Yang-Mills theory and Tamagawa numbers: the fascination of unexpected links in mathematics

Atiyah and Bott used equivariant Morse theory applied to theYang–Mills functional to calculate the Betti numbers ofmoduli spaces of vector bundles over a Riemann surface, rederivinginductive formulae obtained from an arithmetic approach whichinvolved the Tamagawa number of SL_n. This article attempts tosurvey and extend our understanding of this link between Yang–Millstheory and Tamagawa numbers, and to explain how methods usedover the last three decades to study the singular cohomologyof moduli spaces of bundles on a smooth projective curve over can be adapted to the setting of ¹-homotopy theory to studythe motivic cohomology of these moduli spaces over an algebraicallyclosed field.     

Poincaré polynomial of the moduli spaces of parabolic bundles

In this paper we use Weil conjectures (Deligne’s theorem) to calculate the Betti numbers of the moduli spaces of semi-stable parabolic bundles on a curve. The quasi parabolic analogue of the Siegel formula, together with the method of HarderNarasimhan filtration gives us a recursive formula for the Poincaré polynomials of the moduli. We solve the recursive formula by the method of Zagier, to give the Poincaré polynomial in a closed form. We also give explicit tables of Betti numbers in small rank, and genera.     

Limits of rank 4 Azumaya algebras and applications to desingularization

It is shown that the schematic image of the scheme of Azumaya algebra structures on a vector bundle of rank 4 over any base scheme is separated, of finite type, smooth of relative dimension 13 and geometrically irreducible over that base and that this construction base-changes well. This fully generalizes Seshadri’s theorem in [16] that the variety of specializations of (2 x 2)-matrix algebras is smooth in characteristic ≠ 2. As an application, a construction of Seshadri in [16] is shown in a characteristic-free way to desingularize the moduli space of rank 2 even degree semi-stable vector bundles on a complete curve. As another application, a construction of Nori over ℤ (Appendix, [16]) is extended to the case of a normal domain which is a universally Japanese (Nagata) ring and is shown to desingularize the Artin moduli space [1] of invariants of several matrices in rank 2. This desingularization is shown to have a good specialization property if the Artin moduli space has geometrically reduced fibers — for example this happens over ℤ. Essential use is made of Kneser’s concept [8] of ‘semi-regular quadratic module’. For any free quadratic module of odd rank, a formula linking the half-discriminant and the values of the quadratic form on its radical is derived.     

Quasi-parabolic Siegel formula

The result of Siegel that the Tamagawa number ofSL _r over a function field is 1 has an expression purely in terms of vector bundles on a curve, which is known as the Siegel formula. We prove an analogous formula for vector bundles with quasi-parabolic structures. This formula can be used to calculate the Betti numbers of the moduli of parabolic vector bundles using the Weil conjuctures An erratum to this article is available at .     

Determinant line bundle on moduli space of parabolic bundles

In Biswas and Raghavendra (Proc Indian Acad Sci (Math Sci) 103:41–71, 1993; Asian J Math 2:303–324, 1998), a parabolic determinant line bundle on a moduli space of stable parabolic bundles was constructed, along with a Hermitian structure on it. The construction of the Hermitian structure was indirect: The parabolic determinant line bundle was identified with the pullback of the determinant line bundle on a moduli space of usual vector bundles over a covering curve. The Hermitian structure on the parabolic determinant bundle was taken to be the pullback of the Quillen metric on the determinant line bundle on the moduli space of usual vector bundles. Here a direct construction of the Hermitian structure is given. For that we need to establish a version of the correspondence between the stable parabolic bundles and the Hermitian–Einstein connections in the context of conical metrics. Also, a recently obtained parabolic analog of Faltings’ criterion of semistability plays a crucial role.     

