Masur-Veech volumes and intersection theory: the principal strata of quadratic differentials. With an appendix by Gaëtan Borot, Alessandro Giacchetto and Danilo Lewanski (Q6172244)

\textit{D. Chen} et al. computed the Masur-Veech volume of the moduli space of abelian differentials with fixed distribution of zeros on Riemann surfaces of genus \(g\) [Invent. Math. 222, 283--373 (2020; Zbl 1446.14015)]. Here the authors conjecture a formula for Masur-Veech volumes of the moduli space of quadratic differentials with fixed distribution of zeros on Riemann surfaces of genus \(g\). In more detail, let \((\mu,\nu)\) be an integer partition of \(4g-4\) where \(\mu = (2 m_i)^{r}_{i=1}\) are the even parts and \(\nu = (2 n_j - 1)^s_{j=1}\) are the odd parts and let \(\mathcal Q_{g,r+s} (\mu,\nu)\) be the moduli space parametrizing quadratic differentials \(q\) on Riemann surfaces of genus \(g\) for which \(q\) has \(r\) even-order zeros of type \(\mu\) and \(s\) odd-order zeros of type \(\nu\). Considering the differential up to scaling gives the projectivization \(\mathbb P \mathcal Q_{g,r+s} (\mu,\nu)\) and one can further consider the closure \(\mathbb P \overline{\mathcal Q}_{g,r+s} (\mu,\nu)\) in the incidence variety compactification constructed by \textit{M. Bainbridge} et al. [Algebr. Geom. 6, 196--233 (2019; Zbl 1440.14148)]. Let \(\zeta = c_1 (\mathcal O (1))\) and let \(\psi_i\) denote the cotangent line bundle class on \(\overline{\mathcal M}_{g,n}\) associated with the \(i\)th marked point along with its pullbacks to \(\mathbb P \overline{\mathcal Q}_{g,r+s} (\mu,\nu)\). The authors conjecture the Masur-Veech volume formula \[ \mathrm{vol}(\mathcal Q_{g,r+s} (\mu,\nu)) = \frac{2^{r-s+3} (2 \pi i)^{2g-2+s}}{(2g-3+r+s)!} \int_{\mathbb P \overline{\mathcal Q}_{g,r+s} (\mu,\nu)} \zeta^{2g+s-3} \psi_1, \dots \psi_r \] where \(\psi_i\) are associated with the \(r\) even-order zeros. For \(r=0\) the situation is similar to the case of the minimal strata \(\mathcal H (2g-2)\) of abelian differentials studied by \textit{A. Sauvaget} [Geom. Funct. Anal. 28, 1756--1799 (2018; Zbl 1404.14035)] and thus the authors prove the conjecture in this case. Combining with work of \textit{A. Chiodo} [Compos. Math. 144, 1461--1496 (2008; Zbl 1166.14018)] and \textit{D. Mumford} [Prog. Math. 36, 271--328 (1983; Zbl 0554.14008)], they arrive at a formula for the volume of principal strata of quadratic differentials (those with simples poles and zeros) in terms of the \(\psi_i\) and the top Segre class of the quadratic Hodge bundle on \(\overline{\mathcal M}_{g,k}\). The appendix of Borot, Giacchetto and Lewanski shows how to compute this Segre class by a topological recursion. One consequence is an asympototic growth formula conjectured by \textit{J. E. Andersen} et al. [J. Lond. Math. Soc. 107, 254--332 (2023; Zbl 07730992)], which is especially nice when \(g=1\). The second half of the paper gives applications to Lyaponov exponents and Siegel-Veech constants, proving conjectures due to Grivaux and Hubert and \textit{C. Fougeron} [Math. Res. Lett. 25, No. 4, 1213--1225 (2018; Zbl 1412.37044)]. They conjecture formulas for area Siegal-Veech constants and sums of Lyaponov exponents for general affine invariants submanifolds and prove them for the principal strata. The authors hope to prove the conjecture for all \(r > 0\) in the future.