For a compact Riemann surface $X$ of genus $g > 1$, $\Hom(π_1(X), U(p,1))/U(p,1)$ is the moduli space of flat $\U(p,1)$-connections on $X$. There is an integer invariant, $τ$, the Toledo invariant associated with each element in $\Hom(π_1(X), U(p,1))/U(p,1)$. If $q = 1$, then $-2(g-1) \le τ\le 2(g-1)$. This paper shows that $\Hom(π_1(X), U(p,1))/U(p,1)$ has one connected component corresponding to each $τ\in 2Z$ with $-2(g-1) \le τ\le 2(g-1)$. Therefore the total number of connected components is $2(g-1) + 1$.
We construct explicitly a finite cover of the moduli stack of compact Riemann surfaces with a given group of symmetries by a smooth quasi-projective variety.
We give a short and "classical" proof of Borcherds' theorem that the moduli space of Enriques surfaces is quasi-affine. The use of the Borcherds' product is replaced in our proof by an application of the Grothendieck-Riemann-Roch theorem.
We classify the finite groups associated to the singularities of the moduli space of $n/ge5$ unordered points on the Riemann sphere. We also realize the classification by an algorithm.
We compute the stringy E function of the moduli space of rank 2 bundles over a Riemann surface of genus 3. In doing so, we answer a question of Batyrev about the stringy E functions of the GIT quotients of linear representations.
In 1962 E. H. Rauch established the existence of points in the moduli space of Riemann surfaces not having a neighbourhood homeomorphic to a ball. These points are called here topologically singular. We give a different proof of the results of Rauch and also determine the topologically singular and non-singular points in the branch locus of some equisymmetric families of Riemann surfaces.
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…
Let $X$ be a compact Riemann surface of genus $g \geq 3$. We consider the moduli space of holomorphic connections over $X$ and the moduli space of logarithmic connections singular over a finite subset of $X$ with fixed residues. We determine the Chow group of these moduli spaces. We compute the global sections of the sheaves of differential operators on ample line bundles and their symmetric powers over these moduli spaces, and show that they are constant under certain condition. We show the Torelli type theorem for the moduli space of logarithmic connections. We also describe the rational con…
A holomorphic chain on a compact Riemann surface is a tuple of vector bundles together with homomorphisms between them. We show that the moduli space of holomorphic chains of rank one is identified with a fiber product of projective space bundles. We compute the Euler characteristic of the moduli space. The stability of chains involves real vector parameters. We also show that the variation of parameters corresponds to the characters of Gm.
Inductive formulas for the Betti numbers of the moduli spaces of stable holomorphic vector bundles of coprime rank and degree over a fixed Riemann surface of genus at least two were obtained by Harder, Narasimhan, Desale and Ramanan using number theoretic methods and the Weil conjectures and were rederived by Atiyah and Bott using gauge theory. In this note we observe that there are similar inductive formulas for determining the Hodge numbers of these moduli spaces.
We show that certain structures and constructions of the Whitham theory, an essential part of the perturbation theory of soliton equations, can be instrumental in understanding the geometry of the moduli spaces of Riemann surfaces with marked points. We use the ideas of the Whitham theory to define local coordinates and construct foliations on the moduli spaces. We use these constructions to give a new proof of the Diaz' bound on the dimension of complete subvarieties of the moduli spaces. Geometrically, we study the properties of meromorphic differentials with real periods, and their degenera…
In this paper, we study rank 2 (quasi) parabolic bundles over the Riemann sphere with an effective divisor and these moduli spaces. First we consider a criterium when a parabolic bundle admits a unramified irregular singular parabolic connection. Second, to give a good compactification of the moduli space of semistable parabolic bundles, we introduce a generalization of parabolic bundles, which is called refined parabolic bundles. Third, we discuss a stability condition of refined parabolic bundles and define elementary transformations of the refined parabolic bundles. Finally, we describe the…
Refinements of the Yang-Mills stratifications of spaces of connections over a compact Riemann surface are investigated. The motivation for this study was the search for a complete set of relations between the standard generators for the cohomology of the moduli spaces of stable holomorphic bundles of rank n and degree d when n and d are coprime and n>2.
