We recursively compute the Gromov-Witten invariants of the Hilbert scheme of two points in the plane. By studying the space of stable maps and computing virtual contributions, we use these invariants to enumerate hyperelliptic plane curves of degree d and genus g passing through 3d+1 general points.
We study the stable hyperelliptic locus, i.e. the closure, in the Deligne- Mumford moduli space of stable curves, of the locus of smooth hyperelliptic curves. Working on a suitable blowup of the relative Hilbert scheme (of degree 2) associated to a family of stable curves, we construct a bundle map ('degree-2 Brill-Noether') from a modification of the Hodge bundle to a tautological bundle, whose degeneracy locus is the natural lift of the stable hyperelliptic locus plus a simple residual scheme. Using intersection theory on Hilbert schemes and Fulton-Macpherson residual intersection theory, th…
We compute the Small Quantum Cohomology of Hilb^2(P^1xP^1) and determine recursively most of the Big Quantum Cohomology. We prove a relationship between the invariants so obtained and the enumerative geometry of hyperelliptic curves in P^1xP^1. This extends the results obtained by Graber for Hilb^2(P^2) and hyperelliptic curves in P^2.
For an Abelian surface $A$ with a symplectic action by a finite group $G$, one can define the partition function for $G$-invariant Hilbert schemes \[Z_{A, G}(q) = \sum_{d=0}^{\infty} e(\text{Hilb}^{d}(A)^{G})q^{d}.\] We prove the reciprocal $Z_{A,G}^{-1}$ is a modular form of weight $\frac{1}{2}e(A/G)$ for the congruence subgroup $Γ_{0}(|G|)$, and give explicit expressions in terms of eta products. Refined formulas for the $χ_{y}$-genera of $\text{Hilb}(A)^{G}$ are also given. For the group generated by the standard involution $τ: A \to A$, our formulas arise from the enumerative geometry of t…
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…
In a previous paper, we classified and constructed all rational plane curves of type (d,d-2). In this paper, we generalize these results to irreducible plane curves of type (d,d-2) with positive genus.
In the study of hyperelliptic curve cryptography, presentations of semi-reduced divisors on a hyperelliptic curve play important roles. In this note, we give an interpretation for such presentations from view points of Gröbner bases. As applications, (i) we give a method to construct weak $n$-contact curves and (ii) we study plane curves satisfying quasi-toric relations of type $(2, n, 2)$
We collect various known results (about plane curves and the moduli space of stable maps) to derive new recursive formulas enumerating low genus plane curves of any degree with various behaviors. Recursive formulas are given for the characteristic numbers of rational plane curves, elliptic plane curves, and elliptic plane curves with fixed complex structure. Recursions are also given for the number of elliptic (and rational) plane curves with various "codimension 1" behavior (cuspidal, tacnodal, triple pointed, etc., as well as the geometric and arithmetic sectional genus of the Severi variety…
For an affine double plane defined by an equation of the form z^2 = f, we study the divisor class group and the Brauer group. Two cases are considered. In the first case, f is a product of n linear forms in k[x,y] and X is birational to a ruled surface P^1 x C, where C is rational if n is odd and hyperelliptic if n is even. In the second case, f is the equation of an affine hyperelliptic curve. On the open set where the cover is unramified, we compute the groups of divisor classes, the Brauer groups, the relative Brauer group, as well as all of the terms in he exact sequence of Chase, Harrison…
Let C/K: F = 0 be a smooth plane quartic over a complete discrete valuation field K. In a previous paper the authors togetehr with Q. Liu give various characterizations of the reduction (i.e. non-hyperelliptic genus 3 curve, hyperelliptic genus 3 curve or bad) of the stable model of C: in terms of the existence of a special plane quartic model and in terms of the valuations of the Dixmier-Ohno invariants of C. The last one gives in particular an easy computable criterion for the reduction type. However, it does not produce a stable model, even in the case of good reduction. In this paper we gi…
We show how for every integer n one can explicitly construct n distinct plane quartics and one hyperelliptic curve over the complex numbers all of whose Jacobians are isomorphic to one another as abelian varieties without polarization. When we say that the curves can be constructed ``explicitly'', we mean that the coefficients of the defining equations of the curves are simple rational expressions in algebraic numbers in R whose minimal polynomials over Q can be given exactly and whose decimal approximations can be given to as many places as is necessary to distinguish them from their conjugat…
In this paper, we list all cyclic automorphisms subgroups $H$ for which there exists a smooth projective non-hyperelliptic sextic curve $C$ with $H\preceq Aut(C)$. Furthermore, we attach to each group a defining equation of a plane sextic curve having exactly this group as cyclic automorphisms subgroup. These equations cover up to isomorphism all plane non-singular sextic curves having some non-trivial automorphism.
