GL Verlinde numbers and the Grassmann TQFT (Q973680)

The paper under review gives an exposition of the \(2-\)dimensional Topological Quantum Field Theory (TQFT) which captures the structure of the Verlinde numbers associated to moduli spaces of bundles with varying determinant. Let \(C\) be a smooth projective complex curve of genus \(g\). An important geometric object to consider over \(C\) is the moduli space of parabolic vector bundles of rank \(r\) and degree \(d\). Let \(I\) be a finite set of distinct points on \(C\), and for every \(p\in I\) consider a partition \(\lambda_{p}\), i. e. an element in the set \(\mathcal{P}_{r,k}\) of Young diagrams with at most \(r\) rows and at most \(k\) columns. A parabolic vector bundle of type \(\underline{\lambda}:=\{\lambda_{p}\}_{p\in I}\) is a rank \(r\) vector bundle of degree \(d\) on \(C\) such that at each point \(p\in I\) it has a flag of type described by \(\lambda_{p}\). The family of semistable parabolic vector bundles of type \(\underline{\lambda}\) admits a moduli space \(U_{C}(r,d,\underline{\lambda})\). A particular case is when \(\lambda\) is trivial, getting the moduli space \(U_{C}(r,d)\) of semistable bundles of rank \(r\) and degree \(d\) on \(C\). On \(U_{C}(r,d,\underline{\lambda})\) there is a distinguished line bundle \(\mathcal{L}_{\underline{\lambda}}\) (whose construction is similar to the one of the theta divisor on \(U_{C}(r,d)\)), which has no higher cohomology. The Verlinde number of rank \(r\) and level \(k\) for \(U_{C}(r,g,\underline{\lambda})\) is defined as \(V^{r,k}_{g,d}(\underline{\lambda}):=h^{0}(U_{C}(r,d,\underline{\lambda}),\mathcal{L}_{\underline{\lambda}}\otimes det^{*}(\Theta_{1}))\), where \(\Theta_{1}\) is the theta divisor on \(Jac(C)\), and \(det:U_{C}(r,d,\underline{\lambda})\longrightarrow Jac(C)\) is the morphism sending a sheaf to its determinant. All these constructions are recalled in sections 3 and 4. The Verlinde numbers are strictly related to the intersection theory on the space \(Mor_{d}(C,\mathbb{G}(r,k+r))\) of degree \(d\) morphisms from the curve \(C\) to the Grassmannian \(\mathbb{G}(r,r+k)\) of \(r-\)planes in \(\mathbb{C}^{r+k}\). This is recalled in section 5.1 Moreover, the Verlinde numbers can be viewed as the closed invariants of a \(2-\)dimensional complex-valued TQFT, i. e. a symmetric monoidal functor \(F\) from the category of \(1-\)dimensional compact oriented manifolds (with morphisms given by diffeomorphism classes of oriented cobordism) to the category of complex vector spaces. To define such a functor is equivalent to consider a complex vector space \(H\) together with a structure of commutative Frobenius algebra on it. Equivalently, it is given by defining the values \(F(W_{s}^{t}(g)):H^{\otimes s}\longrightarrow H^{\otimes t}\) for a smooth projective complex curve of genus \(g\). The entries of the corresponding matrix are complex vector numbers denoted \(F(g)^{\underline{\mu}}_{\underline{\lambda}}\), so that defining a \(2-\)dimensional complex-valued TQFT is equivalent to giving a complex number \(F(g)^{\underline{\mu}}_{\underline{\lambda}}\) for every multi-indices \(\underline{\lambda}\) (of \(s\) entries) and \(\underline{\mu}\) (of \(t\) entries) verifying some gluing rules (as recalled in section 1). The construction of the \(2-\)dimensional complex-valued TQFT econding the Verlinde numbers of rank \(r\) and level \(k\) is due to \textit{E. Witten} [Conf. Proc. Lect. Notes Geom. Topol. 4, 357--422 (1995; Zbl 0863.53054)] and it is presented in sections 5.2, 5.3 and 5.4. Define \(H:=\bigoplus_{\lambda\in\mathcal{P}_{r,k}}\mathbb{C}\cdot\lambda\), which is the complex cohomology of \(\mathbb{G}(r,r+k)\). If \(Q_{C,r,k}:=\coprod_{d}Q_{C}(\mathbb{G}(r,r+k),d)\) (where \(Quot_{C}(\mathbb{G}(r,r+k),d)\) is the Quot scheme parameterizing quotient of \(\mathcal{O}_{C}\otimes\mathbb{C}^{r+k}\) of rank \(r\) and degree \(d\))), then one can define \(F(g)^{\underline{\mu}}_{\underline{\lambda}}\) as the intersection of some class (obtained from the top Chern class of the tautological subsheaf) against the virtual fundamental class of \(Q_{C,r,k}\). The gluing rules are shown using some degeneration argument (see section 5.4), so that one really gets a \(2-\)dimensional complex-valued TQFT. The Verlinde numbers are recovered: we have \(F(g)_{\underline{\lambda}}=V^{r,k}_{g}(\underline{\lambda}^{*})\), where \(\underline{\lambda}\) is the conjugate partition to \(\underline{\lambda}\).