Moduli of curves

Publication date 28 July 1998

Bibliography Brill-Noether theory Deligne-Mumford compactification families of curves geometric invariant theory Hilbert schemes moduli spaces of algebraic curves stable algebraic curves

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Introductory exposition (textbooks, tutorial papers, etc.) pertaining to algebraic geometry (14-01) Research exposition (monographs, survey articles) pertaining to algebraic geometry (14-02) Algebraic moduli problems, moduli of vector bundles (14D20) Families, moduli of curves (algebraic) (14H10) Geometric invariant theory (14L24)

Review text

The theory of moduli of algebraic curves is one of the oldest and most fascinating topics in algebraic geometry and complex analysis. Initiated by B. Riemann almost 150 years ago, intuitively perceived and used by the old Italian geometers, rigorously established by O. Teichmüller, L. Ahlfors, and L. Bers in the case of compact Riemann surfaces in the 1940s and 1950s, and finally constructed by D. Mumford in the mid 1960s, in the general framework of geometric invariant theory, moduli spaces of curves have become one of the most active areas of research in algebraic geometry over the past three decades. Despite the wealth of deep results on the geometry of these classifying spaces, which have been obtained, in the meantime, by many researchers, and in spite of the apparently increasing significance of moduli spaces of curves for applications in mathematical physics, there has been no textbook, so far, that gave an introductory, systematic and suitably comprehensive account of this subject for non-experts, graduate students, or interested researchers in related areas of mathematics and theoretical physics. The book under review represents the very first attempt to provide a specific textbook on moduli spaces of curves, and to describe the present state of art in this field from a certain coherent point of view. -- As there are several different methods of how to construct, visualize, and investigate moduli spaces of complex algebraic curves of given genus \(g\), the authors had to choose among the different strategies. Moreover, as the entire subject is still developing too rapidly for the aim at writing a definitive reference book, for the time being, the authors decided to provide the mathematical community with a panoramic guide to families of curves and their classifying spaces. Therefore the emphasis is put on instructive examples and concrete applications rather than on the rigorous foundations, subtle techniques, or most general results. As for those important details, the reader is often referred to the many good original works, whereas the text focuses on showing how the well-established methods are used to study the moduli of curves varying in families. Likewise, the authors often prove results in special cases which reflect the crucial ideas with a minimum of complicated technicalities. After a well-structured preface, which shows that the authors really care for the convenience of the reader, the largely expository chapters I and II provide a synopsis of basic properties, theorems, and conjectures about Hilbert schemes, other parameter spaces for families of curves, and moduli spaces of genus-\(g\) curves. Details about techniques or proofs are mostly omitted, but illustrations, examples, and hints to the literature are given in plentiful supply, just as (too many?) exercises. More precisely, these two beginning chapters cover the following topics. Chapter I: Parameter Spaces: Constructions and examples A. Parameters and moduli; -- B. Construction of the Hilbert scheme; -- C. Tangent space to the Hilbert scheme; -- D. Extrinsic pathologies, Mumford's example, and other examples; -- E. Dimension of the Hilbert scheme; -- F. Severi varieties; -- G. Hurwitz schemes. Chapter II: Basic facts about moduli spaces of curves A. Why do fine moduli spaces of curves not exist? - B. Moduli spaces we'll be concerned with; -- C. Constructions of \(M_g\) (Teichmüller approach, Hodge theory approach, and G.I.T. approach); -- D. Geometric and topological properties (basic properties, local properties, complete subvarieties of moduli spaces, cohomology of \(M_g\), cohomology of the universal curve, cohomology of Hilbert schemes, structure of the tautological ring, Witten's conjectures and Kontsevich's theorem); -- E. Moduli spaces of stable maps (with a view towards applications to quantum cohomology). Chapters III, IV and V are, in contrast, considerably more self-contained. The authors discuss the various techniques and methods that are crucial for analyzing moduli spaces. The contents are as follows. Chapter III: Techniques A. Nodal and stable curves; -- B. Deformation theory of (stable) curves; -- C. Stable reduction of curves; -- D. Interlude: moduli stacks; -- E. Grothendieck-Riemann-Roch theorem and Porteous formula (Hodge bundles, Mumford isomorphism, standard cohomology classes in the intersection ring of moduli spaces); -- F. Test curves and the hyperelliptic locus in \(\overline M_3\); -- G. Admissible covers; -- H. The hyperelliptic locus in \(\overline M_3\) completed. Chapter IV: Construction of \(\overline M_g\) A. Background on geometric invariant theory; -- B. Stability of Hilbert points (including Gieseker's criterion); -- C. Construction of the moduli space of stable curves via the potential stability theorem. Chapter V: Limit linear series and Brill-Noether theory A. Introductory remarks on degenerations; -- B. Limits of line bundles; -- C. Limits of linear series: Motivation and examples; -- D. Limits of linear series: applications; -- E. Limit linear series on flag curves (including a proof of the Gieseker-Petri theorem). The concluding chapter VI deals with numerous applications of the ideas and techniques described in the previous chapters. The authors discuss many selected results, mostly rather recent ones, on the geometry of moduli spaces of stable curves. Chapter VI is structured as follows. Chapter VI: Geometry of moduli spaces: Selected results A. Irreducibility of moduli spaces of curves; -- B. Diaz's theorem on complete subvarieties of moduli spaces of curves; -- C. Moduli spaces of hyperelliptic curves; -- D. Ample divisors on moduli spaces of stable curves; -- E. Irreducibility of Severi varieties; -- F. The Kodaira dimension of the moduli spaces \(M_g\) and the Mumford-Harris theorem. This chapter contains most of the recent spectacular, very deep results on the geometry of moduli spaces. Again, the style of presentation is intuitive-descriptive, with lots of hints to the original literature (as for the details) and with many, many (difficult) exercises inserted. -- The almost exhaustive bibliography on moduli spaces of curves is extremely helpful and up-to-date. Altogether, this is the first textbook devoted to the geometry and applications of moduli spaces of curves. It is a highly valuable primer which even leads the reader to the forefront of actual research in the field. The vast spectrum covered by the text provides a great panoramic picture of what is the present stage of knowledge in the field, of what moduli theory of curves has grown to, over many decades of research, and of how fascinating, powerful and far-reaching the geometric thinking is. Depending on his algebro-geometric background knowledge, the reader can get out a wealth of information, inspiration, and challenge by working through this truly geometric text, and the beginner in the field might feel the urge for a deeper, more detailed study of the huge body of material presented in the book. No doubt, this textbook breathes algebraic geometry in a unique way, and it is highly gratifying to finally have such an overdue guide to the moduli theory of curves available.

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