Root lattices and pencils of varieties (Q2565394)

In this paper a particular pencil of K3 surfaces is investigated. The Picard-Fuchs equation, solutions, and the monodromy group are found. \textit{J. Stienstra} and \textit{F. Beukers} [Math. Ann. 271, 269-304 (1985; Zbl 0539.14006)] gave the Picard-Fuchs equations for several families of elliptic curves. Similar methods are also used by \textit{C. Peters} in Ann. Sci. Éc. Norm. Supér., IV. Ser. 19, 583-607 (1986; Zbl 0612.14006) and by \textit{C. Peters} and \textit{J. Stienstra} in: Arithmetic of complex manifolds, Proc. Conf., Erlangen 1988, Lect. Notes Math. 1399, 110-127 (1989; Zbl 0701.14037) to obtain the Picard-Fuchs equation for the case of certain pencils of K3 surfaces. In these papers finding the Picard-Fuchs equation comes down to finding a recurrence relation for some sequence of combinatorially defined terms. In these examples, the symmetry of the defining equations of the varieties leads to the determination of the Picard-Fuchs equations from the combinatorial data. This gives motivation to try and find further examples, by considering other pencils of varieties with a good degree of symmetry. The pencil of K3 surfaces investigated by \textit{C. Peters} and \textit{J. Stienstra} (loc. cit.) is acted on by the Weyl group of the root lattice \(A_1\times A_2\times A_1\), and the pencil can be viewed as being constructed from this lattice. This construction is described in section 2, for a general root lattice. In this paper, the \(A_3\) case is investigated. The corresponding pencil of K3 surfaces is denoted by \({\mathcal X}_{A_3}\). To find the Picard-Fuchs equation for \({\mathcal X}_{A_3}\), one has to find a recurrence relation for \(a_n= \sum_{p+q+ r+s=n} {n\choose qprs}^2\), where \({n\choose pqrs}= {n!\over p!q!r!s!}\). The following result is obtained: Proposition. For \(n\geq 2\) there is a recurrence relation: \[ n^3a_n = 2(2n-1) (5n^2-5n+2) a_{n-1}- 64(n-1)^3 a_{n-2}. \] This recurrence relation is one of the keys to proving the following Theorem 1. The Picard-Fuchs equation for the family \({\mathcal X}_{A_3} \) is given by \[ {\mathcal F}:= \lambda (\lambda+4) (\lambda-12)y'''+ 6(\lambda^2- 7\lambda-12)y''+ {(7\lambda^2 -12 \lambda-96) \over(\lambda+4)} y'+{\lambda \over \lambda+4} y=0. \] Theorem 2. The monodromy group for \({\mathcal X}_{A_3}\) is isomorphic to \(\overline {\Gamma_0 (6)^+3}\). The group \(\Gamma_0(6)^+3\) is one of the groups associated to the Monster group, explicitly, \[ \Gamma_0(6)^+ 3=\Bigl\{\left( \begin{smallmatrix} a & b\\ 6c & d \end{smallmatrix} \right),\quad \sqrt 3\left( \begin{smallmatrix} a & b/3\\ 2c & d \end{smallmatrix} \right)\in SL_2 (\mathbb{R})|\quad a,b,c,d\in \mathbb{Z}\Bigr\}. \] The group \(\overline {\Gamma_0 (6)^+3}\) is the image of \(\Gamma_0 (6)^+3\) after quotienting out by scalars. Finally the solutions of the above Picard-Fuchs equation are given: Theorem 3. If \(\lambda= \lambda(\tau)= -\left({\eta (\tau)\eta (3\tau) \over\eta (2\tau) \eta(6\tau)} \right)^6-4\), where \(\eta\) is the Dedekind eta function, then the Picard-Fuchs equation for \({\mathcal X}_{A_3} \) has solution space \(G(\tau) (\mathbb{C} \oplus\tau \mathbb{C}\oplus \tau^2\mathbb{C})\) where \(G(\tau)= {(\eta (2\tau) \eta(6\tau))^4 \over(\eta (\tau)\eta (3\tau))^2}\). Although this paper only deals with the \(A_3\) case, it is shown in section 2 that the \(A_n\) case gives an \(n-1\) dimensional pencil of Calabi-Yau manifolds. In the \(A_4\) case, we obtain a pencil of Calabi-Yau 3-folds.