Moduli Stacks of Permutation Classes of Pointed Stable Curves

The notion of m/Γ-pointed stable curves is introduced. It should be viewed as a generalization of the notion of m-pointed stable curves of a given genus, where the labels of the marked points are only determined up to the action of a group of permutations Γ. The classical moduli spaces and moduli stacks are generalized to this wider setting. Finally, an explicit construction of the new moduli stack of m/Γ-pointed stable curves as a quotient stack is given. Received: February 2008     

Torsion-Free Sheaves and Moduli of Generalized Spin Curves

This article treats compactifications of the space of generalized spin curves. Generalized spin curves, or r-spin curves, are pairs (X,L) with X a smooth curve and L a line bundle whose rth tensor power is isomorphic to the canonical bundle of X. These are a natural generalization of 2-spin curves (algebraic curves with a theta-characteristic), which have been of interest recently, in part because of their applications to fermionic string theory. Three different compactifications over Z[1/r], all using torsion-free sheaves, are constructed. All three yield algebraic stacks, one of which is shown to have Gorenstein singularities that can be described explicitly, and one of which is smooth. All three compactifications generalize constructions of Deligne and Cornalba done for the case when r=2.     

Moduli of Vector Bundles on Curves in Positive Characteristics

Let X be a projective curve of genus 2 over an algebraically closed field of characteristic 2. The Frobenius map on X induces a rational map on the moduli scheme of rank-2 bundles. We show that up to isomorphism, there is only one (up to tensoring by an order two line bundle) semi-stable vector bundle of rank 2 (with determinant equal to a theta characteristic) whose Frobenius pull-back is not semi-stable. The indeterminacy of the Frobenius map at this point can be resolved by introducing Higgs bundles.     

Real Quotient Singularities and Nonsingular Real Algebraic Curves in the Boundary of the Moduli Space

The quotient of a real analytic manifold by a properly discontinuous group action is, in general, only a semianalytic variety. We study the boundary of such a quotient, i.e., the set of points at which the quotient is not analytic. We apply the results to the moduli space M_g/ of nonsingular real algebraic curves of genus g (g2). This moduli space has a natural structure of a semianalytic variety. We determine the dimension of the boundary of any connected component of M_g/. It turns out that every connected component has a nonempty boundary. In particular, no connected component of M_g/ is real analytic. We conclude that M_g/ is not a real analytic variety.     

The Moduli Space of Six-Dimensional Two-Step Nilpotent Lie Algebras

We determine the moduli space of metric two-step nilpotent Lie algebras of dimension up to 6. This space is homeomorphic to a cone over a four-dimensional contractible simplicial complex. Moreover, we exhibit standard metric representatives of the seven isomorphism types of six-dimensional two-step nilpotent Lie algebras within our picture. Mathematics Subject Classifications (2000): Primary 22E25, 53C30, 22E60     

Moduli Problems of Sheaves Associated with Oriented Trees

To every oriented tree we associate vector bundle problems. We define semistability concepts for these vector bundle problems and establish the existence of moduli spaces. As an important application, we obtain an algebraic construction of the moduli space of holomorphic triples.     

A Combinatorial Characterization of Hermitian Curves

A unital U with parameter q is a 2 – (q ³ + 1, q + 1, 1) design. If a point set U in PG(2, q ²) together with its (q + 1)-secants forms a unital, then U is called a Hermitian arc. Through each point p of a Hermitian arc H there is exactly one line L having with H only the point p in common; this line L is called the tangent of H at p. For any prime power q, the absolute points and nonabsolute lines of a unitary polarity of PG(2, q ²) form a unital that is called the classical unital. The points of a classical unital are the points of a Hermitian curve in PG(2, q ²).Let H be a Hermitian arc in the projective plane PG(2, q ²). If tangents of H at collinear points of H are concurrent, then H is a Hermitian curve. This result proves a well known conjecture on Hermitian arcs.     

