Principal bundles on metric graphs: the \(\operatorname{GL}_n\) case (Q2105744)

The main object of this paper is to propose a tropical analogue of a principal \(G\)-bundle on a metric graph, focussing on the case \(G=\operatorname{GL}_n\), in other words, the case of vector bundles. The theory of divisors, or equivalently line bundles, on metric graphs is well developed. In this context, there are analogues, for example, of the Riemann-Roch theorem and the Brill-Noether theorem (including versions with gonality conditions). These give rise, in particular, to applications to classical Brill-Noether theory and the birational geometry of moduli spaces. In this paper, the authors initiate work on extending this theory to higher rank, namely vector bundles. Let \(\Gamma\) be a metric graph and let \({\mathcal H}_\Gamma\) be the sheaf of real-valued harmonic functions with integer slopes on \(\Gamma\). A vector bundle of rank \(n\) on \(\Gamma\) may then be defined to be a \(S_n\ltimes{\mathcal H}_\Gamma^n\)-torsor. Isomorphism classes of vector bundles can be described as linear equivalence classes of so-called multidivisors on \(\Gamma\), a notion inspired by Weil's matrix divisors, introduced in the classical paper [\textit{A. Weil}, J. Math. Pures Appl. (9) 17, 47--87 (1938; Zbl 0018.06302)]. Weil generalised, in particular, the classical Riemann-Roch theorem to vector bundles on a compact Riemann surface. The authors' first main result (Theorem A/4.3) is a tropical version of this involving a generalisation of the Baker-Norine rank \(r_\Gamma\). More precisely, let \(E\) be a vector bundle of rank \(n\) on a compact connected metric graph \(\Gamma\) of genus \(g\) and let \(\omega_\Gamma\) be the line bundle associated with the canonical divisor \(K_\Gamma\). Then \[ r_\Gamma(E)-r_\Gamma(E^*\otimes\omega_\Gamma)=\deg E-n(g-1). \] The proof involves multidivisors and the Riemann-Hurwitz formula to deduce the result from the rank \(1\) Riemann-Roch theorem. Next, the authors obtain a tropical version of the Narasimhan-Seshadri correspondence, which is also built on the ideas of Weil. The vector bundles arising from the subsheaf \(S_n\ltimes{\mathbb R}^n\) of \(S_n\ltimes{\mathcal H}_\Gamma^n\) of locally constant functions are semistable. Let \(\lambda\) be a local system on \(\Gamma\) with fibre \(S_n\ltimes{\mathbb R}^n\). This gives rise to a cover \(f:\widetilde{\Gamma}\to\Gamma\) of degree \(n\) and a local system \(\widetilde{\lambda}\) with fibre \({\mathbb R}\) such that \(f_*\widetilde{\lambda}=\lambda\), and also defines a vector bundle \(E(\lambda)\) with constant transition maps. Let \(\Gamma\) be a compact connected metric graph. Then (Theorem B/5.4), a vector bundle \(E\) on \(\Gamma\) has the form \(E(\lambda)\) for some \(\lambda\) if and only if it is semistable of degree \(0\). Moreover, \(E(\lambda)\) is stable if and only if the corresponding \(S_n\)-representation of \(\pi_1(\Gamma)\) is indecomposable. Two local systems \(\lambda_i\) (\(i=1,2\)) give rise to the same vector bundle if and only if they define the same cover \(f\) and the induced classes of the \(\widetilde{\lambda}_i\) in \(\operatorname{Jac}(\Gamma)\) are equal. In contrast to vector bundles on algebraic curves, the authors' approach to vector bundles on metric graphs is independent of any kind of base field. One cannot therefore expect there to be a natural tropicalization of arbitrary algebraic bundles to tropical bundles in the sense defined here. Indeed, the moduli space of rank \(n\) vector bundles on a metric graph has dimension \(n(g-1)+1\), while the (non-stacky) dimension of the moduli spaces of vector bundles of rank \(n\) on an algebraic curve is \(n^2(g-1)+1\). For any algebraic curve, it therefore makes sense to consider the vector bundles which are linearized with respect to the \(n\)-dimensional subgroup \(S_n\ltimes{\mathbb G}_m^n\subset\operatorname{GL}_n\) of generalized permutation matrices. Now let \(K\) denote an algebraically closed field that is complete with respect to a non-trivial