Abstractly, tropical hyperelliptic curves are metric graphs that admit a two-to-one harmonic morphism to a tree. They also appear as embedded tropical curves in the plane arising from triangulations of polygons with all interior lattice points collinear. We prove that hyperelliptic graphs can only arise from such polygons. Along the way we will prove certain graphs do not embed tropically in the plane due to entirely combinatorial obstructions, regardless of whether their metric is actually hyperelliptic.
We discuss Weber's formula which gives the quotient of two Thetanullwerte for a plane smooth quartic in terms of the bitangents. In particular, we show how it can easily be derived from the Riemann-Jacobi formula.
We compute the integral Chow ring of the stack of smooth, non-hyperelliptic curves of genus three. We obtain this result by computing the integral Chow ring of the stack of smooth plane quartics, by means of equivariant intersection theory.
We prove that the moduli space of Calabi-Yau 3-folds coming from eight planes of $P^3$ in general positions is not modular. In fact we show the stronger statement that the Zariski closure of the monodromy group is actually the whole $Sp(20,R)$. We construct an interesting submoduli, which we call \emph{hyperelliptic locus}, over which the weight 3 $Q$-Hodge structure is the third wedge product of the weight 1 $Q$-Hodge structure on the corresponding hyperelliptic curve. The non-extendibility of the hyperelliptic locus inside the moduli space of a genuine Shimura subvariety is proved.
We present enumerative aspects of the Gross-Siebert program in this introductory survey. After sketching the program's main themes and goals, we review the basic definitions and results of logarithmic and tropical geometry. We give examples and a proof for counting algebraic curves via tropical curves. To illustrate an application of tropical geometry and the Gross-Siebert program to mirror symmetry, we discuss the mirror symmetry of the projective plane.
We associate a half-integer number, called {\em the quantum index}, to algebraic curves in the real plane satisfying to certain conditions. The area encompassed by the logarithmic image of such curves is equal to $π^2$ times the quantum index of the curve and thus has a discrete spectrum of values. We use the quantum index to refine real enumerative geometry in a way consistent with the Block-Göttsche invariants from tropical enumerative geometry.
We introduce new invariants of the projective plane (and, more generally, of certain toric surfaces) that arise from the appropriate enumeration of real elliptic curves. These invariants admit a refinement (according to the quantum index) similar to the one introduced by Grigory Mikhalkin in the rational case. We also construct tropical counterparts of the refined elliptic invariants under consideration and establish a tropical algorithm allowing one to compute, {\it via} a suitable version of the correspondence theorem, the above invariants.
We compute the Gromov-Witten invariants of the projective plane blown up in r general points. These are determined by associativity from r+1 intial values. Applications are given to the enumeration of rational plane curves with prescribed multiplicities at fixed general points. We show that the numbers are enumerative if at least one of the prescribed multiplicities is 1 or 2. In particular, all the invariants for r<=8 (the Del Pezzo case) are enumerative.
Given six points $A,B,C,D,E,F$ on a nonsingular conic in the complex projective plane, Pascal's theorem says that the three intersection points $AE \cap BF, BD \cap CE, AD \cap CF$ are collinear. The line containing them is called a pascal, and we get altogether $60$ such lines by permuting the points. In this paper, we consider the enumerative problem of finding the number of sextuples $(A, B, \dots, F)$ which correspond to three pre-specified pascals. We use computational techniques in commutative algebra to solve this problem in all cases. The results are tabulated using the so-called 'dual…
In this article we study, given a pair of integers (d,g), the problem of existence of a smooth, irreducible, non-degenerate curve in the projective n-domensional space of degree d and genus g (the Halphen-Castelnuovo Problem). We define two domains from the (d,g)-plane, D1,n and D2,n, and we prove that there is no gap in D1,n. This follows by constructing curves on some rational surfaces with hyperelliptic hyperplane sections, and from some previous Theorems of Ciliberto, Sernesi, and of the author. Moreover, in the last section, based on some results of Horrowitz, Ciliberto, Harris, Eisenbud,…
We compute the rational cohomology of the moduli space of non-singular non-hyperelliptic complex projective curves of genus 3 with an odd theta characteristic.
We study plane algebraic curves defined over a field k of arbitrary characteristic as coverings of the the projective line and the problem of enumerating branched coverings of $\mathbb{P}^{1}$ by using combinatorial methods.
