Let $Hilb P^3$ denote the Hilbert scheme of smooth connected curves in $P^3$. We consider maximal irreducible closed subsets $W \subset Hilb P^3$ whose general member $C$ is contained in a smooth cubic surface and investigate the conditions for $W$ to be a component of $(Hilb P^3)_{red}$. We especially study the case where the dimension of the tangent space of $Hilb P^3$ at $[C]$ is greater than $\dim W$ by one. We compute obstructions to deforming $C$ in $P^3$ and prove that for every $W$ in this case, $Hilb P^3$ is non-reduced along $W$ and $W$ is a component of $(Hilb P^3)_{red}$.
Following Bloch-Esnault-Kerz and Green-Griffiths' recent works on deformation of algebraic cycle classes, we use Chern character from K-theory to negative cyclic homology to show how to eliminate obstructions to deforming cycles.
This paper studies the obstructions to deforming a map from a complex variety to another variety which is an immersion of codimension one. We extend the classical notion of semiregularity of subvarieties to maps between varieties, and show that it largely extends the applicability. Then we apply the main result to several situations. First, we give deformations of non-reduced curves on surfaces in a geometrically controlled way. Also, we give a simple but effective criterion for the vanishing of the obstructions to equisingular deformations of nodal curves on surfaces. Finally, we construct no…
We give a sufficient condition for a first order infinitesimal deformation of a curve on a 3-fold to be obstructed. As application we construct generically non-reduced components of the Hilbert schemes of uniruled 3-folds and the Hom scheme from a general curve of genus five to a general cubic 3-fold.
In this paper, we study the deformations of curves in the projective 3-space $\mathbb P^3$ (space curves), one of the most classically studied objects in algebraic geometry. We prove a conjecture due to J. O. Kleppe (in fact, a version modified by Ph. Ellia) concerning maximal families of space curves lying on a smooth cubic surface, assuming the quadratic normality of its general members. We also give a sufficient condition for curves lying on a cubic surface to be obstructed in $\mathbb P^3$ in terms of lines on the surface. For the proofs, we use the Hilbert-flag scheme of $\mathbb P^3$ as …
By using higher K-theory, we reinterpret and generalize an idea on eliminating obstructions to deforming cycles, which is known to Mark Green, Phillip Griffiths and TingFai Ng(for the divisor case). As an application, we show how to eliminate obstructions to deforming curves on a 3-fold. This answers affirmatively an open question by TingFai Ng.
We study deformations of holomorphic maps of compact, complex, Kähler manifolds. In particular, we describe a generalization of Bloch's semiregularity map that annihilates obstructions to deform holomorphic maps with fixed codomain.
To every morphism $χ\colon L\to M$ of differential graded Lie algebras we associate a functors of artin rings $\Def_χ$ whose tangent and obstruction spaces are respectively the first and second cohomology group of the cylinder of $χ$. Such construction applies to Hilbert and Brill-Noether functors and allow to prove with ease that every higher obstruction to deforming a smooth submanifold of a Kaehler manifold is annihilated by the semiregularity map.
We study the deformations of a curve $C$ on an Enriques-Fano $3$-fold $X \subset \mathbb P^n$, assuming that $C$ is contained in a smooth hyperplane section $S \subset X$, that is a smooth Enriques surface in $X$. We give a sufficient condition for $C$ to be (un)obstructed in $X$, in terms of half pencils and $(-2)$-curves on $S$. Let $\operatorname{Hilb}^{sc} X$ denote the Hilbert scheme of smooth connected curves in $X$. By using the Hilbert-flag scheme of $X$, we also compute the dimension of $\operatorname{Hilb}^{sc} X$ at $[C]$ and give a sufficient condition for $\operatorname{Hilb}^{sc}…
We study the deformation theory of projective Stanley-Reisner schemes associated to combinatorial manifolds. We achieve detailed descriptions of first order deformations and obstruction spaces. Versal base spaces are given for certain Stanley-Reisner surfaces.