non-Archimedean valuation, and let \(R\) denote the valuation ring. A Mumford curve is then an irreducible smooth projective curve over \(K\) which admits a prestable reduction \({\mathcal X}\) whose special fibre is a nodal curve, all of whose components normaiize to \({\mathbb P}^1\). A vector bundle \(E\) on \(X\) is \(S_n\ltimes{\mathbb G}_m^n\)-linearized if and only if there exists an étale cover \(f:\widetilde{X}\to X\) and a line bundle \(L\) on \(\widetilde{X}\) such that \(f_*L\cong E\). Denote by \(\operatorname{Bun}_{S_n\ltimes{\mathbb G}_m^n}(X)\) the moduli stack of \(S_n\ltimes{\mathbb G}_m^n\)-linearized vector bundles on \(X\) and by \(\operatorname{Bun}_{S_n\ltimes{\mathbb G}_m^n}^{\mathrm{free}}(X)\) the open substack of freely \(S_n\ltimes{\mathbb G}_m^n\)-linearized bundles, that is, those bundles for which the cover \(f\) is induced from an étale cover of \({\mathcal X}\). Let \(\Gamma_X\) be a non-Archimedean skeleton of the Berkovich analytic space \(X^{\mathrm{an}}\) that is associated to a prestable model \({\mathcal X}\) of \(X\) over \(R\). There is a natural tropicalization map \[ \operatorname{trop}:\operatorname{Bun}_{S_n\ltimes{\mathbb G}_m^n}^{\mathrm{free}}(X)^{\mathrm{an}}\longrightarrow\operatorname{Bun}_n(\Gamma_X) \] and a natural deformation retraction map \[ \rho:\operatorname{Bun}_{S_n\ltimes{\mathbb G}_m^n}^{\mathrm{free}}(X)^{\mathrm{an}}\longrightarrow\Sigma\big(\operatorname{Bun}_{S_n\ltimes{\mathbb G}_m^n}^{\mathrm{free}}(X)\big) \] onto a non-Archimedean skeleton of \(\operatorname{Bun}_{S_n\ltimes{\mathbb G}_m^n}^{\mathrm{free}}(X)\). Then (Theorem C/6.2), there is a natural isomorphism \(J:\operatorname{Bun}_n(\Gamma_X)\rightarrow\Sigma\big(\operatorname{Bun}_{S_n\ltimes{\mathbb G}_m^n}^{\mathrm{free}}(X)\big)\) such that \(J\circ\operatorname{trop}=\rho\). For the final theorem (Theorem D/7.5), suppose that \(K\) has characteristic \(0\) and let \(X\) be a Tate curve, that is, a smooth projective curve over \(K\) of genus \(1\) for which \(\operatorname{val}(j(X))<0\). In particular, \(X\) admits a semistable model \({\mathcal X}\) over \(R\), whose special fibre is a circle of projective lines. For \(n\ge1\) and \(d\in{\mathbb Z}\), write \(h=\gcd(n,d)\) and denote by \(M_{n,d}(X)\) the moduli space of semistable bundles on \(X\) of rank \(n\) and degree \(d\). There exists an isomorphism \(M_{n,d}(X)^{\mathrm{an}}\to\operatorname{Sym}^hX^{\mathrm{an}}\). Let \(M^{\mathrm{main}}_{n,d}(\Gamma_X)\) be the component of \(M_{n,d}(\Gamma_X)\) parametrizing semistable bundles which are direct sums of \(h\) stable bundles (in the algebriac context, these are usually called polystable). Then there is a natural isomorphism \(M^{\mathrm{main}}_{n,d}(\Gamma_X)\to\operatorname{Sym}^h(\Gamma_X)\). The theorem states that these isomorphisms are compatible with tropicalization. There are some complements to Theorem D. For elliptic curves, the only interesting Brill-Noether loci are those for \(d=0\). The authors show that, for Tate curves, these are compatible with tropicalization (Proposition 7.7), and that the same holds for generalized \(\Theta\)-divisors (Proposition 7.10). They note also (in the introduction) that an argument analogous to that used to prove Theorem D provides a non-Archimedean SYZ-fibration for the moduli of semistable Higgs bundles on a Tate curve. Following an extensive introduction describing the main results and their context, the authors discuss line bundles on metric graphs in Section 1. Section 2 is concerned with principal bundles and vector bundles on metric graphs. Vector bundles and multidivisors are the subject of Section 3. In Section 4, the Baker-Norine rank is introduced and Theorem A is proved. Theorem B is proved in Section 5. Section 6 is concerned with the process of tropicalization and includes a proof of Theorem C. Section 7 includes a description of Atiyah's results for bundles on elliptic curves and continues with a discussion of tropicalization for Tate curves, the proof of Theorem D and some complements.