The monodromy groups of Dolgachev's CY moduli spaces are Zariski dense (Q488978)

This paper is concerned with a conjecture of Dolgachev which is formulated as follows. Conjecture. The period space of a family of CY \(n\)-folds which is obtained by a resolution of double covers of \(\mathbb{P}^n\) branched along \(2n+2\) hyperplanes in general position is the complement of a \(\Gamma =\mathrm{GL}(2n,\mathbb{Z}[i])\)-automorphic form on the type \(A\) tube domain \(D_{n,m}^I\). In fact, this paper disproves the above conjecture of Dolgachev. The proof is Hodge theoretic. Let \({\mathcal{M}}_{\mathrm{AR}}\) denote the coarse moduli space of ordered \(2n+2\) hyperplane arrangements in general position, and let \(\tilde{f}: {\mathcal{X}}_{\mathrm{AR}}\to {\mathcal{M}}_{\mathrm{AR}}\) be the family of CY manifolds which is obtained by a resolution of double covers of \(\mathbb{P}^n\) branched along \(2n+2\) hyperplanes in general position. This family gives a weight \(n\) \(\mathbb{Q}\)-PVHS: \(\tilde{V}_{\mathrm{AR}} =(R^n\tilde{f}_*\mathbb{Q})_{\mathrm{pr}}\) over \({\mathcal{M}}_{\mathrm{AR}}\). Let \(\mathbb{V}_{\mathrm{can}}\) be the canonical \(\mathbb{C}\)-PVHS over the type A tube domain \(D_{n,n}^I\). Here we use the notation PVHS for the canonical polarized variation of Hodge structure over a tube domain. Theorem. If \(n\geq 3\), \(\tilde{V}_{\mathrm{AR}}\) does not factor through \(V_{\mathrm{can}}\). Building on the theorem, the monodromy group pf \(\tilde{V}_{\mathrm{AR}}\) is actually shown to be Zariski dense. Let \({\mathcal{M}}_{n,2n+2}\) be the coarse moduli space of CY manifolds arising from a crepant resolution of double covers of \(\mathbb{P}^n\) branched along \(2n+2\) hyperplanes in general position. It is shown that the monodromy group of a good family for \({\mathcal{M}}_{n,2n+2}\) is Zariski dense in the corresponding symplectic or orthogonal group if \(n\geq 3\). In particular, the period map does not give a uniformization of any partial compactification of the coarse moduli space as a Shimura variety whenever \(n\geq 3\). As a consequence, the fundamental group of the coarse moduli space of \(m\) ordered points in \(\mathbb{P}^n\) is shown to be large once it is not a point. Similar Zariski-density result is obtained for moduli spaces of CY manifolds arising from cyclic covers of \(\mathbb{P}^n\) branched along \(m\) hyperplanes in general position. A classification towards the geometric realization problem of \textit{B. H. Gross} [Math. Res. Lett. 1, No. 1, 1--9 (1994; Zbl 0873.32032)], for type A bounded symmetric domains is given.