The first Chern form on moduli of parabolic bundles (Q2480875)

This paper is a sequel to a much earlier paper of the same authors [Math. USSR, Izv. 35, No. 1, 83--100 (1990); translation from Izv. Akad. Nauk SSSR, Ser. Mat. 53, No. 4, 753--770 (1989; Zbl 0715.53048)] and uses similar methods. Let \(X\) be a compact Riemann surface of genus \(g\) and \(P_1,\ldots,P_n\) points of \(X\). Let \({\mathcal N}\) denote the moduli space of stable parabolic bundles of rank \(k\) with parabolic structures of given weights and multiplicities at \(P_1,\ldots,P_n\) and parabolic degree \(0\). In Theorem 1, the authors derive an explicit formula for the first Chern form of the canonical line bundle \(\lambda:=\det T^*{\mathcal N}\) with respect to Quillen's metric \(\| \cdot\| _Q\), namely \(c_1(\lambda,\| \cdot\| _Q)=-{1\over2\pi^2}\widetilde{\Omega}+\delta\), where \(\widetilde{\Omega}\) is the Kähler form on \({\mathcal N}\) and \(\delta\) is a quantity called the cuspidal defect, dependent on the parabolic weights and the curvature forms of certain natural line bundles on \({\mathcal N}\) associated to special values of the Eisenstein-Maass series. This formula can be interpreted as a local index theorem and in Atiyah-Singer form it can be written as \(c_1(\lambda,\| \cdot\| _Q)=\pi_*(\text{ ch}_2({\mathcal E},h_{\mathcal E}))+\delta\), where \(\text{ ch}_2({\mathcal E},h_{\mathcal E})\) is the \((2,2)\)-component of the Chern character form of the universal endomorphism bundle \({\mathcal E}\) with respect to a certain metric \(h_{\mathcal E}\). From the first version of the theorem, one can derive a formula for the symplectic volume of \({\mathcal N}\). For the case of rank \(2\) bundles, this can be compared with Formula 3.18 of \textit{E. Witten} [Commun. Math. Phys. 141, No.1, 153--209 (1991; Zbl 0762.53063)]. In particular, when \(g=1\) and there is a single marked point, the formula reads \(\text{ Vol}\,\,{\mathcal N}=2\pi^2(1-2\alpha)\), where \(\alpha\) is the parabolic weight at the marked point.