Homology of Hilbert schemes of points on a locally planar curve

Abstract: Let C be a proper, integral, locally planar curve, and consider its Hilbert schemes of points C^[n]. We define 4 creation/annihilation operators acting on the rational homology groups of these Hilbert schemes and show that the operators satisfy the relations of a Weyl algebra. The action of this algebra is similar to that defined by Grojnowski and Nakajima for a smooth surface. As a corollary, we compute the cohomology of C^[n] in terms of the cohomology of the compactified Jacobian of C together with an auxiliary grading on the latter. This recovers and slightly strenghtens a formula recently obtained in a different way by Maulik and Yun and independently Migliorini and Shende.

Review text

Let $C$ be an integral proper complex curve with compactified Jacobian $J$. Letting $C^{[n]}$ denote the Hilbert scheme of length $n$ subschemes of $C$, the Abel-Jacobi morphism $\varphi: C^{[n]} \to J$ sends a closed subscheme $Z$ to ${\mathcal I}_Z \otimes {\mathcal O}(x)^{\otimes n}$, where $x \in C$ is a nonsingular point. When $C$ has at worst planar singularities, both $C^{[n]}$ and $J$ are integral schemes with local complete intersection singularities according to \textit{A. B. Altman} et al. [in: Real and compl. Singul., Proc. Nordic Summer Sch., Symp. Math., Oslo 1976, 1--12 (1977; Zbl 0415.14014)] and \textit{J. Briancon} et al. [Ann. Sci. Éc. Norm. Supér. (4) 14, 1--25 (1981; Zbl 0463.14001)]. Furthermore $\varphi$ has the structure of a $\mathbb P^{n-g}$-bundle for $n \geq 2g-1$ by work of \textit{A. B. Altman} and \textit{S. L. Kleiman} [Adv. Math. 35, 50--112 (1980; Zbl 0427.14015)] so that the rational homology group $H_* (C^{[n]})$ is determined by $H_* (J)$. Recent work of \textit{D. Maulik} and \textit{Z. Yun} [J. Reine Angew. Math. 694, 27--48 (2014; Zbl 1304.14036)] and \textit{L. Migliorini} and \textit{V. Shende} [J. Eur. Math. Soc. (JEMS) 15, No. 6, 2353--2367 (2013; Zbl 1303.14019)] endows $H^* (J)$ with a certain perverse filtration $P$ for which $H^* (C^{[n]})$ can be recovered from the $P$-graded space $\text{gr}_*^P H^* (J)$. \par Motivated by these results and a suggestion of Richard Thomas, the author shows how $H_* (C^{[n]})$ can be recovered from a filtration on $H_* (J)$ using a method not reliant on perverse sheaves. Taking an approach inspired by work of \textit{H. Nakajima} [Ann. Math. (2) 145, No. 2, 379--388 (1997; Zbl 0915.14001)], he defines two pairs of creation and annihilation operators acting on $V(C)=\bigoplus_{n \geq 0} H_* (C^{[n]})$. The first pair $\mu_{\pm} [\text{pt}]$ corresponds to adding or removing a nonsingular point in $C$. The second pair $\mu_{\pm}[C]$ come from the respective projections $p,q$ from the flag Hilbert scheme $C^{[n,n+1]}$ to $C^{[n]}$ and $C^{[n+1]}$, namely $q_* p^{!}$ and $p_* q^{!}$ for appropriate Gysin maps $p^!$ and $q^!$. The main theorem states that the subalgebra of $\text{End} (V(C))$ generated by $\mu_{\pm} [\text{pt}], \mu_{pm}[C]$ is isomorphic to the Weyl algebra $\mathbb Q [x_1, x_2, \partial_1, \partial_2]$ and that the natural map $W \otimes \mathbb Q [\mu_+ [\text{pt}], \mu_+ [C]] \to V(C)$ is an isomorphism, where $W$ is the intersection of the kernels of $\mu_- [\text{pt}]$ and $\mu_- [C]$; moreover the Abel-Jacobi pushforward map $\varphi_*: V(C) \to H_* (J)$ induces an isomorphism $W \cong H_* (J)$. Dual variations for cohomology groups recover and strengthen the results of Maulik-Yun [Zbl 1304.14036] and Migliorini-Shende [Zbl 1303.14019].

Recommendations

Cited in

(13)

This page was built for publication: Homology of Hilbert schemes of points on a locally planar curve

Report a bug (only for logged in users!)Click here to report a bug for this page (MaRDI item Q1644489)