Let $X$ be a compact connected Riemann surface of genus at least two and $G$ a connected reductive complex affine algebraic group. The Riemann--Hilbert correspondence produces a biholomorphism between the moduli space ${\mathcal M}_X(G)$ parametrizing holomorphic $G$--connections on $X$ and the $G$--character variety $${\mathcal R}(G):= \text{Hom}(π_1(X, x_0), G)/\!\!/G\, .$$ While ${\mathcal R}(G)$ is known to be affine, we show that ${\mathcal M}_X(G)$ is not affine. The scheme ${\mathcal R}(G)$ has an algebraic symplectic form constructed by Goldman. We construct an algebraic symplectic for…
Let $X$ be any compact connected Riemann surface of genus $g \geq 3$. For any $r\geq 2$, let $M_X$ denote the moduli space of holomorphic $SL(r,C)$-connections over $X$. It is known that the biholomorphism class of the complex variety $M_X$ is independent of the complex structure of $X$. If $g=3$, then we assume that $r\geq 3$. We prove that the isomorphism class of the variety $M_X$ determines the Riemann surface $X$ uniquely up to isomorphism. A similar result is proved for the moduli space of holomorphic $GL(r,C)$-connections on $X$. We also show that the Torelli theorem remains valid for t…
The known (explicit) examples of Riemann surfaces not definable over their field of moduli are not real whose field of moduli is a subfield of the reals. In this paper we provide explicit examples of real Riemann surfaces which cannot be defined over the field of moduli.
We study the Brill-Noether stratification of the coarse moduli space of locally free stable and flat sheaves of a compact Kahler manifold, proving that these strata have quadratic algebraic singularities.
Let $(X,\,D)$ be an $m$-pointed compact Riemann surface of genus at least $2$. For each $x \,\in\, D$, fix full flag and concentrated weight system $α$. Let $P \mathcal{M}_ξ$ denote the moduli space of semi-stable parabolic vector bundles of rank $r$ and determinant $ξ$ over $X$ with weight system $α$, where $r$ is a prime number and $ξ$ is a holomorphic line bundle over $X$ of degree $d$ which is not a multiple of $r$. We compute the Chen-Ruan cohomology of the orbifold for the action on $P \mathcal{M}_ξ$ of the group of $r$-torsion points in ${\rm Pic}^0(X)$.
Let $(C,\bt)$ ($\bt=(t_1,...,t_n)$) be an $n$-pointed smooth projective curve of genus $g$ and take an element $\blambda=(λ^{(i)}_j)\in\C^{nr}$ such that $-\sum_{i,j}λ^{(i)}_j=d\in\mathbf{Z}$. For a weight $\balpha$, let $M_C^{\balpha}(\bt,\blambda)$ be the moduli space of $\balpha$-stable $(\bt,\blambda)$-parabolic connections on $C$ and let $RP_r(C,\bt)_{\ba}$ be the moduli space of representations of the fundamental group $π_1(C\setminus\{t_1,...,t_n\},*)$ with the local monodromy data $\ba$ for a certain $\ba\in\C^{nr}$. Then we prove that the morphism $\RH:M_C^{\balpha}(\bt,\blambda)\righ…
The cohomology ring of the moduli space of stable holomorphic vector bundles of rank n and degree d over a Riemann surface of genus g>1 has a standard set of generators when n and d are coprime. When n=2 the relations between these generators are well understood, and in particular a conjecture of Mumford, that a certain set of relations is a complete set, is known to be true. In this article generalisations are given of Mumford's relations to the cases when n>2 and also when the bundles are parabolic bundles, and these are shown to form complete sets of relations.