We prove that for every smooth prime Fano $3$-fold $V$, the Hilbert scheme $\operatorname{Hilb}^{sc} V$ of smooth connected curves on $V$ contains a generically non-reduced irreducible component of Mumford type. We also study the deformations of degenerate curves $C$ in $V$, i.e., curves $C$ contained in a smooth anti-canonical member $S \in |-K_V|$ of $V$. We give a sufficient condition for $C$ to be stably degenerate, i.e., every small (and global) deformation of $C$ in $V$ is contained in a deformation of $S$ in $V$. As a result, by using the Hilbert-flag scheme of $V$, we determine the dim…
We study the Hilbert scheme (Hilb V) of smooth connected curves on a smooth del Pezzo 3-fold V. We prove that every degenerate curve C, i.e. every curve contained in a smooth hyperplane section S of V, does not deform to a non-degenerate curve if the following two conditions are satisfied: (i) the Euler characteristic of the twisted ideal sheaf I_C(S) of C is greater than or equal to one, and (ii) for every line E on S which is disjoint to C, the normal bundle of E in V is trivial. As a consequence, we prove an analogue (for Hilb V) of a conjecture of J.O.Kleppe which is concerned with non-red…
We study the deformations of a smooth curve $C$ on a smooth projective threefold $V$, assuming the presence of a smooth surface $S$ satisfying $C \subset S \subset V$. Generalizing a result of Mukai and Nasu, we give a new sufficient condition for a first order infinitesimal deformation of $C$ in $V$ to be primarily obstructed. In particular, when $V$ is Fano and $S$ is $K3$, we give a sufficient condition for $C$ to be (un)obstructed in $V$, in terms of $(-2)$-curves and elliptic curves on $S$. Applying this result, we prove that the Hilbert scheme $\operatorname{Hilb}^{sc} V_4$ of smooth con…
We introduce the notion of symmetric obstruction theory and study symmetric obstruction theories which are compatible with C*-actions. We prove that the contribution of an isolated fixed point under a C*-action to equivariant Donaldson-Thomas type invariants is +/- 1. As an application, we compute weighted Euler characteristics of all Hilbert schemes of points on any 3-fold. Moreover, we calculate the zero-dimensional Donaldson-Thomas invariants of any projective Calabi-Yau 3-fold. This proves a conjecture of Maulik-Nekrasov-Okounkov-Pandharipande.
Let $C\subset{\mathbb P}^{g-1}$ be a canonically embedded nonsingular nonhyperelliptic curve of genus $g$ and let $X\subset{\mathbb P}^{g-1}$ be a quadric containing $C$. Our main result states among other things that the Hilbert scheme of $X$ is at $[C\subset X]$ a local complete intersection of dimension $g^2-1$, and is smooth when $X$ is. It also includes the assertion that the minimal obstruction space for this deformation problem is in fact the full associated $\operatorname{Ext}^1$-group and that in particular the deformations of $C$ in $X$ are obstructed in case $C$ meets the singular l…
For $Y \subset X$ a locally complete intersection of codimension p, Spencer Bloch [2] constructed the semi-regularity map $π: H^{1}(\mathcal{N}_{Y/X}) \to H^{p+1}(Ω_{X/k}^{p-1})$. As an analogue, we construct a map $\tildeπ: H^{1}(\mathcal{N}_{Y/X}) \to H^{p+1}(Ω_{X/\mathbb{Q}}^{p-1})$, without assuming local complete intersections. While the semi-regularity map $π$ is expected to be injective, we show $\tildeπ$ is a zero map. We use this zero map to interpret how to eliminate obstructions to deforming cycles, an idea by Mark Green and Phillip Griffiths in [9].
In this paper we collect some results on the obstruction spaces for rational surface singularities and minimally elliptic surface singularities. Based on the known results we calculate higher obstruction spaces for such surface singularities. The results imply that in general the higher obstruction spaces of deforming semi-log-canonical surfaces do not vanish. We apply the calculation result to show that there is no Li-Tian and Behrend-Fantechi style virtual fundamental class on such moduli space of semi-log-canonical surfaces.
Given a polarized manifold there are obstructions for asymptotic Chow semistability described as integral invariants. One of them is an obstruction to the existence for the first Chern class of the polarization to admit a constant scalar curvature Kähler (cscK) metric. A natural question is whether or not the other obstructions are linearly dependent on the obstruction to the existence of a cscK metric. The purpose of this paper is to see that this is not the case by exhibiting toric Fano threefolds in which these obstructions span at least two dimension. To see this we show that on toric Fano…
We study a topological obstruction of a very stringy nature concerned with deforming the target space of an $N=2$ non-linear \sm. This target space has a singularity which may be smoothed away according to the conventional rules of geometry but when one studies the associated conformal field theory one sees that such a deformation is not possible without a discontinuous change in some of the correlation functions. This obstruction appears to come from torsion in the homology of the target space (which is seen by deforming the theory by an irrelevant operator). We discuss the link between this …
Using obstruction bundles, composition law and the localization formula, we compute certain 3-point genus-0 Gromov-Witten invariants of the Hilbert scheme of 3-points on the complex projective plane. Our results partially verify Ruan's conjecture about quantum corrections for this Hilbert scheme.
