In this paper we give a characterization of the height of K3 surfaces in positive characteristic. This enables us to calculate the cycle classes of the loci in families of K3 surfaces where the height is at least h. The formulas for such loci can be seen as generalizations of the famous formula of Deuring for the number of supersingular elliptic curves in positive characteristic. In order to describe the tangent spaces to these loci we study the first cohomology of higher closed forms.
We study the relationship between two stratifications on parameter spaces for coherent sheaves and for quiver representations: a stratification by Harder-Narasimhan types and a stratification arising from the geometric invariant theory construction of the associated moduli spaces of semistable objects. For quiver representations, both stratifications coincide, but this is not quite true for sheaves. We explain why the stratifications on various Quot schemes do not coincide and see that the correct parameter space to compare such stratifications is the stack of coherent sheaves. Then we relate …
The moduli space of Higgs bundles has two stratifications. The Bialynicki-Birula stratification comes from the action of the non-zero complex numbers by multiplication on the Higgs field, and the Shatz stratification arises from the Harder-Narasimhan type of the vector bundle underlying a Higgs bundle. While these two stratification coincide in the case of rank two Higgs bundles, this is not the case in higher rank. In this paper we analyze the relation between the two stratifications for the moduli space of rank three Higgs bundles.
For every set of parabolic weights, we construct a Harder-Narasimhan stratification for the moduli stack of parabolic vector bundles on a curve. It is based on the notion of parabolic slope, introduced by Mehta and Seshadri. We also prove that the stratification is schematic, that each stratum is complete, and establish an analogue of Behrend's conjecture for parabolic vector bundles. A comparison with recent $Θ$-stratification approaches is discussed.
We review the results on the cycle classes of the strata defined by the height and the Artin invariant on the moduli of K3 surfaces in positive characteristic obtained in joint work with Katsura and Ekedahl. In addition we prove a new irreducibility result for these strata.
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.
Our concern in this paper is to describe the p-rank statification on the Siegel moduli space with Iwahori level structure over fields of positive characteristic. We calculate the dimension of the strata and describe the closure of a given stratum in terms of p-rank strata. We also examine the relationship between the p-rank stratification and the Kottwitz-Rapoport stratification.
Let $X$ be a smooth projective curve of genus $g(X)\geq 1$ over an algebraically closed field $k$ of characteristic $p>0$, $\M^s_X(r,d)$ the moduli space of stable vector bundles of rank $r$ and degree $d$ on $X$. We study the Frobenius stratification of $\M^s_X(r,d)$ in terms of Harder-Narasimhan polygons of Frobenius pull backs of stable vector bundles and obtain the irreducibility and dimension of each non-empty Frobenius stratum in case $(p,g,r)=(3,2,3)$.
A symplectic or orthogonal bundle $V$ of rank $2n$ over a curve has an invariant $t(V)$ which measures the maximal degree of its isotropic subbundles of rank $n$. This invariant $t$ defines stratifications on moduli spaces of symplectic and orthogonal bundles. We study this stratification by relating it to another one given by secant varieties in certain extension spaces. We give a sharp upper bound on $t(V)$, which generalizes the classical Nagata bound for ruled surfaces and the Hirschowitz bound for vector bundles, and study the structure of the stratifications on the moduli spaces. In part…
Let $X$ be a smooth irreducible projective curve of genus $g$ and gonality 4. We show that the canonical model of $X$ is contained in a uniquely defined surface, ruled by conics, whose geometry is deeply related to that of $X$. This surface allows us to define four invariants of $X$ and hence to stratify the moduli space of four-gonal curves by means of closed irreducible subvarieties whose dimensions we compute.
Let $X$ be a smooth projective curve of genus $g\geq 2$ over an algebraically closed field $k$ of characteristic $p>0$, $F_X:X\rightarrow X$ the absolute Frobenius morphism. Let $\M^s_X(r,d)$ be the moduli space of stable vector bundles of rank $r$ and degree $d$ on $X$. We study the Frobenius stratification of $\M^s_X(3,0)$ in terms of Harder-Narasimhan polygons of Frobenius pull backs of stable vector bundles and obtain the irreducibility and dimension of each non-empty Frobenius stratum in the case $(p,g)=(3,2)$.
