No Arabic abstract
In [GH], Griffiths and Harris asked whether a projective complex submanifold of codimension two is determined by the moduli of its second fundamental forms. More precisely, given a nonsingular subvariety $X^n subset {mathbb P}^{n+2}$, the second fundamental form $II_{X,x}$ at a point $x in X$ is a pencil of quadrics on $T_x(X)$, defining a rational map $mu^X$ from $X$ to a suitable moduli space of pencils of quadrics on a complex vector space of dimension $n$. The question raised by Griffiths and Harris was whether the image of $mu^X$ determines $X$. We study this question when $X^n subset {mathbb P}^{n+2}$ is a nonsingular intersection of two quadric hypersurfaces of dimension $n >4$. In this case, the second fundamental form $II_{X,x}$ at a general point $x in X$ is a nonsingular pencil of quadrics. Firstly, we prove that the moduli map $mu^X$ is dominant over the moduli of nonsingular pencils of quadrics. This gives a negative answer to Griffiths-Harriss question. To remedy the situation, we consider a refined version $widetildemu^X$ of the moduli map $mu^X$, which takes into account the infinitesimal information of $mu^X$. Our main result is an affirmative answer in terms of the refined moduli map: we prove that the image of $widetildemu^X$ determines $X$, among nonsingular intersections of two quadrics.
Let $C$ be a smooth projective curve of genus $2$. Following a method by O Grady, we construct a semismall desingularization $tilde{mathcal{M}}_{Dol}^G$ of the moduli space $mathcal{M}_{Dol}^G$ of semistable $G$-Higgs bundles of degree 0 for $G=GL(2,mathbb{C}), SL(2,mathbb{C})$. By the decomposition theorem by Beilinson, Bernstein, Deligne one can write the cohomology of $tilde{mathcal{M}}_{Dol}^G$ as a direct sum of the intersection cohomology of $mathcal{M}_{Dol}^G$ plus other summands supported on the singular locus. We use this splitting to compute the intersection cohomology of $mathcal{M}_{Dol}^G$ and prove that the mixed Hodge structure on it is actually pure, in analogy with what happens to ordinary cohomology in the smooth case of coprime rank and degree.
We explore the cohomological structure for the (possibly singular) moduli of $mathrm{SL}_n$-Higgs bundles for arbitrary degree on a genus g curve with respect to an effective divisor of degree >2g-2. We prove a support theorem for the $mathrm{SL}_n$-Hitchin fibration extending de Cataldos support theorem in the nonsingular case, and a version of the Hausel-Thaddeus topological mirror symmetry conjecture for intersection cohomology. This implies a generalization of the Harder-Narasimhan theorem concerning semistable vector bundles for any degree. Our main tool is an Ng^{o}-type support inequality established recently which works for possibly singular ambient spaces and intersection cohomology complexes.
We study closures of GL_2(R)-orbits on the total space of the Hodge bundle over the moduli space of curves under the assumption that they are algebraic manifolds. We show that, in the generic stratum, such manifolds are the whole stratum, the hyperelliptic locus or parameterize curves whose Jacobian has additional endomorphisms. This follows from a cohomological description of the tangent bundle to strata. For non-generic strata similar results can be shown by a case-by-case inspection. We also propose to study a notion of linear manifold that comprises Teichmueller curves, Hilbert modular surfaces and the ball quotients of Deligne and Mostow. Moreover, we give an explanation for the difference between Hilbert modular surfaces and Hilbert modular threefolds with respect to this notion of linearity.
Let $M_{g, n}$ (respectively, $overline{M_{g, n}}$) be the moduli space of smooth (respectively stable) curves of genus $g$ with $n$ marked points. Over the field of complex numbers, it is a classical problem in algebraic geometry to determine whether or not $M_{g, n}$ (or equivalently, $overline{M_{g, n}}$) is a rational variety. Theorems of J. Harris, D. Mumford, D. Eisenbud and G. Farkas assert that $M_{g, n}$ is not unirational for any $n geqslant 0$ if $g geqslant 22$. Moreover, P. Belorousski and A. Logan showed that $M_{g, n}$ is unirational for only finitely many pairs $(g, n)$ with $g geqslant 1$. Finding the precise range of pairs $(g, n)$, where $M_{g, n}$ is rational, stably rational or unirational, is a problem of ongoing interest. In this paper we address the rationality problem for twisted forms of $overline{M_{g, n}}$ defined over an arbitrary field $F$ of characteristic $ eq 2$. We show that all $F$-forms of $overline{M_{g, n}}$ are stably rational for $g = 1$ and $3 leqslant n leqslant 4$, $g = 2$ and $2 leqslant n leqslant 3$, $g = 3$ and $1 leqslant n leqslant 14$, $g = 4$ and $1 leqslant n leqslant 9$, $g = 5$ and $1 leqslant n leqslant 12$.
This is a report on a joint project in experimental mathematics with Jonas Bergstrom and Carel Faber where we obtain information about modular forms by counting curves over finite fields.