We introduce a factorization for the map between moduli spaces of stable maps which forgets one marked point. This leads to a study of universal relations in the cohomology of stable map spaces in genus zero.
Using the isomorphism between the moduli space of polarized K3 surfaces of genus 14 and the moduli space of special cubic fourfolds of discriminant 26, we establish the rationality of the universal K3 surface of genus 14. Precisely, we show that the universal K3 surface of genus 14 is a projective bundle over a certain moduli space of nodal scrolls in P^5, whose rationality we prove using a degenerate version of Mukai's structure theorem for curves of genus 8.
We prove the irreducibility of universal Severi varieties parametrizing irreducible, reduced, nodal hyperplane sections of primitive K3 surfaces of genus g, with 3 \le g \le 11, g \neq 10.
We consider families of curve-to-curve maps that have no singularities except those of genus 0 stable maps and that satisfy a versality condition at each singularity. We provide a universal expression for the cohomology class Poincaré dual to the locus of any given singularity. Our expressions hold for any family of curve-to-curve maps satisfying the above properties.
We analyse the local structure of moduli space of genus one stable quasimaps. Combining it with the p-fields theory developed in \cite{L}, we prove the splitting formula for the virtual cycle of stable quasimaps to complete intersections in $\PP^n$.
We prove that the orbifold desingularization of the moduli space of stable maps of genus g = 1 recently constructed by Vakil and Zinger has vanishing rational cohomology groups in odd degree k < 10.
In this paper, we prove the moduli spaces of genus zero stable log maps to a large class of wonderful compactifications are irreducible and unirational.
We investigate the (small) quantum cohomology ring of the moduli spaces of stable n-pointed curves of genus 0. In particular, we determine an explicit presentation in the case n=5 and we outline a computational approach to the case n=6.
Moduli spaces of stable maps to a smooth projective variety typically have several components. We express the virtual class of the moduli space of genus one stable maps to a smooth projective variety as a sum of virtual classes of the components. The key ingredient is a generalised functoriality result for virtual classes. We show that the natural maps from 'ghost' components of the genus one moduli space to moduli spaces of genus zero stable maps satisfy the strong push forward property. As a consequence, we give a cycle-level formula which relates standard and reduced genus one Gromov--Witte…
The aim of this note is to describe the restriction map from the moduli space of stable rank 2 bundle with small $c_2$ on a jacobian $X$ of dimension 2, to the moduli space of stable rank 2 bundles on the corresponding genus 2 curve $C$ embedded in $X$.
We show that for any numerical semigroup H of genus g at most 6, the locus of Weierstrass points on curves of genus g with Weierstrass semigroup H is irreducible and that for all but possibly two semigroups it is stably rational.
By the reduced component in a moduli space of stable quasimaps to n-dimensional projective space we mean the closure of the locus in which the domain curves are smooth. As in the moduli space of stable maps, we prove the reduced component is smooth in genus 2, degree greater or equal to 3. Then we prove the virtual fundamental cycle of the moduli space of stable quasimaps to a complete intersection X in the projective space of genus 2, degree greater or equal to 3 is explicitly expressed in terms of the fundamental cycle of the reduced component of the projective space and virtual cycles of lo…
We describe an algebro-geometric approach to Vakil-Zinger's desingularization of the main component of the moduli of genus one stable maps to projective space. The new approach provides complete local structural results for this moduli space as well as for the desingularization of the entire moduli space and should fully extend to higher genera.
By using the infinitesimally marking point to break the loop in the localization calculation as Kim and Lho, and Zinger's explicit formulas for double $J$-functions, we obtain a formula for genus one stable quasimaps invariants when the target is a complete intersection Calabi-Yau in projective space, which gives a new proof of Kim and Lho's mirror theorem for elliptic quasimap invariants.