We introduce a stratification on the space of symplectic flags on the de Rham bundle of the universal principally polarized abelian variety in positive characteristic and study its geometric properties like irreducibility of the strata and we calculate the cycle classes. When the characteristic $p$ is treated as a formal variable these classes can be seen as a deformation of the classes of the Schubert varieties for the corresponding classical flag variety (the classical case is recovered by putting $p$ equal to 0). We relate our stratification with the E-O stratification on the moduli space o…
We formulate a theory of instability and Harder-Narasimhan filtrations for an arbitrary moduli problem in algebraic geometry. We introduce the notion of a $Θ$-stratification of a moduli problem, which generalizes the Kempf-Ness stratification in GIT as well as the Harder-Narasimhan stratification of the moduli of coherent sheaves on a projective scheme. Our main theorems establish necessary and sufficient conditions for the existence of these stratifications. We define a structure on an algebraic stack called a numerical invariant, and we show that in many situations a numerical invariant defi…
We consider the problem of finding the limit at infinity (corresponding to the downward Morse flow) of a Higgs bundle in the nilpotent cone under the natural $\mathbb{C}^*$-action on the moduli space. For general rank we provide an answer for Higgs bundles with regular nilpotent Higgs field, while in rank three we give the complete answer. Our results show that the limit can be described in terms of data defined by the Higgs field, via a filtration of the underlying vector bundle.
We define the affine stratification number asn X of a scheme X. For X equidimensional, it is the minimal number k such that there is a stratification of X by locally closed affine subschemes of codimension at most k. We show that the affine stratification number is well-behaved, and bounds many aspects of the topological complexity of the scheme, such as vanishing of cohomology groups of quasicoherent, constructible, and l-adic sheaves. We explain how to bound asn X in practice. We give a series of conjectures (the first by E. Looijenga) bounding the affine stratification number of various mod…
The aim of this paper is to generalize the $m-$Segre invariant for vector bundles to coherent systems. Let $X$ be a non-singular irreducible complex projective curve of genus $g$ over $\mathbb{C}$ and $(E,V)$ be a coherent system on $X$ of type $(n,d,k)$. For any pair of integers $m, t$, $0 < m < n$, $0 \leq t \leq k$ we define the $(m,t)-$Segre invariant, denoted by $S^α_{m,t}$ and show that $S^α_{m,t}$ induces a semicontinuous function on the families of coherent systems. Thus, $S^α_{m,t}$ gives a stratification of the moduli space $G(α;n,d,k)$ of $α-$stable coherent systems of type $(n,d,k)…
The moduli space of Higgs bundles can be constructed as a quotient of an infinite-dimensional space and hence admits an orbit type decomposition. In this paper, we show that the orbit type decomposition is a complex Whitney stratification such that each stratum is a complex symplectic submanifold and hence admits a complex Poisson bracket. Moreover, these Poisson brackets glue to a Poisson bracket on the structure sheaf of the moduli space so that the moduli space is a stratified complex symplectic space
The theory of $Θ$-stratifications generalizes a classical stratification of the moduli of vector bundles on a smooth curve, the Harder-Narasimhan-Shatz stratification, to any moduli problem that can be represented by an algebraic stack. Using derived algebraic geometry, we develop a structure theory, which is a refinement of the theory of local cohomology, for the derived category of quasi-coherent complexes on an algebraic stack equipped with a $Θ$-stratification. We then apply this to the $D$-equivalence conjecture, which predicts that birationally equivalent Calabi-Yau manifolds have equiva…
We study a compactification of the moduli space of theta characteristics, giving a modular interpretation of the geometric points and describing the boundary stratification. This space is different from the moduli space of spin curves. The modular description and the boundary stratification of the new compactification are encoded by a tropical moduli space. We show that this tropical moduli space is a refinement of the moduli space of spin tropical curves. We describe explicitly the induced decomposition of its cones.
In this paper we consider the stratification on the moduli space of principally polarized abelian surfaces in characteristic $p>0$ defined by the height of the formal group associated to $H^2(X,O_X)$. We compute the cycle classes of the strata and compare these with those of the $p$-rank stratification.
We establish that the geometric action of the absolute Galois group on the étale fundamental group of moduli spaces of curves induces a Galois action on its stack inertia subgroups, and that this action is given by cyclotomy conjugacy. This result extends the special case of inertia without étale factorisation previously established by the authors. It is here obtained in the general case by comparing deformations of Galois actions. Since the stack inertia corresponds to the first level of the stack stratification of the space, this results, by analogy with the arithmetic of the Deligne-Mumford…
In this paper we study the slope stratification on the good reduction of the type C family Shimura varieties. We show that there is an open dense subset $U$ of the moduli space such that any point in $U$ can be deformed to a point with a given lower {\it admissible} Newton polygon. For the Siegel moduli spaces, this is obtained by F. Oort which plays an important role in his proof of the strong Grothendieck conjecture concerning the slope stratification. We also investigate the $p$-divisible groups and their isogeny classes arising from the abelian varieties in question.
