $\H^2(\V(X); k^\tim…
Riemann surface carries a natural line bundle, the determinant bundle. The space of sections of this line bundle (or its multiples) constitutes a natural non-abelian generalization of the spaces of theta functions on the Jacobian. There has been much progress in the last few years towards a better understanding of these spaces, including a rigorous proof of the celebrated Verlinde formula which gives their dimension. This survey paper tries to explain what is now known and what remains open.
In this paper we investigate generalized theta divisors $Θ_r$ in the moduli spaces $\mathcal{U}_C(r,r)$ of semistable vector bundles on a curve $C$ of genus $2$. We provide a desingularization $Φ$ of $Θ_r$ in terms of a projective bundle $π:\mathbb{P}(\mathcal{V})\to\mathcal{U}_C(r-1,r)$ which parametrizes extensions of stable vector bundles on the base by $\mathcal{O}_C$. Then, we study the composition of $Φ$ with the well known theta map $θ$. We prove that, when it is restricted to the general fiber of $π$, we obtain a linear embedding.
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 $g$.
A basis for the space of generalized theta functions of level one for the spin groups, parameterized by the theta characteristics (the even theta characteristcs for the odd spin groups) on a curve, is shown to be projectively flat over the moduli space of curves (for Hitchin's connection). The symplectic strange duality conjecture, conjectured by Beauville is shown to hold for all curves of genus at least two, by using Abe's proof of the conjecture for generic curves, and the above monodromy result.
Let $C$ be a hyperelliptic curve of genus $g \geq 3$. We give a new description of the theta map for moduli spaces of rank 2 semistable vector bundles with trivial determinant. In orther to do this, we describe a fibration of (a birational model of) the moduli space, whose fibers are GIT quotients $(\mathbb{P}^1)^{2g}//\operatorname{PGL(2)}$. Then, we use recent results of Kumar to identify the restriction of the theta map to these GIT quotients with some explicit osculating projection. As a corollary of this construction, we obtain a birational equivalence between the ramification locus of th…
In this note we examine the question of expressing the determinant of the push forward of a symmetric line bundle on an abelian fibration in terms of the pull back of the relative dualizing sheaf via the zero section.
Theta functions of level n on the principally polarised Prym varieties of an algebraic curve are dual to sections of the orthogonal theta line bundle on the moduli space of Spin(n)-bundles over the curve. As a by-product of our computations we also note that when n is odd the pfaffian line bundle on moduli space has a basis of sections labelled by the even theta characteristics of the curve.
By way of intersection theory on $\bar M_{g,n}$, we show that geometric interpretations for conformal blocks, as sections of ample line bundles over projective varieties, do not have to hold at points on the boundary. We show such a translation would imply certain recursion relations for first Chern classes of these bundles. While recursions can fail, geometric interpretations are shown to hold under certain conditions.
We investigate the symplectic geometric and differential geometric aspects of the moduli space of connections on a compact Riemann surface $X$. Fix a theta characteristic $K^{1/2}_X$ on $X$; it defines a theta divisor on the moduli space ${\mathcal M}$ of stable vector bundles on $X$ of rank $r$ degree zero. Given a vector bundle $E \in {\mathcal M}$ lying outside the theta divisor, we construct a natural holomorphic connection on $E$ that depends holomorphically on $E$. Using this holomorphic connection, we construct a canonical holomorphic isomorphism between the following two: \begin{enumer…
In this paper we introduce the elementary notion of Plücker form of a pair $(E,S)$, where $E$ is a vector bundle of rank $r$ on a smooth, irreducible, complex projective variety $X$ and $S \subset H^0(E)$ is a subspace of dimension $rm$. We apply this notion to the study of theta map $θ_r$ on the moduli space $SU_X(r,0)$ of semistable vector bundles of rank $r$ and trivial determinant on a curve $X$ of genus $g$. We prove that $θ_r$ is generically injective if $X$ is general and $g >> r$.
We define a regularized theta lift from SL_2 to orthogonal groups over totally real fields. It takes harmonic `Whittaker forms' to automorphic Green functions and weakly holomorphic Whittaker forms to meromorphic modular forms on orthogonal groups with zeros and poles supported on special divisors, generalizing Borcherds' work on automorphic products. To prove our results we use the spectral expansion of the lift and study its relationship with the cohomological theta lift of Kudla and Millson.
We define Hecke transformation for orthogonal bundles over a compact Riemann surface. Using the cycles on a moduli space of orthogonal bundles given by Hecke transformations, we prove that the projectivized Picard bundle on the moduli space is stable.
