We study the geometry of the Kontsevich compactification of stable maps to the Grassmannian of lines in the projective space. We consider a stratification of this space. As an application we compute the degree of the variety parametrizing rational ruled surfaces with a minimal directix of degree d/2-1 by intersecting divisors in the moduli space of stable maps. For example, there are 128054031872040 rational ruled sextics passing through 25 points in $\mathbb{P}^{3}$ with a minimal directrix of degree 2.
A wonderful compactification of an orbit under the action of a semi-simple and simply connected group is a smooth projective variety containing the orbit as a dense open subset, and where the added boundary divisor is simple normal crossing. We construct the wonderful compactification of the space of symmetric and symplectic matrices, and investigate its geometry. As an application, we describe the birational geometry of the Kontsevich spaces parametrizing conics in Lagrangian Grassmannians.
The theory of Q-Cartier divisors on the space of n-pointed, genus 0, stable maps to projective space is considered. Generators and Picard numbers are computed. A recursive algorithm computing all top intersection products of Q-Divisors is established. As a corollary, an algorithm computing all characteristic numbers of rational curves in P^r is proven (including simple tangency conditions). Computations of these characteristic numbers are carried out in many examples. The degree of the 1-cuspidal rational locus in the linear system of degree d plane curves is explicitly evaluated.
We extend the classical Schubert calculus of enumerative geometry for the Grassmann variety of lines in projective space from the complex realm to the real. Specifically, given any collection of Schubert conditions on lines in projective space which generically determine a finite number of lines, we show there exist real generic conditions determining the expected number of real lines. Our main tool is an explicit description of rational equivalences which also constitutes a novel determination of the Chow rings of these Grassmann varieties.
In this paper, we determine the stable base locus decomposition of the Kontsevich moduli spaces of degree two and three stable maps to Grassmannians. This gives new examples of the decomposition for varieties with Picard rank three. We also discuss the birational models that correspond to the chambers in the decomposition.
We complete Mori's program for Kontsevich's moduli space of degree 2 stable maps to Grassmannian of lines. We describe all birational models in terms of moduli spaces (of curves and sheaves), incidence varieties, and Kirwan's partial desingularization.
We study the enumerative significance of the s-pointed genus zero Gromov-Witten invariant on a homogeneous space X. For that, we give an interpretation in terms of rational curves on X.
We discuss a particular problem of enumerating rational curves on a Grassmannian from several perspectives, including systems theory, real enumerative geometry, and symbolic computation. We also present a new transversality result, showing this problem is enumerative in all characteristics. While it is well-known how this enumerative problem arose in mathematical physics and also its importance to the development of quantum cohomology, it is less known how it arose independently in mathematical systems theory. We describe this second story.
We answer some enumerative questions about irreducible rational curves on Hirzebruch surfaces, by combining an idea of Kontsevich with the study of the geometry of certain natural parameter spaces. Our formulas generalize Kontsevich's formula for rational plane curves of given degree.
Let M_{P^k}(P^r, d) be the moduli space of unparameterized maps μ:P^k -> P^r satisfying μ^*(O(1))= O(d). M_{P^k}(P^r,d) is a quasi-projective variety, and, in case k=1, M_{P^1}(P^r,d) is the fundamental open cell of Kontsevich's space of stable maps \bar{M}_{0,0}(P^r,d). It is shown that the Q-coefficient Chow ring of M_{P^k}(P^r,d) is canonically isomorphic to the Chow ring of the Grassmannian Gr(P^k, P^r)= M_{P^k}(P^r,1).
We discuss the problem of whether a given problem in enumerative geometry can have all of its solutions be real. In particular, we describe an approach to problems of this type, and show how this can be used to show some enumerative problems involving the Schubert calculus on Grassmannians may have all of their solutions be real. We conclude by describing the work of Fulton and Ronga-Tognoli-Vust, who (independently) showed that there are 5 real plane conics such that each of the 3264 conics tangent to all five are real.
For a nonsingular projective variety $X$, the virtual Tevelev degree in Gromov-Witten theory is defined as the virtual degree of the morphism from $M_{g,n}(X,d)$ to the product $M_{g,n} \times X^n$. After proving a simple formula for the virtual Tevelev degree in the (small) quantum cohomology ring of $X$ using the quantum Euler class, we provide several exact calculations for flag varieties and complete intersections. In the cominuscule case (including Grassmannians, Lagrangian Grassmannians, and maximal orthogonal Grassmannians), the virtual Tevelev degrees are calculated in terms of the eig…
We analyze the relationship between two compactifications of the moduli space of maps from curves to a Grassmannian: the Kontsevich moduli space of stable maps and the Marian--Oprea--Pandharipande moduli space of stable quotients. We construct a moduli space which dominates both the moduli space of stable maps to a Grassmannian and the moduli space of stable quotients, and equip our moduli space with a virtual fundamental class. We relate the virtual fundamental classes of all three moduli spaces using the virtual push-forward formula. This gives a new proof of a theorem of Marian-Oprea-Pandha…
We use twisted stable maps to answer the following question. Let E\subset P^2 be a smooth cubic. How many rational degree d curves pass through a general points of E, have b specified tangencies with E and c unspecified tangencies, and pass through 3d-1-a-2b-c general points of P^2? The answer is given as a generalization of Kontsevich's recursion. We also investigate more general enumerative problems of this sort, and prove an analogue of a formula of Caporaso and Harris.
