A hyperelliptic Hodge integral (Q2520536)

The main result of the paper is the computation of a Hodge integral on a compactification \(\overline{\mathcal{W}_g}\) of the moduli space of hyperelliptic curves with one marked Weierstrass point. It measures the weight with which a contracted component of genus \(g\), attached at the Weierstrass point, contributes to the hyperelliptic Gromov-Witten invariants. The theorem is proved by reinterpreting \(\overline{\mathcal{W}_g}\) as a moduli space of stable maps from orbifold curves to the stack \(B(\mathbb{Z}/2\mathbb{Z})\), where the orbifold curves are obtained by quotienting the hyperelliptic curves by their hyperelliptic involutions. The quotients are rational curves, so the invariant is genus \(0\), and can be evaluated via the WDVV equations. The orbifold calculation has an advantage over an equivariant one because it allows to choose a convenient target, \(\mathbb{P}(1,1,2)\), and to apply the algebraic version of the orbifold Gromov-Witten theory due to Abramovich, Graber and Vistoli [\textit{D. Abramovich} et al., Am. J. Math. 130, No. 5, 1337--1398 (2008; Zbl 1193.14070)].