Andreotti-Mayer loci and the Schottky problem (Q936129): Difference between revisions

The Schottky problem in complex algebraic geometry is the problem of characterizing the Jacobians of smooth algebraic curves among all principally polarized abelian varieties. Posed by F. Schottky in 1888, back then in the classical context of abelian functions, this problem was to become one of the long-standing open questions in mathematics during the entire 20th century, and a complete (algebraic) solution to it has yet to be found, despite the various ingenious approaches to the Schottky problem developed over the past 100 years. After the first promising attempt by \textit{F. Schottky} and \textit{H. Jung} [Berl. Ber. 1909, 282--297, 732--750 (1909; JFM 40.0489.03)] to tackle the problem by using the idea of Prym varieties, the historically second approach was proposed, almost 60 years later, by \textit{A. Andreotti} and \textit{A. L. Mayer} [Ann. Sc. Norm. Super. Pisa, Sci. Fis. Mat., III. Ser. 21, 189--238 (1967; Zbl 0222.14024)], whose basic idea was to exploit the fact that the theta divisor of a Jacobian variety has a singular locus of low codimension. More precisely, the Jacobian of a canonical (resp. hyperelliptic) curve of genus \(g\geq 3\) comes with a polarizing theta divisor such that \(\dim(\text{Sing}(\Theta))= g-4\) (resp. \(g- 3\)), which basically follows from Riemann's singularity theorem. Andreotti and Mayer introduced the loci \(N_{g,k}\) (within the moduli space \(A_g\) of principally polarized abelian varieties) of those points \((X,\Theta_X)\) with \(\dim(\text{Sing}(\Theta_X))\geq k\) and they proved then that the Jacobian locus \(J_g\) (resp. the hyperelliptic locus \(H_g\)) appears as an irreducible component of \(N_{g,g-4}\) (resp. \(N_{g,g-3}\)). However, in general these Andreotti-Mayer loci are not irreducible, and therefore the Andreotti-Mayer condition \(\dim(\text{Sing}(\Theta_X))= g- 4\) (resp, \(g- 3\)) is too weak for a complete characterization of Jacobians it purely algebro-geometric terms. Moreover, not much is known about the geometry of the Andreotti-Mayer loci \(N_{g,k}\). As for detailed surveys on the various approaches to the Schottky problem and their interrelations, it is recommended to study the excellent reports given by \textit{R. Donagi} [The Schottky problem. Lect. Notes Mat. 1337, 84--137 (1988; Zbl 0676.14008)] and by \textit{O. Debarre} [The Schottky problem: An update. Cambridge University Press. Math. Sci. Res. Inst. Publ. 28, 57--64 (1995; Zbl 0847.14015)]. In the paper under review, the authors return to the meanwhile classical Andreotti-Mayer approach. Their aim is to provide some more knowledge concerning the geometry of the Andreotti-Mayer loci \(N_{g,k}\), in particular with a view to their codimension. Working with the special compactification \(\widetilde A_g\) of \(A_g\) via \(g\)-dimensional semi-abelian varieties, the so-called Voronoi compactification (à la Y. Namikawa, I. Nakamura, and V. Alexeev), the authors derive explicit estimates for the codimension of the irreducible components of \(N_{g,k}\). Although these estimates are in general not sharp their proofs transpire some evidence for conjectural sharp codimension formulas. The authors' fine anlysis is largely based on the study of the behaviour of the Andreotti-Mayer loci at the boundary of the compactified moduli space \(\widetilde A_g\), which leads to new characteristic loci \(N_k(B,\Xi)\) in principally polarized abelian varieties \((B,\Xi)\) of dimension \(g-1\) that deserve further study in their own right. Also, the authors' show that their conjectural codimension formulas for the Andreotti-Mayer loci \(N_{g,k}\) lead to a new, just as conjectural answer to the Schottky problem for simple abelian varieties. Finally, the special case of \(k= 1\) is completely settled in the last section of the present paper. Containing a wealth of refined and new results in regard to the Andreotti-Mayer approach to the Schottky problem, this utmost important and comprehensive work must be seen as another milestone in this direction.