In order to count the number of smooth cubic hypersurfaces tangent to a prescribed number of lines and passing through a given number of points, we construct a compactification of their moduli space. We term the latter a $1$--\textit{complete variety of cubic hypersurfaces} in analogy to the space of complete quadrics. Paolo Aluffi explored the case of plane cubic curves. Starting from his work, we construct such a space in arbitrary dimension by a sequence of five blow-ups. The counting problem is then reduced to the computation of five Chern classes, climbing the sequence of blow-ups. Comput…
We describe an algorithm to compute the zeta function of any non-hyperelliptic genus 3 plane curve $C$ over a finite field with automorphism group $G = \mathbb{Z} / 2 \mathbb{Z}$. This algorithm computes in the Monsky-Washnitzer cohomology of~the curve. Using the relation between the Monsky-Washnitzer cohomology of $C$ and its quotient $E := C/G$, the computation splits into 2 parts: one in a subspace of the Monsky-Washnitzer cohomology and a second which reduces to the point counting on an elliptic curve $E$. The former corresponds to the dimension $2$ abelian surface $\mathrm{ker}(\mathrm{Ja…
We study the integer sequence v_n of numbers of lines in hypersurfaces of degree 2n-3 of P^n, n>1. We prove a number of congruence properties of these numbers of several different types. Furthermore, the asymptotics of the v_n are described (in an appendix by Don Zagier). An attempt is made at a similar analysis of two other enumerative sequences: the number of rational plane curves and the number of instantons in the quintic threefold.
Recall that a smooth complex projective curve has a very ample canonical bundle when it is non-hyperelliptic, and according to a theorem of M. Noether the resulting embedding is projectively normal. A theorem of Petri further asserts that the homogeneous ideal is generated by quadrics if the curve is neither trigonal nor a smooth plane quintic. In this note, we prove an analogue of Noether's theorem for the symmetric square of the curve - namely, the canonical bundle of the symmetric square determines a projectively normal embedding exactly when the curve itself is neither hyperelliptic, trigo…
We study the locus of tropical hyperelliptic curves inside the moduli space of tropical curves of genus g. We define a harmonic morphism of metric graphs and prove that a metric graph is hyperelliptic if and only if it admits a harmonic morphism of degree 2 to a metric tree. This generalizes the work of Baker and Norine on combinatorial graphs to the metric case. We then prove that the locus of 2-edge-connected genus g tropical hyperelliptic curves is a (2g-1)-dimensional stacky polyhedral fan whose maximal cells are in bijection with trees on g-1 vertices with maximum valence 3. Finally, we s…
We construct a three-parameter family of non-hyperelliptic and bielliptic plane genus-three curves whose associated Prym variety is two-isogenous to the Jacobian variety of a general hyperelliptic genus-two curve. Our construction is based on the existence of special elliptic fibrations with the section on the associated Kummer surfaces that provide a simple geometric interpretation for the rational double cover induced by the two-isogeny between the abelian surfaces.
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.
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.
Let k=F_q be a finite field of even characteristic. We obtain in this paper a complete classification, up to k-isomorphism, of non singular quartic plane curves defined over k. We find explicit rational normal models and we give closed formulas for the total number of k-isomorphism classes. We deduce from these computations the number of k-rational points of the different strata by the Newton polygon of the non hyperelliptic locus M_3^{nh} of the moduli space M_3 of curves of genus 3. By adding to these computations the knowed results on the hyperelliptic locus we obtain a complete picture of …
We use stable maps, and their stable lifts to the Semple bundle variety of second-order curvilinear data, to calculate certain characteristic numbers for rational plane curves. These characteristic numbers involve first-order (tangency) and second-order (inflectional) conditions. Although they may be virtual, they may be used as inputs in an enumeratively significant formula for the number of rational curves having a triple contact with a specified plane curve and passing through 3d-3 general points.
In \cite{CVX3}, we have established a Springer theory for the symmetric pair $(\operatorname{SL}(N),\operatorname{SO}(N))$. In this setting we obtain representations of (the Tits extension) of the braid group rather than just Weyl group representations. These representations arise from cohomology of families of certain (Hessenberg) varieties. In this paper we determine the Springer correspondence explicitly for IC sheaves supported on order 2 nilpotent orbits. In this process we encounter universal families of hyperelliptic curves. As an application we calculate the cohomolgy of Fano varieties…
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 outline a strategy for computing intersection numbers on smooth varieties with torus actions using a residue formula of Bott. As an example, Gromov-Witten numbers of twisted cubic and elliptic quartic curves on some general complete intersection in projective space are computed. The results are consistent with predictions made from mirror symmetry computations. We also compute degrees of some loci in the linear system of plane curves of degrees less than 10, like those corresponding to sums of powers of linear forms, and curves carrying inscribed polygons.