A Formula for the Number of Elliptic Curves with Exceptional Primes

We prove a conjecture of Duke on the number of elliptic curves over the rationals of bounded height which have exceptional primes.     

Geometry of families of nodal curves on the blown-up projective plane

Let be the projective plane blown up at generic points. Denote by the strict transform of a generic straight line on and the exceptional divisors of the blown-up points on respectively. We consider the variety of all irreducible curves in with nodes as the only singularities and give asymptotically nearly optimal sufficient conditions for its smoothness, irreducibility and non-emptiness. Moreover, we extend our conditions for the smoothness and the irreducibility to families of reducible curves. For we give the complete answer concerning the existence of nodal curves in .

     

Nef Divisors in Codimension One on the Moduli Space of Stable Curves

Let M _g be the moduli space of smooth curves of genus g 3, and M¯ _g the Deligne-Mumford compactification in terms of stable curves. Let M¯ _g ^[1] be an open set of M¯ _g consisting of stable curves of genus g with one node at most. In this paper, we determine the necessary and sufficient condition to guarantee that a -divisor D on M¯ _g is nef over M¯ _g ^[1], that is, (D · C) 0 for all irreducible curves C on M¯ _g with C M¯ _g ^[1] .     

Galois Covers of Moduli of Curves

Moduli spaces of pointed curves with some level structure are studied. We prove that for so-called geometric level structures, the levels encountered in the boundary are smooth if the ambient variety is smooth, and in some cases we can describe them explicitly. The smoothness implies that the moduli space of pointed curves (over any field) admits a smooth finite Galois cover. Finally, we prove that some of these moduli spaces are simply connected.     

Principal Normal Indicatrices of Closed Space Curves

A theorem due to J. Weiner, which is also proven by B. Solomon, implies that a principal normal indicatrix of a closed space curve with nonvanishing curvature has integrated geodesic curvature zero and contains no subarc with integrated geodesic curvature . We prove that the inverse problem always has solutions if one allows zero and negative curvature of space curves and explain why this not is true if nonvanishing curvature is required. This answers affirmatively an open question asked by W. Fenchel in 1950 under the above assumptions but in general this question is found to be answered to the negative.     

On the Motive of Moduli Spaces of Rank Two Vector Bundles over a Curve

We study the motive of the moduli spaces of rank two vector bundles on a curve. In the smooth case we obtain the Hodge numbers, intermediate Jacobians and number of points over a finite field as corollaries. In the singular case our computations yield the Poincaré–Hodge polynomial of Seshadri's smooth model.     

Moduli of Quaternionic Superminimal Immersions of 2-Spheres into Quaternionic Projective Spaces

The aim of this paper is to describe the moduli spaces of degree d quaternionic superminimal maps from 2-spheres to quaternionic projective spaces HPn. We show that such moduli spaces have the structure of projectivized fibre products and are connected quasi-projective varieties of dimension 2nd + 2n + 2. This generalizes known results for spaces of harmonic 2-spheres in S⁴.     

The Moduli Space of Real Abelian Varieties with Level Structure

The moduli space of principally polarized Abelian varieties with real structure and with level N = 4m structure (with m1) is shown to coincide with the set of real points of a quasi-projective algebraic variety defined over , and to consist of finitely many copies of the quotient of the space GL(n, )/O(N) (of positive definite symmetric matrices) by the principal congruence subgroup of level N in GL(n, ).     

Hypergeometric Functions Related to Schur Q-Polynomials and the BKP Equation

We introduce hypergeometric functions related to projective Schur functions Q and describe their properties. Linear equations, integral representations, and Pfaffian representations are obtained. These hypergeometric functions are vacuum expectations of free fermion fields and are therefore tau functions of the so-called BKP hierarchy of integrable equations.     

Geometry of Holomorphic Distributions of Real Hypersurfaces in a Complex Projective Space

We characterize homogeneous real hypersurfaces M's of type (A ₁), (A ₂) and (B) of a complex projective space in the class of real hypersurfaces by studying the holomorphic distribution T ⁰ M of M.