Geometric structures encoded in the lie structure of an Atiyah algebroid

We investigate Atiyah algebroids, i.e. the infinitesimal objects of principal bundles, from the viewpoint of the Lie algebraic approach to space. First we show that if the Lie algebras of smooth sections of two Atiyah algebroids are isomorphic, then the corresponding base manifolds are necessarily diffeomorphic. Further, we give two characterizations of the isomorphisms of the Lie algebras of sections for Atiyah algebroids associated to principal bundles with semisimple structure groups. For instance we prove that in the semisimple case the Lie algebras of sections are isomorphic if and only if the corresponding Lie algebroids are, or, as well, if and only if the integrating principal bundles are locally isomorphic. Finally, we apply these results to describe the isomorphisms of sections in the case of reductive structure groups—surprisingly enough they are no longer determined by vector bundle isomorphisms and involve dive rgences on the base manifolds.     

The Pontryagin Rings of Moduli Spaces of Arbitrary Rank Holomorphic Bundles Over a Riemann Surface

The cohomology of M(n, d), the moduli space of stable holomorphicbundles of coprime rank n and degree d and fixed determinant,over a Riemann surface of genus g 2, has been widely studiedfrom a wide range of approaches. Narasimhan and Seshadri [17]originally showed that the topology of M(n, d) depends onlyon the genus g rather than the complex structure of . An inductivemethod to determine the Betti numbers of M(n, d) was first givenby Harder and Narasimhan [7] and subsequently by Atiyah andBott [1]. The integral cohomology of M(n, d) is known to haveno torsion [1] and a set of generators was found by Newstead[19] for n = 2, and by Atiyah and Bott [1] for arbitrary n.Much progress has been made recently in determining the relationsthat hold amongst these generators, particularly in the ranktwo, odd degree case which is now largely understood. A setof relations due to Mumford in the rational cohomology ringof M(2, 1) is now known to be complete [14]; recently severalauthors have found a minimal complete set of relations for the‘invariant’ subring of the rational cohomology ofM(2, 1) [2, 13, 20, 25]. Unless otherwise stated all cohomology in this paper will haverational coefficients.     

Moduli of Framed Parabolic Sheaves

This paper gives a construction of the moduli space of framed parabolic sheaves on a Riemann surface. This space serves as a universal, master, space for the well known moduli space of parabolic bundles, as well as moduli spaces of vector bundles, which can all be obtained from this space by torus quotients. The construction is given for the structure group SL(N, C), and indeed is adapted to this case. At the end of the paper, an approach is suggested for dealing with the case of arbitrary reductive groups, involving the associated loop group.     

Betti Numbers of parabolic U(2,1)-Higgs bundles moduli spaces

Let X be a compact Riemann surface together with a finite set of marked points. We use Morse theoretic techniques to compute the Betti numbers of the parabolic U(2,1)-Higgs bundles moduli spaces over X. We give examples for one marked point showing that the Poincaré polynomials depend on the system of weights of the parabolic bundle.      

Cohomology of certain moduli spaces of vector bundles

LetX be a smooth irreducible projective curve of genusg over the field of complex numbers. LetM ₀ be the moduli space of semi-stable vector bundles onX of rank two and trivial determinant. A canonical desingularizationN _o ofM _o has been constructed by Seshadri [17]. In this paper we compute the third and fourth cohomology groups ofN _o. In particular we give a different proof of the theorem due to Nitsure [12], that the third cohomology group ofN _o is torsion-free.     

A generalization of Higgs bundles to higher dimensional varieties

Let X be a smooth n-dimensional projective variety defined over and let L be a line bundle on X. In this paper we shall construct a moduli space parametrizing -cohomology L-twisted Higgs pairs, i.e., pairs where E is a vector bundle on X and . If we take , the canonical line bundle on X, the variety is canonically identified with the cotangent bundle of the smooth locus of the moduli space of stable vector bundles on X and, as such, it has a canonical symplectic structure. We prove that, in the general case, in correspondence to the choice of a non-zero section , one can define, in a natural way, a Poisson structure on . We also analyze the relations between this Poisson structure on and the canonical symplectic structure of the cotangent bundle to the smooth locus of the moduli space of parabolic bundles over X, with parabolic structure over the divisor D defined by the section s. These results generalize to the higher dimensional case similar results proved in [Bo1] in the case of curves. Received November 4, 1997; in final form May 28, 1998     

Stable bundles with torsion Chern classes on non-Kählerian elliptic surfaces

If π:X→B is a non-Kählerian elliptic surface with generic fibreF, the moduli space of stable holomorphic vector bundles with torsion Chern classes onX has an induced fibred structure with base Pic^o(F) and the moduli space of stable parabolic bundles onB ^orb as fibre. This is specific to the non-Kähler case.     

