Birational equivalences of vortex moduli (Q1918442)

Fix integers \(g,r\) and \(d\) with \(g \geq 2\), \(r \geq 2\), \(d > r(2g - 2)\). Let \(E\) be a rank \(r\) holomorphic vector bundle on the compact Riemann surface \(X\) of genus \(g\) with \(\deg (E) = d\), \(s \in H^0 (X,E)\) and \(\tau \in \mathbb{R}\). The pair \((E,s)\) is called \(\tau\)-stable (resp. \(\tau\)-semistable) if for every proper holomorphic subbundle \(F\) of \(E\) \(\deg (F)/ \text{rank} (F) < \tau\) (resp. \(\leq \tau)\) and \(\deg (E/F)/ \text{rank} (E/F) > \tau\) \(\text{(resp.} \geq \tau)\) if \(s \in H^0 (X,F)\). The authors study this notion when \(\tau\) varies, generalizing with different tools previous works of S. B. Bradlow, O. Garcia-Prada and M. Thaddeus. Main Theorem: There is a compact topological space \({\mathbf B}\) whose points corresponds to holomorphic pairs which are \(\tau\)-semistable for at least one \(\tau\) and an open subset \({\mathbf B}_0\) of \({\mathbf B}\) which has a natural structure of Kähler manifold and such that: (i) There is a quasi-free holomorphic and symplectic \(U(1)\)-action on \({\mathbf B}\), i.e. an action with stabilizers either trivial or the whole \(U(1)\); (ii) There is a moment map \(f : {\mathbf B}_0 \to \mathbb{R}\) for this \(U(1)\)-action which extends continuously to \({\mathbf B}\). The critical values of \(f\) are the rational numbers, \(\tau\), with denominators \(\leq r\) at which the notion of \(\tau\)-stability ``jumps''; (iii) The level sets \(f^{-1} (\tau)\) are \(U(1)\)-invariants; at regular values the orbit spaces \(f^{-1} (\tau)/U(1)\) can be identified as Kähler manifolds with the moduli spaces \(B_\tau\) of \(\tau\)-stable bundles; at critical values the orbit spaces corresponds to the equivalence classes of semistable pairs. The authors describe how the moduli spaces \(B_\tau\) change with respect to \(\tau\) (all the \(B_\tau\)'s with \(\tau \in (d/r, d/(r - 1))\) are birational).