Degeneracy loci, virtual cycles and nested Hilbert schemes. I (Q2289399)

In this well-written paper, which is part I of II, the authors study degeneracy loci of morphisms of vector bundles on a smooth ambient space which, as they show, give rise to perfect obstruction theories and, hence, their associated virtual cycles. They manage to calculate these virtual cycles via the Thom-Porteous formula. The authors then give various applications of these results to punctual Hilbert schemes of \textit{nested} subschemes of a fixed projective surface \(S\), and discuss some implications for local Donaldson-Thomas theory. More precisely, let \(E_{\bullet} = \{E_0 \overset{\sigma}{\rightarrow} E_1 \}\) be a two-term complex of vector bundles on a smooth ambient space \(A\), let \(n = \operatorname{dim} A\), and let \(r_i = \operatorname{rank}(E_i)\). The \(r\)-th degeneracy locus is defined set-theoretically as \[Z_r = \bigl\{ x \in A \,\colon\, \operatorname{rank}(\sigma|_x) \leq r \bigr\}.\] It is equipped with the scheme structure defined by the vanishing of the \((r+1) \times (r+1)\)-minors of \(\sigma\), i.e., by the vanishing of \(\Lambda^{r+1}\sigma \colon \Lambda^{r+1}E_0 \to \Lambda^{r+1}E_1\). In this paper, the authors restrict their attention to the smallest \(r\) for which \(Z = Z_r\) is non-empty; the general case is treated in the sequel [\textit{A. Gholampour} and \textit{R. P. Thomas}, Compos. Math. 156, No. 8, 1623--1663 (2020; Zbl 1454.14028)]. Their first main result, Theorem 3.6, yields a perfect obstruction theory on \(Z\) and provides an expression for its associated virtual cycle \(\iota_*[Z]^{\textrm{vir}}\) where \(\iota \colon Z \hookrightarrow A\) is the embedding. Let \(S\) be a fixed projective surface, let \(n_1,n_2\) be non-negative integers, and let \(S^{[n_i]}\) denote the Hilbert scheme of zero-dimensional length \(n_i\) closed subschemes of \(S\). The easiest case is the 2-step nested punctual Hilbert scheme, \[S^{[n_1,n_2]} = \bigl\{ I_1 \subseteq I_2 \subseteq \mathcal{O}_S \,\colon\, \operatorname{length}(\mathcal{O}_S / I_i) = n_i \bigr\}.\] It lies in the ambient space \(S^{[n_1]} \times S^{[n_2]}\) as the locus of points \((I_1,I_2)\) for which there is exists a non-zero map \(\mathrm{Hom}_S(I_1,I_2) \neq 0\). Let \(\pi \colon S^{[n_1]} \times S^{[n_2]} \times S \to S^{[n_1]} \times S^{[n_2]}\) be the natural projection, let \(\mathcal{Z}_1, \mathcal{Z}_2\) denote the universal closed subschemes, and let \(\mathcal{I}_1, \mathcal{I}_2\) denote the corresponding universal ideal sheaves. Then \(S^{[n_1,n_2]}\) arises as the degeneracy locus of the complex of vector bundles \[R\mathcal{H}om_{\pi}(\mathcal{I}_1,\mathcal{I}_2) = R\pi_{*}R\mathcal{H}om(\mathcal{I}_1,\mathcal{I}_2)\] over \(S^{[n_1]} \times S^{[n_2]}\). The second main result, Theorem 6.3, states that for any smooth projective surface \(S\), the \(2\)-step nested Hilbert scheme \(S^{[n_1,n_2]}\) carries a natural perfect obstruction theory and virtual cycle \[\bigl[ S^{[n_1,n_2]} \bigr]^{\textrm{vir}} \in A_{n_1+n_2}\bigl( S^{[n_1,n_2]} \bigr)\] whose push-forward to \(S^{[n_1]} \times S^{[,n_2]}\) equals \(c_{n_1+n_2}\bigl( R\mathcal{H}om_{\pi}(\mathcal{I}_1,\mathcal{I}_2[1] \bigr)\) Since Theorem 6.3 expresses \([S^{[n_1,n_2]}]^{\text{vir}}\) as a degeneracy locus, the authors are able to use the splitting principle from topology to give a proof of the following vanishing result of Carlsson and Okounkov [\textit{E. Carlsson} and \textit{A. Okounkov}, Duke Math. J. 161, No. 9, 1797--1815 (2012; Zbl 1256.14010)]: For any smooth projective surface \(S\) we have the vanishing \[c_{n_1+n_2+i}\bigl( R\mathcal{H}om_{\pi}(\mathcal{I}_1,\mathcal{I}_2[1]\bigr) = 0, \qquad i >0, \] over \(S^{[n_1]} \times S^{[n_2]}\). The methods in this work allow the authors to generalise this result in Theorem 8.3, yielding the vanishing \[c_{n_1+n_2+i}\bigl( R\pi_{*}\mathcal{L} - R\mathcal{H}om_{\pi}(\mathcal{I}_1,\mathcal{I}_2 \otimes \mathcal{L}) \bigr) = 0, \qquad i >0, \] over \(S^{[n_1]} \times S^{[n_2]} \times \operatorname{Pic}_{\beta}(S)\). Here \(\beta \in H_2(S,\mathbb{Z})\) is a curve class and \(\mathcal{L} \to S \times \operatorname{Pic}_{\beta}(S)\) is a Poincaré line bundle. The proof relies on a more general notion of nested Hilbert scheme, denoted \(S_{\beta}^{[n_1,n_2]}\) of subschemes \(S \supset Z_1 \supseteq Z_2\) where \(Z_1\) is allowed to be of dimension \(\leq 1\). In the sequel to this paper [\textit{A. Gholampour} and \textit{R. P. Thomas}, Compos. Math. 156, No. 8, 1623--1663 (2020; Zbl 1454.14028)], the authors construct a natural perfect obstruction theory and virtual cycle on \(S_{\beta}^{[n_1,n_2]}\) for any curve class \(\beta\). Throughout the paper, attention is paid to surfaces for which either or both of \(h^{0,1}(S)\) and \(h^{0,2}(S)\) are non-zero, either of which necessitate further consideration. The final section of the paper provides an alternative, more geometric, approach to the virtual cycle construction by incorporating the Jacobian \(\operatorname{Jac}(S)\) directly in case \(h^{0,1}(S) \neq 0\).