This paper studies the Hilbert scheme of a curve on a complete-intersection K-trivial threefold, in the case in which the curve is unobstructed in the ambient variety in which the threefold lives. The basic result is that the obstruction theory of the curve is completely determined by the scheme-theoretic Abel-Jacobi mapping. Several applications of this fact are given.
Quot schemes of quotients of a trivial bundle of arbitrary rank on a nonsingular projective surface X carry perfect obstruction theories and virtual fundamental classes whenever the quotient sheaf has at most 1-dimensional support. The associated generating series of virtual Euler characteristics was conjectured to be a rational function when X is simply connected. We conjecture here the rationality of more general descendent series with insertions obtained from the Chern characters of the tautological sheaf. We prove the rationality of descendent series in Hilbert scheme cases for all curve c…
We compare the deformation theory and the analytic structure of the Seiberg-Witten moduli spaces of a Kähler surface to the corresponding components of the Hilbert scheme, and show that they are isomorphic. Next we show how to compute the invariant in case the moduli space is smooth but not of the expected dimension, and apply this study to elliptic surfaces. Finally we discuss ruled surfaces, both products and more general ruled surfaces. For product ruled surfaces we relate the infinitesimal structure of the moduli spaces to Brill-Noether theory and compute the invariant in special cases. Fo…
On a threefold with trivial canonical bundle, Kuranishi theory gives an algebro-geometry construction of the (local analytic) Hilbert scheme of curves at a smooth holomorphic curve as a gradient scheme, that is, the zero-scheme of the exterior derivative of a holomorphic function on a (finite-dimensional) polydisk. (The corresponding fact in an infinite dimensional setting was long ago discovered by physicists.) An analogous algebro-geometric construction for the holomorphic Chern-Simons functional is presented giving the local analytic moduli scheme of a vector bundle. An analogous gradient s…
We construct an obstruction theory for relative Hilbert schemes in the sense of Behrend-Fantechi and compute it explicitly for relative Hilbert schemes of divisors on smooth projective varieties. In the special case of curves on a surface V, our obstruction theory determines a virtual fundamental class $[[ \Hilb^m_V ]]$, which we use to define Poincare invariants (P^+_V,P^-_V): H^2(V,Z) --> Λ^* H^1(V,Z) x Λ^* H^1(V,Z). These maps are invariant under deformations, satisfy a blow-up formula, and a wall crossing formula for surfaces with $p_g(V)=0$. We determine the invariants completely for rule…
We show that if X is a smooth complex projective surface with torsion-free cohomology, then the Hilbert scheme X^[n] has torsion-free cohomology for every natural number n. This extends earlier work by Markman on the case of Poisson surfaces. The proof uses Gholampour-Thomas's reduced obstruction theory for nested Hilbert schemes of surfaces.
Given a map of vector bundles on a smooth variety, consider the deepest degeneracy locus where its rank is smallest. We show it carries a natural perfect obstruction theory whose virtual cycle can be calculated by the Thom-Porteous formula. We show nested Hilbert schemes of points on surfaces can be expressed as degeneracy loci. We show how to modify the resulting obstruction theories to recover the virtual cycles of Vafa-Witten and reduced local DT theories. The result computes some Vafa-Witten invariants in terms of Carlsson-Okounkov operators. This proves and extends a conjecture of Gholamp…
We answer an open problem posed by Iarrobino in the '80s: is there an elementary component of the Hilbert scheme of points $\textrm{Hilb}^d(\mathbb{A}^n)$ with dimension less than $(n-1)(d-1)$? We construct an infinite class of such components in $\textrm{Hilb}^d(\mathbb{A}^4)$. Our techniques also allow us to construct an explicit example of a local Artinian ring with trivial negative tangents, vanishing nonnegative obstruction space, and socle-dimension $2$.
We express nested Hilbert schemes of points and curves on a smooth projective surface as "virtual resolutions" of degeneracy loci of maps of vector bundles on smooth ambient spaces. We show how to modify the resulting obstruction theories to produce the virtual cycles of Vafa-Witten theory and other sheaf-counting problems. The result is an effective way of calculating invariants (VW, SW, local PT and local DT) via Thom-Porteous-like Chern class formulae.
We compute the expected dimension of the moduli space of torsion-free rank 2 sheaves at a point corresponding to a stable reflexive sheaf and give conditions for the existence of a perfect tangent-obstruction complex on a class of smooth projective threefolds; this class includes Fano and Calabi-Yau threefolds. We also explore both local and global relationships between moduli spaces of reflexive rank 2 sheaves and the Hilbert scheme of curves.