These are expanded notes on a lecture of the same title at the 2015 AMS summer institute in algebraic geometry. We give an introduction and overview of the "beyond geometric invariant theory" program for analyzing moduli problems in algebraic geometry. We discuss methods for analyzing stability in general moduli problems, focusing on the moduli of coherent sheaves on a smooth projective scheme as a toy example. We describe several applications: a general structure theorem for the derived category of coherent sheaves on an algebraic stack; some results on the topology of moduli stacks; and a "v…
There is a well-known stratification of the moduli space $M_g$ of Deligne-Mumford stable curves of genus $g$ by the loci of stable curves with a fixed number $i$ of nodes, where $i \le 3g-3$. The associated moduli stack ${\cal M}_g$ admits an analogous stratification. Our main objects of study are those one-dimensional substacks of the moduli stack, which are the irreducible components of the stratum corresponding to stable curves with exactly $3g-4$ nodes. We describe these substacks explicitely as quotient stacks, and relate them to other, and simpler, moduli stacks of (permutation classes o…
We introduce the moduli space $R \bar{M}_{2k,l}$ of pointed real curves of genus zero and give its natural stratification. The strata of $R \bar{M}_{2k,l}$ correspond to real curves of genus zero with different degeneration types and are encoded by their dual trees with certain decorations. By using this stratification, we calculate the first Stiefel-Whitney class of $R \bar{M}_{2k,l}$ and construct the orientation double cover $R \widetilde{M}_{2k,l}$$ of $R \bar{M}_{2k,l}$.
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.
In this paper we investigate two stratifications of the moduli space of elliptically fibred K3 surfaces. The first comes from Shimada's classification of connected components of elliptically fibred K3 surfaces and is closely related to the root lattice of the fibration. The second is the monodromy stratification defined by Bogomolov, Petrov and Tschinkel. The main result of the paper is a classification of all positive-dimensional ambi-typical strata, that is strata which are both Shimada root strata and monodromy strata. We further discuss the connection with moduli spaces of lattice-polarise…
We use Drinfeld's relative compactifications and the Tannakian viewpoint on principal bundles to construct the Harder-Narasimhan stratification of the moduli stack Bun_G of G-bundles on an algebraic curve in arbitrary characteristic, generalizing the stratification for G=GL_n due to Harder and Narasimhan to the case of an arbitrary reductive group G. To establish the stratification on the set-theoretic level, we exploit a Tannakian interpretation of the Bruhat decomposition and give a new and purely geometric proof of the existence and uniqueness of the canonical reduction in arbitrary charact…
We study the moduli space of abelian threefolds with Iwahori level structure in positive characteristic. We explicitly determine the fibers of the canonical projection to the moduli space of principally polarized abelian varieties and draw conclusions about the relationship between the Ekedahl-Oort, the Kottwitz-Rapoport and the Newton stratification on these spaces.
A Brill-Noether locus is a subvariety of M_g consisting of curves having certain linear series g^r_d. We study the relative position of Brill-Noether loci with respect to the gonality stratification of M_g. We construct smooth curves in P^r of given degree and genus and having the `expected' gonality. As an application we give a new proof of our result about the Kodaira dimension of the moduli space of curves of genus 23.
We study a moduli space AS_g for Artin-Schreier curves of genus g over an algebraically closed field k of characteristic p. We study the stratification of AS_g by p-rank into strata AS_{g,s} of Artin-Schreier curves of genus g with p-rank exactly s. We enumerate the irreducible components of AS_{g,s} and find their dimensions. As an application, when p=2, we prove that every irreducible component of the moduli space of hyperelliptic k-curves with genus g and 2-rank s has dimension g-1+s. We also determine all pairs (p,g) for which AS_g is irreducible. Finally, we study deformations of Artin-Sc…
We find for g at most 5 a stratification of depth g-2 of the moduli space of curves M_g with the property that its strata are affine and the classes of their closures provide a Q-basis for the Chow ring of M_g. The first property confirms a conjecture of one of us. The way we establish the second property yields new (and simpler) proofs of theorems of Faber and Izadi which, taken together, amount to the statement that in this range the Chow ring is generated by the lambda-class.
We compute the intersection Betti numbers of the GIT model of the moduli space of numerically polarized Enriques surfaces of degree 2. The strategy of the cohomological calculation relies on a general method developed by Kirwan to compute the cohomology of GIT quotients of projective varieties, based on the equivariantly perfect stratification of the unstable points studied by Hesselink and others and a partial resolution of singularities, called Kirwan blow-up.