We compute the class of the closure of the locus of hyperelliptic curves in the moduli space of stable genus-3 curves in terms of the tautological class $λ$ and the boundary classes $δ_0$ and $δ_1$. The expression of this class is known, but here we compute it directly, by means of Porteous Formula, without resorting to blowups or test curves.
The aim of the present paper is to prove the rationality of the universal family of polarized $ K3 $ surfaces of degree 14. This is achieved by identifying it with the moduli space of cubic fourfolds plus the data of a quartic scroll. The last moduli space is finally proved to be rational since it has a natural structure of $\mathbb P^n$-bundle over a $ k $-stably rational variety with $k \leq n$.
A general smooth curve of genus six lies on a quintic del Pezzo surface. In \cite{AK11}, Artebani and Kondō construct a birational period map for genus six curves by taking ramified double covers of del Pezzo surfaces. The map is not defined for special genus six curves. In this paper, we construct a smooth Deligne-Mumford stack $\mathfrak{P}_0$ parametrizing certain stable surface-curve pairs which essentially resolves this map. Moreover, we give an explicit description of pairs in $\mathfrak{P}_0$ containing special curves.
Let $X$ be a smooth projective curve with genus $g\geq3$. Let $\mathcal{N}$ be the moduli space of stable rank two vector bundles on $X$ with a fixed determinant $\mathcal{O}_X(-x)$ for $x\in X$. In this paper, as a generalization of Kiem and Castravet's works, we study the stable maps in $\mathcal{N}$ with genus $0$ and degree $3$. Let $P$ be a natural closed subvariety of $\mathcal{N}$ which parametrizes stable vector bundles with a fixed subbundle $L^{-1}(-x)$ for a line bundle $L$ on $X$. We describe the stable map space $\mathbf{M}_0(P,3)$. It turns out that the space $\mathbf{M}_0(P,3)$ …
This informal note provides some elementary examples to motivate the local structural results of [1] on the moduli space of genus one stable maps to projective space. The hope is that these examples will be helpful for graduate students to learn this important subject.
We describe the final log canonical model of the moduli space of stable curves of genus four. We prove that the rational map from $\bar{M}_4$ to this model contracts the Petri and the boundary divisors and flips the hyperelliptic locus. As an application, we find an exact bound on slopes of moving divisors on $\bar{M}_4$.
Stable quotient spaces provide an alternative to stable maps for compactifying spaces of maps. When the target is projective space and the domain curve has genus 1, these are smooth proper Deligne-Mumford stacks. In this paper we study the associated coarse moduli schemes. We show these schemes are projective, rationally connected and have Picard number 2. Then we give generators for the Picard group, compute the canonical divisor, and the cones of ample and effective divisors. In certain cases, we also give a closed formula for the Poincaré polynomial.
Let $\mathfrak p$ be any point in the moduli space of genus-two curves $\mathcal M_2$ and $K$ its field of moduli. We provide a universal equation of a genus-two curve $\mathcal C_{α, β}$ defined over $K(α, β)$, corresponding to $\mathfrak p$, where $α$ and $β$ satisfy a quadratic $α^2+ b β^2= c$ such that $b$ and $c$ are given in terms of ratios of Siegel modular forms. The curve $\mathcal C_{α, β}$ is defined over the field of moduli $K$ if and only if the quadratic has a $K$-rational point $(α, β)$. We discover some interesting symmetries of the Weierstrass equation of $\mathcal C_{α, β}$. …
This is the second in a pair of papers developing a framework to apply logarithmic methods in the study of singular curves of genus $1$. This volume focuses on logarithmic Gromov--Witten theory and tropical geometry. We construct a logarithmically nonsingular moduli space of genus $1$ curves mapping to any toric variety. The space is a birational modification of the principal component of the Abramovich--Chen--Gross--Siebert space of logarithmic stable maps and produces an enumerative genus $1$ curve counting theory. We describe the non-archimedean analytic skeleton of this moduli space and, a…
For each universal genus-$g$ polarization $μ$ of degree $d$, we construct a universal tropical Jacobian $J_{μ,g}^{trop}$ as a generalized cone complex over the moduli space of stable pointed genus-$g$ tropical curves. We show several properties of the space $J_{μ,g}^{trop}$. In particular, we prove that the natural compactification of $J_{μ,g}^{trop}$ is the tropicalization of the Esteves' compactified universal Jacobian over the moduli space of stable pointed genus-$g$ curves.
