Lefschetz fibrations and the Hodge bundle (Q1299555)

Let \(X\) be a smooth 4-manifold. A Lefschetz fibration of \(X\) is a surjection \(f\) to \(\mathbb{P}^1\) which is a submersion on the complement of finitely many points \(\{p_i\}\) in distinct fibres, at which there are local complex coordiantes with respect to which the map takes the form \(f:(z_1,z_2)\to z_1^2+ z_2^2\). The existence of a Lefschetz fibration garantees that \(X\) (integral manifold) is a symplectic 4-manifold whose topology is determined by a monodromy homomorphism \(\pi_1(\mathbb{P}^1- \{f(p_i)\})\to \Gamma_g\), where \(\Gamma_g\) denotes the mapping class group of a closed oriented genus \(g\) surface. Integral, symplectic 4-manifolds admit Lefschetz fibrations which are equivalent to isotopy classes of maps from a 2-sphere to the moduli space of stable curves \(\overline{M}_g\). The author shows that for any symplectic Lefschetz fibration \(f:X\to S^2\) inducing \(\phi_f: S^2\to \overline{M}_g\), the Weil-Petersson form \(\omega_{WP}\) is positive on the sphere, i.e., \(\langle [\omega_{WP}], [\phi_f(S^2)]\rangle >0\). He also proves the formula for the signature of any Lefschetz fibration in terms of the second cohomology of the moduli space of stable curves, and discusses some applications and more general results for genus two fibrations.