The moduli space of Riemann surfaces of genus $g\geq 2$ is (up to a finite étale cover) a complex manifold and so it makes sense to speak of its Dolbeault cohomological dimension. The conjecturally optimal bound is $g-2$. This expectation is verified in low genus and supported by Harer's computation of its de Rham cohomological dimension and by vanishing results in the tautological intersection ring. In this paper we prove that such dimension is at most $2g-2$. We also prove an analogous bound for the moduli space of Riemann surfaces with marked points. The key step is to show that the Dolbeau…
In this paper we study the moduli space of the tropicalizations of Riemann surfaces. We first tropicalize a smooth pointed Riemann surface by a graph defined by its (hyperbolic) pair of pants decomposition. Then we can construct the moduli space of tropicalizations based on a fixed regular tropicalization, and compactify it by adding strata parametrizing weighted contractions. We show that this compact moduli space is also Hausdorff. In the end, we compare this moduli space with the moduli space of Riemann surfaces, establishing a partial order-preserving correspondence between the stratificat…
We prove the SYZ (Strominger-Yau-Zaslow) duality for the moduli space of full flag parabolic Higgs bundles over a compact Riemann surface.The SYZ duality was proved for moduli spaces of Higgs vector bundles over a compact Riemann surface by Hausel and Thaddeus.
We compute the automorphism groups of the Dolbeault, de Rham and Betti moduli spaces for the multiplicative group ${\mathbb C}^*$ associated to a compact connected Riemann surface.
We consider the moduli space, in the sense of Kisin, of finite flat models of a 2-dimensional representation with values in a finite field of the absolute Galois group of a totally ramified extension of $mathbb{Q}_p$. We determine the connected components of this space and describe its irreducible components. These results prove a modified version of a conjecture of Kisin.
As a consequence of the Riemann-Roch theorem, a closed Riemann surface $S$ can be described by a non-singular complex projective algebraic curve $C$. A field of definition for $S$ is any subfield $D$ of $\mathbb{C}$ so that we may choose $C$ to be defined by polynomials in $D[x_0, \ldots, x_n]$. The field of moduli of $S$ is ${\mathbb R}$ if and only if $S$ admits an anticonformal automorphism. In the case that the field of moduli of $S$ is ${\mathbb R}$, then $S$ can be defined over the field of moduli if and only if $S$ admits an anticonformal involution. It may happen that the field of modu…
We compute some Gromov-Witten invariants of the moduli space of odd degree rank two stable vector bundles over a Riemann surface of any genus. Next we find the first correction term for the quantum product of this moduli space and hence get the two leading terms of the relations satisfied by the natural generators of its quantum cohomology. Finally, we use this information to get a full description of the quantum cohomology of the moduli space when the genus of the Riemann surface is 3.
Inspired by his vanishing results of tautological classes and by Harer's computation of the virtual cohomological dimension of the mapping class group, Looijenga conjectured that the moduli space of smooth Riemann surfaces admits a stratification by affine subsets with a certain number of layers. Similarly, Roth and Vakil extended the conjecture to the moduli spaces of Riemann surfaces of compact type, of Riemann surfaces with rational tails and of Riemann surfaces with at most k rational components. As a consequence of Lefschetz's theorem, Roth-Vakil's conjecture would also imply that the pre…
This paper applies methods of Van der Put and Van derPut-Saito to the fourth Painlevé equation. One obtains a Riemann--Hilbert correspondence between moduli spaces of rank two connections on $\mathbb{P}^1$ and moduli spaces for the monodromy data. The moduli spaces for these connections are identified with Okamoto--Painlevé varieties and the Painlevé property follows. For an explicit computation of the full group of Bäcklund transformations, rank three connections on $\mathbb{P}^1$ are introduced, inspired by the symmetric form for ${\rm PIV}$ as was studied by M. Noumi and Y. Yamada.
We construct a moduli scheme for semistable pre-$\D$-modules with prescribed singularities and numerical data on a smooth projective variety. These pre-$\D$-modules are to be viewed as regular holonomic $\D$-modules with `level structure'. We also construct a moduli scheme for perverse sheaves on the variety with prescribed singularities and other numerical data, and represent the de Rham functor (which gives the Riemann-Hilbert correspondence) by an analytic morphism between the two moduli schemes.
Let X and X' be compact Riemann surfaces of genus at least three. Let G and G' be nontrivial connected semisimple linear algebraic groups over C. If some components $M_{DH}^d(X,G)$ and $M_{DH}^{d'}(X',G')$ of the associated Deligne--Hitchin moduli spaces are biholomorphic, then X' is isomorphic to X or to the conjugate Riemann surface $\bar{X}$.