Given a smooth curve on a smooth surface, the Hilbert scheme of the surface is stratified according to the length of the intersection with the curve. The strata are highly singular. We show that this stratification admits a natural log-resolution, namely the stratified blowup. As a consequence, the induced Poisson structure on the Hilbert scheme of a Poisson surface has unobstructed deformations.
We specify the canonical stratifications satisfying respectively Whitney (a)-regularity, Whitney (b)-regularity, Kuo-Verdier (w)-regularity, and Mostowski (L)-regularity for the family of surfaces y^a = t^b x^c + x^d, where a, b, c, d are positive integers, in both the real and complex cases.
For a partition $lambda=\{lambda_1 \geq λ_2 \geq λ_3 \}$ of non-negative integers, we calculate the Euler characteristic of the local system $V_λ$ on the moduli space of genus 3 hyperelliptic curves using a suitable stratification. For some $λ$ of low degree, we make a guess for the motivic Euler characteristic of $V_λ$ using counting of curves over finite fields.
Let $E$ be a vector bundle of rank $r\geq 2$ on a smooth projective curve $C$ of genus $g \geq 2$ over an algebraically closed field $K$ of arbitrary characteristic. For any integer with $1\le k\le r-1$ we define $${\se}_k(E):=k°E-r\max°F.$$ where the maximum is taken over all subbundles $F$ of rank $k$ of $E$. The ${s}_k$ gives a stratification of the moduli space ${\cal M}(r,d)$ of stable vector bundles of rank $r$ and degree on $d$ on $C$ into locally closed subsets ${\calM}(r,d,k,s)$ according to the value of $s$ and $k$. There is a component ${\cal M}^0(r,d,k,s)$ of ${\cal M}(r,d,k,s)$ di…
Let $O_F$ be the ring of integers of a totally real field $F$ of degree $g$. We study the reduction of the moduli space of separably polarized abelian $O_F$-varieties of dimension $g$ modulo $p$ for a fixed prime $p$. The invariants and related conditions for the objects in the moduli space are discussed. We construct a scheme-theoretic stratification by $a$-numbers on the Rapoport locus and study the relation with the slope stratification. In particular, we recover the main results of Goren and Oort [GO, J. Alg. Geom. 2000] on the stratifications when $p$ is unramified in $O_F$. We also prove…
Components of the Moduli space of sheaves on a K3 surface are parametrized by a lattice; the (algebraic) Mukai lattice. Isometries of the Mukai lattice often lift to symplectic birational isomorphisms of the collection of components. An example of such a birational isomorphism is the Abel-Jacobi map relating the Hilbert scheme of g points on a K3 of degree 2g-2 to an integrable system: the union of Jacobians of hyperplane sections (curves) of genus g. The main results are: 1) We construct a stratified version of a Mukai elementary transformation modeled after dual pairs of Springer resolutions…
We find locally free resolutions of length one for all semi-stable sheaves supported on curves of multiplicity five in the complex projective plane. In some cases we also find geometric descriptions of these sheaves by means of extensions. We give natural stratifications for their moduli spaces and we describe the strata as certain quotients modulo linear algebraic groups. In most cases we give concrete descriptions of these quotients as fibre bundles.
One can easily show that any meromorphic function on a complex closed Riemann surface can be represented as a composition of a birational map of this surface to CP^2 and a projection of the image curve from an appropriate point p in CP^2 to the pencil of lines through p. We introduce a natural stratification of Hurwitz spaces according to the minimal degree of a plane curve such that a given meromorphic function can be represented in the above way and calculate the dimensions of these strata.
The augmented moduli space is a compactification of moduli space M_n obtained by adding stable hyperbolic surfaces. The different topological types of the added stable surfaces produces a stratification of the boundary of M_n . Let P_n be the pyramidal locus in the moduli space, i.e., the set of hyperbolic surfaces of genus n such that the topological action of its preserving-orientation isometry group is the pyramidal action of the dihedral group Dn. The purpose of this paper is to state the complete list of strata in the boundary of Pn
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 define and study a concrete stratification of the moduli space of Gorenstein stable surfaces $X$ satisfying $K_{X}^2 = 2$ and $χ(\mathcal{O}_{X}) = 4$, by first establishing an isomorphism with the moduli space of plane octics with certain singularities, which is then easier to handle concretely. In total, there are 47 inhabited strata with altogether 78 components.
The moduli spaces of stable surfaces serve as compactifications of the moduli spaces of canonical models of smooth surfaces in the same way the moduli spaces of stable curves compactify the moduli spaces of smooth curves. However, the natural definition of the moduli functor of stable surfaces allows in extra components parameterizing surfaces which do not smooth. This article verifies that these components are also proper.