Vector bundles with a fixed determinant on an irreducible nodal curve

LetM be the moduli space of generalized parabolic bundles (GPBs) of rankr and degree dona smooth curveX. LetM _−L be the closure of its subset consisting of GPBs with fixed determinant− L. We define a moduli functor for whichM _−L is the coarse moduli scheme. Using the correspondence between GPBs onX and torsion-free sheaves on a nodal curveY of whichX is a desingularization, we show thatM _−L can be regarded as the compactified moduli scheme of vector bundles onY with fixed determinant. We get a natural scheme structure on the closure of the subset consisting of torsion-free sheaves with a fixed determinant in the moduli space of torsion-free sheaves onY. The relation to Seshadri-Nagaraj conjecture is studied.     

Polygons in Minkowski three space and parabolic Higgs bundles of rank 2 on \mathbb{C}{{\mathbb{P}}^1}

Consider the moduli space of parabolic Higgs bundles (E, Φ) of rank two on ??¹ such that the underlying holomorphic vector bundle for the parabolic vector bundle E is trivial. It is equipped with the natural involution defined by $ \left( {E,\varPhi } \right)\mapsto \left( {E,-\varPhi } \right) $ . We study the fixed point locus of this involution. In [GM], this moduli space with involution was identified with the moduli space of hyperpolygons equipped with a certain natural involution. Here we identify the fixed point locus with the moduli spaces of polygons in Minkowski 3-space. This identification yields information on the connected components of the fixed point locus.     

Torus Bundles over Locally Symmetric Varieties Associated to Cocycles of Discrete Groups

 We construct torus bundles over locally symmetric varieties associated to cocycles in the cohomology group , where Γ is a discrete subgroup of a semisimple Lie group and L is a lattice in a real vector space. We prove that such a torus bundle has a canonical complex structure and that the space of holomorphic forms of the highest degree on a fiber product of such bundles is isomorphic to the space of mixed automorphic forms of a certain type. (Received 4 September 1998)     

Smooth models of quiver moduli

For any moduli space of stable representations of quivers, certain smooth varieties, compactifying projective space fibrations over the moduli space, are constructed. The boundary of this compactification is analyzed. Explicit formulas for the Betti numbers of the smooth models are derived. In the case of moduli of simple representations, explicit cell decompositions of the smooth models are constructed.     

Intersection Poincaré Polynomial for Nagaraj–Seshadri moduli space

We compute Betti numbers of both the components of the moduli space of rank 2 semi‐stable torsion‐free sheaves with fixed determinant over a reducible nodal curve with two smooth components intersecting at a node. We also compute the intersection Betti numbers of the moduli space.     

Poisson Structures on Moduli Spaces of Framed Vector Bundles on Surfaces

In this paper we prove that the moduli spaces of framed vector bundles over a surface X, satisfying certain conditions, admit a family of Poisson structures parametrized by the global sections of a certain line bundle on X. This generalizes to the case of framed vector bundles previous results obtained in [B2] for the moduli space of vector bundles over a Poisson surface. As a corollary of this result we prove that the moduli spaces of framed SU(r) – instantons on S⁴ = ℝ⁴ ∪ {∞} admit a natural holomorphic symplectic structure.     

A lower bound on Seshadri constants of hyperplane bundles on threefolds

We give the lower bound on Seshadri constants for the case of very ample line bundles on threefolds. We consider the situation when the Seshadri constant is strictly less than 2 and give a version of Bauer’s theorem (Math Ann 313(3):547–583, 1999, Theorem 2.1) for singular surfaces so we can prove the same result for smooth threefolds.