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 is the first in a pair of papers developing a framework for the application of logarithmic structures in the study of singular curves of genus $1$. We construct a smooth and proper moduli space dominating the main component of Kontsevich's space of stable genus $1$ maps to projective space. A variation on this theme furnishes a modular interpretation for Vakil and Zinger's famous desingularization of the Kontsevich space of maps in genus $1$. Our methods also lead to smooth and proper moduli spaces of pointed genus $1$ quasimaps to projective space. Finally, we present an application to t…
In this paper we introduce the stack of polarized twisted conics and we use it to give a new point of view on $\overline{\mathcal{M}}_2$. In particular, we present a new and independent approach to the computation of the integral Chow ring of $\overline{\mathcal{M}}_2$, previously determined by Eric Larson.
We study the moduli space of stable sheaves of Euler characteristic 1 supported on curves of arithmetic genus 3 contained in a smooth quadric surface. We show that this moduli space is rational. We compute its Betti numbers by studying the variation of the moduli spaces of alpha-semi-stable pairs. We classify the stable sheaves using locally free resolutions or extensions. We give a global description: the moduli space is obtained from a certain flag Hilbert scheme by performing two flips followed by a blow-down.
We bound the dimensions of the graded pieces of the tautological ring of the universal curve from below for genus up to 27 and from above for genus up to 9. As a consequence we obtain the precise structure of the tautological ring of the universal curve for genus up to 9. In particular, we see that it is Gorenstein for these genera.
We construct a smooth Artin stack parameterizing the stable weighted curves of genus one with twisted fields and prove that it is isomorphic to the blowup stack of the moduli of genus one weighted curves studied by Hu and Li. This leads to a blowup-free construction of Vakil-Zinger's desingularization of the moduli of genus one stable maps to projective spaces. This construction provides the cornerstone of the theory of stacks with twisted fields, which is thoroughly studied in arXiv:2005.03384 and leads to a blowup-free resolution of the stable map moduli of genus two.
In this paper we establish that the singularities of the universal compactified Jacobian are canonical if the genus is at least four. As a corollary we determine the Kodaira dimension and the Iitaka fibration of the universal compactified Jacobian for every degree and genus. We also determine the birational automorphism group for every degree if the genus is at least twelve. This extends work of G. Farkas and A. Verra, as well as that of G. Bini, C. Fontanari and the third author.
We study the moduli space of stable sheaves of Euler characteristic 1, supported on curves of arithmetic genus 2 contained in a smooth quadric surface. We show that this moduli space is rational. We give a classification of the stable sheaves involving locally free resolutions or extensions. We compute the Betti numbers by studying the variation of the moduli spaces of alpha-semi-stable pairs.
In this paper, we completely work out the log minimal model program for the moduli space of stable curves of genus three. We employ a rational multiple $αδ$ of the divisor $δ$ of singular curves as the boundary divisor, construct the log canonical model for the pair $(\bar{\mathcal M}_3, αδ)$ using geometric invariant theory as we vary $α$ from one to zero, and give a modular interpretation of each log canonical model and the birational maps between them. By using the modular description, we are able to identify all but one log canonical models with existing compactifications of $M_3$, some ne…
By the description due to Mukai and Iliev, a smooth prime Fano threefold X of genus 9 is associated to a surface P(V), ruled over a smooth plane quartic Gamma. We use Kuznetsov's integral functor to study rank-2 stable sheaves on X with odd determinant. For each c_2 \geq 7, we prove that a component of their moduli space M_X(2,1,c_2) is birational to a Brill-Noether locus of bundles on Gamma having enough sections when twisted by V. Moreover we prove that M_X(2,1,7) is isomorphic to the blowing-up of the Picard variety Pic^2(Gamma) along the curve parametrizing lines contained in X.
