Orthogonal bundles on curves and theta functions (Q877524)

Let \(G\) be an almost simple complex Lie group. The paper under review is devoted to the study of certain principal \(G\)-bundles on a curve \(C\) of genus \(g \geq 2\). Let \(\mathcal{M}_G\) be the moduli space of such semi-stable vector bundles. The Picard group of each component \(\mathcal{M}^{\bullet}_G\) of \(\mathcal{M}_G\) is infinite cyclic and let \(\mathcal{L}^{\bullet}\) be the generator. Mainly, the author considers the cases \(G=\text{ SO}_r\) and \(\text{ Sp}_{2r}\) and the rational map \(\varphi_G:\mathcal{M}_G \dashrightarrow | \mathcal{L}^{\bullet}| ^*\) given by global sections of \(\mathcal{L}^{\bullet}\). Let \(J^{g-1}\) be the component of the Picard variety of \(C\) parametrizing line bundles of degree \(g-1\). The first part of the paper is devoted to exploring the relation between \(\varphi_{\text{ SO}_r}\) and degree \(r\) theta functions on \(J^{g-1}\). Let \(\mathcal{M}_{\text{ SO}_r}^{\pm}\) be the two components of \(\mathcal{M}_{\text{ SO}_r}\) and \(| r\Theta| ^{\pm}\) the subspaces of respectively even and odd theta functions. We recall the well-known theta-map \(\theta: {M}_{\text{ SO}_r} \dashrightarrow | r\Theta| \) that associates to an orthogonal bundle \((E,q)\) the divisor \[ \Theta_E:= \{L \in J^{g-1}| H^0(C,E\otimes L)\neq 0\}\in | r\Theta| . \] The main result of this part of the paper is the following: there are canonical isomorphisms \[ | \mathcal{L}^{\pm}_{\text{ SO}_r}| ^* \overset{\sim}{\rightarrow} | r\Theta| ^{\pm} \] which identify \(\varphi_{\text{ SO}_r}^{\pm}: \mathcal{M}_{\text{ SO}_r}^{\pm} \dashrightarrow | \mathcal{L}^{\pm}_{\text{ SO}_r}| ^*\) with the map \(\theta^{\pm}: \mathcal{M}_{\text{ SO}_r}^{\pm} \dashrightarrow | r\Theta| ^{\pm}\) induced by \(\theta\). This is equivalent to showing that the pull-back map \[ \theta^*: H^0(J^{g-1}, \mathcal{O}(r\Theta))^* \rightarrow H^0(\mathcal{M}_{\text{ SO}_r},\mathcal{L}_{\text{ SO}_r}) \] is an isomorphism. The injectivity is proven by restricting to a subvariety of \(\mathcal{M}_{\text{ SO}_r}\) and the surjectivity via the Verlinde formula. In the second section the author considers the same question for the symplectic group \(\text{ Sp}_{2r}\). The main difference is that in this case the theta-map does not involve \(J^{g-1}\) but the moduli space \(\mathcal{N}\) of semistable rank 2 vector bundles on \(C\) with canonical determinant. Let \(\mathcal{L_N}\) be the determinant bundle on \(\mathcal{N}\); then for a general \((E,\sigma)\in \mathcal{M}_{\text{ Sp}_{2r}}\) the reduced subvariety \[ \Delta_E=\{F\in \mathcal{N}| H^0(E\otimes F)\neq 0\} \] is a divisor on \(\mathcal{N}\) that belongs to the linear system \(| \mathcal{L_N}^r| \). This defines a map \(\mathcal{M}_{\text{ Sp}_{2r}} \dashrightarrow | \mathcal{L_N}^r| \). The author conjectures (and can show in some cases) that this map should coincide, up to a canonical isomorphism, with \(\varphi_{\text{ Sp}_{2r}}\).