As was shown by Harer the second homology of ${\mathbb M}_g$, the moduli space of compact Riemann surfaces of genus $g$, is of rank 1, provided $g \geq 3$. This means a nontrivial second de Rham cohomology class on ${\mathbb M}_g$ is unique up to constant factor. But several canonical 2-forms on the moduli space have been constructed in various geometric contexts, and differ from each other. In this article we review some of constructions in order to provide materials for future research on "secondary geometry" of the moduli space ${\mathbb M}_g$.
Let $X$ be a compact Riemann surface of genus $g \geq 3$ and $S$ a finite subset of $X$. Let $ξ$ be fixed a holomorphic line bundle over $X$ of degree $d$. Let $\mathcal{M}_{pc}(r, d, α)$ (respectively, $\mathcal{M}_{pc}(r, α, ξ)$ ) denote the moduli space of parabolic connections of rank $r$, degree $d$ and full flag rational generic weight system $α$, (respectively, with the fixed determinant $ξ$) singular over the parabolic points $S \subset X$. Let $\mathcal{M}'_{pc}(r, d, α)$ (respectively, $\mathcal{M}'_{pc}(r, α, ξ)$) be the Zariski dense open subset of $\mathcal{M}_{pc}(r, d, α)$ (resp…
Exploiting the description of rings of differential operators as Azumaya algebras on cotangent bundles, we show that the moduli stack of flat connections on a curve (allowed to acquire orbifold points) defined over an algebraically closed field of positive characteristic is étale locally equivalent to a moduli stack of Higgs bundles over the Hitchin base. We then study the interplay with stability and generalize a result of Laszlo-Pauly, concerning properness of the Hitchin map. Using Arinkin's autoduality of compactified Jacobians we extend the main result of Bezrukavnikov-Braverman, the Lang…
This is an informal set of lecture notes on moduli spaces of curves based on a set of lectures given at the ICTP last summer. It begins at an elementary level and discusses the genus 1 case in detail. The notes then give an informal treatement of Teichmuller space and higher genus moduli spaces. The point of view is generally topological and analytical.
In this note we quantize the usual symplectic (Kähler) form on the vortex moduli space by modifying the Quillen metric of the Quillen determinant line bundle.
We have recently proved a homological stability theorem for moduli spaces of r-Spin Riemann surfaces, which in particular implies a Madsen--Weiss theorem for these moduli spaces. This allows us to effectively study their stable cohomology, and to compute their stable rational cohomology and their integral Picard groups. Using these methods we give a complete description of their integral Picard groups for genus at least 9 in terms of geometrically defined generators, and determine the relations between them.
For singular metrics, there is no Quillen metric formalism on cohomology determinant. In this paper, we develop an admissible theory, with which the arithmetic Deligne-Riemann-Roch isometry can be established for singular metrics. As an application, we first study Weil-Petersson metrics and Takhtajan-Zograf metrics on moduli spaces of punctured Riemann surfaces, and then give a more geometric interpretation of our determinant metrics in terms of Selberg zeta functions. We end this paper by proposing an arithmetic factorization for Weil-Petersson metrics, cuspidal metrics and Selberg zeta funct…
In a recent paper R. Pandharipande, J. Solomon and R. Tessler initiated a study of the intersection theory on the moduli space of Riemann surfaces with boundary. The authors conjectured KdV and Virasoro type equations that completely determine all intersection numbers. In this paper we study these equations in detail. In particular, we prove that the KdV and the Virasoro type equations for the intersection numbers on the moduli space of Riemann surfaces with boundary are equivalent.
The main result of this paper amounts to a complete evaluation of the integral cohomological structure of the stable mapping class group. In particular it verifies the conjecture of D.Mumford about the rational cohomology of the stable mapping class group.