We introduce a general abstract notion of fine compactified Jacobian for nodal curves of arbitrary genus. We focus on genus 1 and prove combinatorial classification results for fine compactified Jacobians in the case of a single nodal curve and in the case of the universal family over the moduli space of stable pointed curves. We show that if the fine compactified Jacobian of a nodal curve of genus 1 can be extended to a smoothing of the curve, then it can be described as the moduli space of stable sheaves with respect to some polarisation. In the universal case we construct new examples of ge…
We study the moduli space of stable sheaves of Euler characteristic 2, supported on curves of arithmetic genus 2 contained in a smooth quadric surface. We show that this moduli space is rational. We compute its Betti numbers and we give a classification of the stable sheaves involving locally free resolutions.
Let $V$ be a smooth, projective, convex variety. We define tautological $ψ$ and $κ$ classes on the moduli space of stable maps $\M_{0,n}(V)$, give a (graphical) presentation for these classes in terms of boundary strata, derive differential equations for the generating functions of the Gromov-Witten invariants of $V$ twisted by these tautological classes, and prove that these intersection numbers are completely determined by the Gromov-Witten invariants of $V$. This results in families of Frobenius manifold structures on the cohomology ring of $V$ which includes the quantum cohomology as a spe…
We calculate a generating series for the virtual Euler-Poincaré characteristics of the spaces of stable maps of genus zero to flag spaces using the summation over trees technique.
Let X_n := \bar M_{0,n}, the moduli space of n-pointed stable genus zero curves, and let X_{n,m} be the quotient of X_n by the action of the symmetric group S_{n-m} on the last n-m marked points. The cones of effective divisors of X_{n,m}, m = 0,1,2, are calculated. Using this, upper bounds for the cones Mov(X_{n,m}) generated by divisors with moving linear systems are calculated, m = 0,1, along with the induced bounds on the cones of ample divisors of \bar M_g and \bar M_{g,1}. As an application, the cone of effective divisors of \bar M_{2,1} is analyzed in detail.
We explicitly describe the KSBA/Hacking compactification of a moduli space of log surfaces of Picard rank 2. The space parametrizes log pairs $(S, D)$ where $S$ is a degeneration of $\mathbb{P}^1 \times \mathbb{P}^1$ and $D \subset S$ is a degeneration of a curve of class $(3,3)$. We prove that the compactified moduli space is a smooth Deligne--Mumford stack with 4 boundary components. We relate it to the moduli space of genus 4 curves; we show that it compactifies the blow-up of the hyperelliptic locus. We also relate it to a compactification of the Hurwitz space of triple coverings of $\math…
We calculate the cycle class of the Hurwitz divisor $D_2$ on the moduli space of stable curves of genus $g=2k$ given by the degree $k+1$ covers of the projective line with simple ramification points, two of which lie in the same fibre. We also study some aspects of the geometry of the natural map of the Hurwitz space of admissible covers of degree $k+1$ and genus $2k$ to the moduli space of stable curves of genus $2k$.
We study the codimension n locus of curves of genus 2 with n distinct marked Weierstrass points inside the moduli space of genus 2, n-pointed curves, for n <= 6. We give a recursive description of the classes of the closure of these loci inside the moduli space of stable curves. For n<= 4, we express these classes using a generating function over stable graphs indexing the boundary strata of moduli spaces of pointed stable curves. Similarly, we express the closure of these classes inside the moduli space of curves of compact type for all n. This is a first step in the study of the structure of…
We characterize transversality, non-transversality properties on the moduli space of genus 0 stable maps to a semipositive symplectic manifold of dimension 4, when GW([point],...,[point]) is enumerative. In particular, we show that the intersection theoretic property depends on the existence of a critical point on a stable map.