We show the Kontsevich space of rational curves of degree at most roughly $\frac{2-\sqrt{2}}{2}n$ on a general hypersurface $X\subset \mathbb{P}^n$ of degree $n-1$ is equidimensional of expected dimension and has two components: one consisting generically of smooth, embedded rational curves and the other consisting of multiple covers of a line. This proves more cases of a conjecture of Coskun, Harris, and Starr and shows the Gromov-Witten invariants in these cases are enumerative.
Fulton asked how many solutions to a problem of enumerative geometry can be real, when that problem is one of counting geometric figures of some kind having specified position with respect to some general fixed figures. For the problem of plane conics tangent to five general conics, the (surprising) answer is that all 3264 may be real. Similarly, given any problem of enumerating p-planes incident on some general fixed subspaces, there are real fixed subspaces such that each of the (finitely many) incident p-planes are real. We show that the problem of enumerating parameterized rational curves …
In this article formulas for the quantum product of a rational surface are given, and used to give an algebro-geometric proof of the associativity of the quantum product for strict Del Pezzo surfaces, those for which $-K$ is very ample. An argument for the associativity in general is proposed, which also avoids resorting to the symplectic category. The enumerative predictions of Kontsevich and Manin concerning the degree of the rational curve locus in a linear system are recovered. The associativity of the quantum product for the cubic surface is shown to be essentially equivalent to the class…
A new, simple method to approach enumerative questions about rational curves on rational surfaces is described. Applications include a short proof of Kontsevich's formula for plane curves and a the solution of the analogous problem for the Hirzebruch surface F_3.
We study the geometry of varieties parametrizing degree d rational and elliptic curves in P^n intersecting fixed general linear spaces and tangent to a fixed hyperplane H with fixed multiplicities along fixed general linear subspaces of H. As an application, we derive recursive formulas for the number of such curves when the number is finite. These recursive formulas require as ``seed data'' only one input: there is one line in P^1 through two points. These numbers can be seen as top intersection products of various cycles on the Hilbert scheme of degree d rational or elliptic curves in P^n, o…
The moduli space of holomorphic maps from Riemann surfaces to the Grassmannian is known to have two kinds of compactifications: Kontsevich's stable map compactification and Marian-Oprea-Pandharipande's stable quotient compactification. Over a non-singular curve, the latter moduli space is Grothendieck's Quot scheme. In this paper, we give the notion of `$ε$-stable quotients' for a positive real number $ε$, and show that stable maps and stable quotients are related by the wall-crossing phenomena. We will also discuss Gromov-Witten type invariants associated to $ε$-stable quotients, and investig…
We study birational maps among 1) the moduli space of semistable torsion sheaves of Hilbert polynomial $4m+2$ on a smooth quadric surface, 2) the moduli space of semistable torsion sheaves of Hilbert polynomial $m^{2}+3m+2$ on $\mathbb{P}^{3}$, 3) Kontsevich's moduli space of genus zero stable maps of degree 2 to Grassmannian $Gr(2, 4)$. A regular birational morphism from 1) to 2) is described in terms of Fourier-Mukai transform. The map from 3) to 2) is Kirwan's partial desingularization. Also we investigate several geometric properties of 1) by using the variation of moduli spaces of stable …
We initiate the study of average intersection theory in real Grassmannians. We define the expected degree $\textrm{edeg} G(k,n)$ of the real Grassmannian $G(k,n)$ as the average number of real $k$-planes meeting nontrivially $k(n-k)$ random subspaces of $\mathbb{R}^n$, all of dimension $n-k$, where these subspaces are sampled uniformly and independently from $G(n-k,n)$. We express $\textrm{edeg} G(k,n)$ in terms of the volume of an invariant convex body in the tangent space to the Grassmanian, and prove that for fixed $k\ge 2$ and $n\to\infty$, $$ \textrm{edeg} G(k,n) = \textrm{deg} G_\mathbb{…
The odd dimensional projective space $\mathbb{P}^{2n-1}$ admits a contact structure arising from a non integrable distribution of hyperplanes determined by a symplectic form in $\mathbb{C}^{2n}$. Our object of interest is the set of rational curves of degree d which are tangent to that contact distribution in $\mathbb{P}^3$. Such curves are called contact curves or legendrian curves. To explore the geometry of contact curves, we construct the parameter space $\mathcal{L}_d$ using Kontsevich's stable maps, $\overline{\mathcal{M}}_{0,0}(\mathbb{P}^3,d)$, endowed with the structure of algebraic s…
