Compactified moduli spaces of rational curves in projective homogeneous varieties (Q1928340)

For a homogeneous projective variety \(X \subset \mathbb{P}^r\) over \(\mathbb{C}\), there exists a well-known moduli space \(\mathbf{R}(X, d)\) of smooth rational curves of degree \(d\) on \(X\). This space is smooth but in general not proper, and the authors investigate the relationship between three natural compactifications of it, all of which have a modular interpretation: (1) The \textit{Hilbert compactification} \(\mathbf{H}(X, d)\) is the closure of \(\mathbf{R}(X,d)\) in the Hilbert scheme \(\text{Hilb}^{dm+1}(X)\) of closed subschemes of \(X\) with Hilbert polynomial \(dm+1\). (2) The \textit{Kontsevich compactification} \(\mathbf{M}(X, d)\) is the closure of \(\mathbf{R}(X, d)\) inside the Kontsevich moduli space \(\mathcal{M}_0(X, d)\) of isomorphism classes of stable maps from a genus \(0\) curve to \(X\) with image of degree \(d\). A curve \(C \subset X\) is identified with the class of its inclusion \(C \hookrightarrow X\). (3) The \textit{Simpson compactification} \(\mathbf{S}(X, d)\) is the closure of \(\mathbf{R}(X, d)\) inside the moduli space of semistable sheaves on \(X\) with Hilbert polynomial \(dm + 1\). Here \(C \subset X\) is identified with its structure sheaf \(\mathcal{O}_C\). The authors prove the following relationships between these spaces: (1) For \(d=1\) all compactifications coincide with the Grassmannian \(\text{Gr}(2, r+1)\). (2) For \(d = 2\) the spaces \(\mathbf{H}(X, 2)\) and \(\mathbf{S}(X, 2)\) still coincide, while \(\mathbf{M}(X, 2)\) is obtained from them as a blow-up followed by a blow-down. More precisely, the blow-up of \(\mathbf{M}(X, 2)\) along the locus of maps with linear image is isomorphic to the blow-up of \(\mathbf{S}(X, 2)\) along the locus of sheaves with linear support. (3) For \(d = 3\) the space \(\mathbf{H}(X, 3)\) is the blow-up of \(\mathbf{S}(X, 3)\) along the locus of sheaves with planar support, while \(\mathbf{M}(X, 3)\) is connected to \(\mathbf{S}(X, 3)\) via a sequence of three weighted blow-ups followed by three weighted blow-downs. The case \(X = \mathbb{P}^r\) was treated before in [\textit{Y. Kiem}, Duke Math. J. 136, No. 3, 585--618 (2007; Zbl 1119.14033)] and [\textit{K. Chung} and \textit{Y. Kiem}, Am. J. Math. 133, No. 3, 797--834 (2011; Zbl 1225.14021)]. The relationship between \(\mathbf{M}(X, d)\) and \(\mathbf{S}(X, d)\) is shown by constructing a birational map between them and explicitly analyzing its exceptional locus. The map \(\mathbf{H}(X, d) \to \mathbf{S}(X, d)\) is easily shown to be an isomorphism for \(d = 2\), while for \(d = 3\) it is obtained as a restriction from the corresponding map \(\mathbf{H}(\mathbb{P}^r, 3) \to \mathbf{S}(\mathbb{P}^r, 3)\). The latter is known to be a blow-up, and the authors show that its center intersects \(\mathbf{S}(X, 3)\) in a nice enough way to conclude that \(\mathbf{H}(X, 3) \to \mathbf{S}(X, 3)\) is also a blow-up. As an application, the authors obtain closed formulas for the Poincaré polynomials of these moduli spaces in case \(X = \text{Gr}(k, n)\) is a Grassmannian by building upon earlier work of \textit{A. López-Martín} [``Poincaré polynomials of stable map spaces to Grassmannians'' (2013), \url{arXiv:1303.2929}].