In this paper, we study triples of the form (E, theta, phi) over a compact Riemann Surface, where (E, theta) is a Higgs bundle and phi is a global holomorphic section of the Higgs bundle. Our main result is a description of a birational equivalence which relates geometrically the moduli space of Higgs bundles of rank r and degree d to the moduli space of Higgs bundles of rank (r-1) and degree d.
Let the threefold X be a general smooth conic bundle over the projective plane P(2), and let (J(X), Theta) be the intermediate jacobian of X. In this paper we prove the existence of two natural families C(+) and C(-) of curves on X, such that the Abel-Jacobi map F sends one of these families onto a copy of the theta divisor (Theta), and the other -- onto the jacobian J(X). The general curve C of any of these two families is a section of the conic bundle projection, and our approach relates such C to a maximal subbundle of a rank 2 vector bundle E(C) on C, or -- to a minimal section of the rule…
The variety of minimal rational tangents associated to Hecke curves was used by J.-M.Hwang [8] to prove the simplicity of the tangent bundle on the moduli of vector bundles over a curve. In this paper, we use the tangent maps of the symplectic and orthogonal Hecke curves to prove an analogous result for symplectic and orthogonal bundles. In particular, we show the nondegeneracy of the associated variety of minimal rational tangents, which implies the simplicity of the tangent bundle on the moduli spaces of symplectic and orthogonal bundles over a curve. We also show that for large enough genus…
We prove that the cotangent bundle of a complete intersection of two general translates of the theta divisor of the jacobian of a general curve of genus 4 is ample. From this the same result for a general principally polarized abelian variety of dimension 4 follows.
This is a slightly expanded version of the talk given by Ch.O. at the conference "Instantons in complex geometry", at the Steklov Institute in Moscow. The purpose of this talk was to explain the algebraic results of our paper "Abelian Yang-Mills theory on Real tori and Theta divisors of Klein surfaces". In this paper we compute determinant index bundles of certain families of Real Dirac type operators on Klein surfaces as elements in the corresponding Grothendieck group of Real line bundles in the sense of Atiyah. On a Klein surface these determinant index bundles have a natural holomorphic de…
We introduce an generalization of the theta divisor to the theory of holomorphic triples on a smooth projective curve $X$. We show that a given triple $T=(E_1 \to E_0)$ is $α$-semistable iff there exists an orthogonal tripe $S=(F_1 \to F_0)$ with given numerical invariants. This yields globally generated theta line bundles on the moduli space of semistable triples.
An orthogonal bundle over a curve has an isotropic Segre invariant determined by the maximal degree of a Lagrangian subbundle. This invariant, and the induced stratifications on moduli spaces of orthogonal bundles, were studied for bundles of even rank in [4]. In this paper, we obtain analogous results for bundles of odd rank. We obtain a sharp upper bound on the isotropic Segre invariant. We show the irreducibility of the induced strata on the moduli spaces of orthogonal bundles of odd rank, and compute their dimensions. As a key ingredient of the proofs, we study the correspondence between L…
We propose a generalization of the classical theta function to higher cohomology of the polarization line bundle on a family of complex tori with positive index. The constructed cocycles vary horizontally with respect to the (projective) flat connection on this family coming from a heat operator. They also possess modular properties similar to the classical ones.
We apply the homological mirror symmetry for elliptic curves to the study of indefinite theta series. We prove that every such series corresponding to a quadratic form of signature (1,1) can be expressed in terms of theta series associated with split quadratic forms and the usual theta series. We also show that indefinite theta series corresponding to univalued Massey products between line bundles on elliptic curve are modular.
We prove that the moduli spaces of parabolic symplectic/orthogonal bundles on a smooth curve are globally F regular type. As a consequence, all higher cohomology of theta line bundle vanish. During the proof, we develop a method to estimate codimension, and consider the infinite grassmannians for parabolic $G$ bundles.
Let M(r) be the moduli space of rank r vector bundles with trivial determinant on a Riemann surface X . This space carries a natural line bundle, the determinant line bundle L . We describe a canonical isomorphism of the space of global sections of L^k with a space known in conformal field theory as the ``space of conformal blocks", which is defined in terms of representations of the Lie algebra sl(r, C((z))).
Let X be a smooth projective curve of genus g \geq 2 defined over a field of characteristic two. We give examples of stable orthogonal bundles with unstable underlying vector bundles and use them to give counterexamples to Behrend's conjecture on the canonical reduction of principal G-bundles for G= SO(n) with n \geq 7.
Given a smooth projective curve X, we give effective very ampleness bounds for generalized theta divisors on the moduli spaces $SU_X(r,d)$ and $U_X(r,d)$ of semistable vector bundles of rank r and degree d on X with fixed, respectively arbitrary, determinant.