Given a real hyperelliptic algebraic curve $X$ with non-empty real part and a real effective divisor $\mc{D}$ arising via pullback from $\mathbb{P}^1$ under the hyperelliptic structure map, we study the real inflection points of the associated complete real linear series $|\mc{D}|$ on $X$. To do so we use Viro's patchworking of real plane curves, recast in the context of some Berkovich spaces studied by M. Jonsson. Our method gives a simpler and more explicit alternative to limit linear series on metrized complexes of curves, as developed by O. Amini and M. Baker, for curves embedded in toric …
For a smooth projective curve, the cycles of e-secant k-planes are among the most studied objects in classical enumerative geometry and there are well-known formulas due to Castelnuovo, Cayley and MacDonald concerning them. Despite various attempts, surprisingly little is known about the enumerative validity of such formulas. The aim of this paper is to completely clarify this problem in the case of the generic curve C of given genus. Using degeneration techniques and a few facts about the birational geometry of moduli spaces of stable pointed curves we determine precisely under which conditio…
Recent work of Kass--Wickelgren gives an enriched count of the $27$ lines on a smooth cubic surface over arbitrary fields. Their approach using $\mathbb{A}^1$-enumerative geometry suggests that other classical enumerative problems should have similar enrichments, when the answer is computed as the degree of the Euler class of a relatively orientable vector bundle. Here, we consider the closely related problem of the $28$ bitangents to a smooth plane quartic. However, it turns out the relevant vector bundle is not relatively orientable and new ideas are needed to produce enriched counts. We int…
We revisit the low-energy effective $U(1)$ action of topologically twisted $\mathcal N=2$ SYM theory with gauge group of rank one on a generic oriented smooth 4-manifold $X$ with nontrivial fundamental group. After including a specific new set of $\mathcal Q$-exact operators to the known action, we express the integrand of the path integral of the low-energy $U(1)$ theory as an anti-holomorphic derivative. This allows us to use the theory of mock modular forms and indefinite theta functions for the explicit evaluation of correlation functions of the theory, including but not restricted to thos…
The `linear orbit' of a plane curve of degree d is its orbit in P^{d(d+3)/2} under the natural action of PGL(3). We classify curves with positive dimensional stabilizer, and we compute the degree of the closure of the linear orbits of curves supported on unions of lines. Together with the results of math.AG/9805020, this encompasses the enumerative geometry of all plane curves with small linear orbit. This information will serve elsewhere as an ingredient in the computation of the degree of the orbit closure of an arbitrary plane curve.
Let $C$ be a hyperelliptic curve of genus $g$ over the fraction field $K$ of a discrete valuation ring $R$. Assume that the residue field $k$ of $R$ is perfect and that $\mathrm{char}\ k > 2g+1$. Let $S = \mathrm{Spec}\ R$. Let $X$ be the minimal proper regular model of $C$ over $S$. Let $\mathrm{Art}\ (C/K)$ denote the Artin conductor of the $S$-scheme $X$ and let $ν(Δ_C)$ denote the minimal discriminant of $C$. We prove that $-\mathrm{Art}\ (C/K) \leq ν(Δ_C)$. The key ingredients are a combinatorial refinement of the discriminant introduced in this paper (called the metric tree) and a recent…
We study equi-singular strata of plane curves with two singular points of prescribed types. The method of the previous work [Kerner06] is generalized to this case. In particular we consider the enumerative problem for plane curves with two singular points of linear singularity types. First the problem for two ordinary multiple points of fixed multiplicities is solved. Then the enumeration for arbitrary linear types is reduced to the case of ordinary multiple points and to the understanding of "merging" of singular points. Many examples and numerical answers are given.
Let $\mathbb{P}^1$ and $(X,q)$ denote, respectively, the projective line and a fixed elliptic curve marked at its origin, both defined over an algebraically closed field $\mathbb{K}$ of arbitrary characteristic $\emph{\textbf{p}} \neq2$. We will consider all finite separable marked morphisms $π:(Γ,p)\rightarrow (X,q)$, such that $Γ$ is a degree-$2$ cover of $ \mathbb{P}^1$, ramified at the smooth point $p \in Γ$. Canonically associated to $π$ there is the Abel (rational) embedding of $Γ$ into its \emph{generalized Jacobian}, $A_p: Γ\to Jac\,Γ$, and $\{0\} \subsetneq V^1_{Γ,p}...\subsetneq V ^g…