One interpretation of Torelli's Theorem, which asserts that a compact Riemann Surface $X$ of genus $g > 1$ is determined by the $g(g+1)/2$ entries of the period matrix, is that the period matrix is a message about $X$. Since this message depends on only $3g-3$ moduli, it is sparse, or at least approximately so, in the sense of information theory. Thus, methods from information theory may be useful in reconstructing the period matrix, and hence the Riemann surface, from a small subset of the periods. The results here show that, with high probability, any set of $3g-3$ periods form moduli for th…
The aim of this paper is to study the structure of the higher-dimensional Teichmüller and Riemann moduli spaces, viewed as stacks over the category of complex manifolds. We first show that the space of complex operators on a smooth manifold admits a foliation transversely modeled on a translation groupoid, a concept that we define here. We then show how to construct explicitly a holonomy groupoid for such a structure and show that in this case its objects and morphisms form a finite-dimensional analytic space and its source and target maps are smooth morphisms. This holonomy data encodes how t…
The twistor space of the moduli space of solutions of Hitchin's self-duality equations can be identified with the Deligne-Hitchin moduli space of $λ$-connections. We use real projective structures on Riemann surfaces to prove the existence of new components of real holomorphic sections of the Deligne-Hitchin moduli space. Applying the twistorial construction we show the existence of new hyper-Kähler manifolds associated to any compact Riemann surface of genus $g\geq2$. These hyper-Kähler manifolds can be considered as moduli spaces of (certain) singular solutions of the self-duality equations.
The bad locus in the moduli of super Riemann surfaces with Ramond punctures parametrizes those super Riemann surfaces that have more than the expected number of independent closed holomorphic 1-forms. There is a super period map that depends on certain discrete choices. For each such choice, the period map blows up along a divisor that contains the bad locus. Our main result is that away from the bad locus, at least one of these period maps remains finite. In other words, we identify the bad locus as the intersection of the blowup divisors. The proof abstracts the situation into a question in …
We study holomorphic $(n+1)$-chains $E_n\to E_{n-1} \to >... \to E_0$ consisting of holomorphic vector bundles over a compact Riemann surface and homomorphisms between them. A notion of stability depending on $n$ real parameters was introduced in the work of the first two authors and moduli spaces were constructed by the third one. In this paper we study the variation of the moduli spaces with respect to the stability parameters. In particular we characterize a parameter region where the moduli spaces are birationally equivalent. A detailed study is given for the case of 3-chains, generalizing…
In this paper, we show that the family of moduli spaces of $\balpha'$-stable $(\bt, \blambda)$-parabolic $ϕ$-connections of rank 2 over $\BP^1$ with 4-regular singular points and the fixed determinant bundle of degree -1 is isomorphic to the family of Okamoto--Painlevé pairs introduced by Okamoto \cite{O1} and \cite{STT02}. We also discuss about the generalization of our theory to the case where the rank of the connections and genus of the base curve are arbitrary. Defining isomonodromic flows on the family of moduli space of stable parabolic connections via the Riemann-Hilbert correspondences…
Let $(X,x_0)$ be any one--pointed compact connected Riemann surface of genus $g$, with $g\geq 3$. Fix two mutually coprime integers $r>1$ and $d$. Let ${\mathcal M}_X$ denote the moduli space parametrizing all logarithmic $\text{SL}(r,{\mathbb C})$--connections, singular over $x_0$, on vector bundles over $X$ of degree $d$. We prove that the isomorphism class of the variety ${\mathcal M}_X$ determines the Riemann surface $X$ uniquely up to an isomorphism, although the biholomorphism class of ${\mathcal M}_X$ is known to be independent of the complex structure of $X$. The isomorphism class of t…
We determine the quantum cohomology of the moduli space of odd degree rank two stable vector bundles over a Riemann surface $Σ$ of any genus. This work together with dg-ga/9710029 prove that this quantum cohomology is isomorphic to the instanton Floer cohomology of the three manifold $Σ\times S^1$. (Note: There is some overlap with the previous paper: alg-geom/9711013).
We determine the type of the zeta functions and the range of the dimensions of the moduli spaces of finite flat models of two-dimensional local Galois representations over finite fields. This gives a generalization of Raynaud's theorem on the uniqueness of finite flat models in low ramifications.
We prove that any connected component of the space of m-spin structures on compact Riemann surfaces with finite number of punctures and holes is homeomorphic to a quotient of the vector space R^d by a discrete group action. Our proof is based on the representation of the space of m-spin structures on a Riemann surface as a finite affine space of Z/mZ-valued functions on the fundamental group of the surface.