We construct a moduli space for Riemann surfaces that is universal in the sense that it represents compact Riemann surfaces of any finite genus. This moduli space is stratifed according to genus, and it carries a metric and a measure that induce a Riemannian metric and a finite volume measure on each stratum. Applications to the Plateau-Douglas problem for minimal surfaces of varying genus and to the partition function of Bosonic string theory are outlined. The construction starts with a universal moduli space of Abelian varieties. This space carries a structure of an infinite dimensional loca…
We show that the moduli space of genus zero stable maps is a real projective variety if the target space is a smooth convex real projective variety. We show that evaluation maps, forgetful maps are real morphisms. We analyze the real part of the moduli space.
We study the stability of the normal bundle of canonical genus $8$ curves and prove that on a general curve the bundle is stable. The proof rests on Mukai's description of these curves as linear sections of a Grassmannian $\mathrm{G}(2,6)$. This is the next case of a conjecture by M. Aprodu, G. Farkas, and A. Ortega: the general canonical curve of every genus $g \geq 7$ should have stable normal bundle. We also give some more evidence for this conjecture in higher genus.
We extend the definition of an m-stable curve introduced by Smyth to the setting of maps to a projective variety X, generalizing the definition of a Kontsevich stable map in genus one. We prove that the moduli problem of n-pointed m-stable genus one maps of class β is representable by a proper Deligne-Mumford stack \sMbar_{1,n}^m(X, β) over Spec Z[1/6]. For X = P^r, we explicitly describe all of the irreducible components of \sMbar_{1,n}(P^r,d) and \sMbar_{1,n}^m(P^r,d), and in particular deduce that \sMbar_{1,n}^m(P^r,d) is irreducible for m >= min(r,d) + n. We show that \sMbar_{1,n}^m(P^r,d)…
We investigate the universal Severi variety of rational curves on K3 surfaces, which parametrises irreducible rational curves in a fixed class on varying K3 surfaces of fixed genus. We investigate the conjecuted irreducibility of this space in the case of primitive classes using the deformation theory of stable maps and obtain partial results. In an appendix we give a short proof of the irreducibility of universal Severi varieties of high genus curves on K3 surfaces.
We compute the Brauer group of the universal moduli stack of vector bundles on (possibly marked) smooth curves of genus at least three over the complex numbers. As consequence, we obtain an explicit description of the Brauer group of the smooth locus of the associated moduli space of semistable vector bundles, when the genus is at least four.
We study the Abramovich--Vistoli moduli space of genus zero orbifold stable maps to [Sym^2 P^2], the stack symmetric square of P^2. This compactifies the moduli space of stable maps from hyperelliptic curves to P^2, and we show that all genus zero Gromov--Witten invariants are determined from trivial enumerative geometry of hyperelliptic curves. We also show how the genus zero Gromov--Witten invariants can be used to determine the number of hyperelliptic curves of degree d and genus g interpolating 3d + 1 generic points in P^2. Comparing our method to that of Graber for calculating the same nu…
We study the moduli space of stable sheaves of Euler characteristic 1 supported on curves of bidegree (3, 3) contained in a smooth quadric surface. We show that this moduli space is rational. We compute its Betti numbers by studying the variation of the moduli spaces of alpha-semi-stable pairs.
We study stable curves of arithmetic genus 2 which admit two morphisms of finite degree $p$, resp. $d$, onto smooth elliptic curves, with particular attention to the case $p$ prime.
In the paper, we study the GIT construction of the moduli space of Chow semistable curves of genus 4 in P^3. By using the GIT method developed by Mumford and a deformation theoretic argument, we give a modular description of this moduli space. We classify Chow stable or Chow semistable curves when they are irreducible or nonreduced. Then we work out the case when a curve has two components. Our classification provides some clues to understand the birational map from the moduli space of stable curves of genus 4 to the moduli space of Chow semistable curves of genus 4 in P^3.