On the tautological ring of M_ g

DOI10.1007/BF01884306MaRDI QIDQ1899741zbMATH OpenWikidataFDO

Publication date 26 November 1996

Published in Inventiones Mathematicae (Search for Journal in Brave)

Full work available at URL https://arxiv.org/abs/alg-geom/9501010, https://eudml.org/doc/144306

Chow group moduli space Mukai-transform tautological class tautological ring

Parametrization (Chow and Hilbert schemes) (14C05) Algebraic moduli problems, moduli of vector bundles (14D20) Families, moduli of curves (algebraic) (14H10) Algebraic moduli of abelian varieties, classification (14K10)

Abstract: We prove among other things that any product of tautological classes of

M_{g}

of degree

d

(in the Chow ring of

M_{g}

with rational coefficients) vanishes for

d > g - 2

and is proportional to the class of the hyperelliptic locus in degree

g - 2

.

Review text

Fix an integer \(g\geq 2\) and denote by \({\mathcal C}^n_g\) the moduli space of tuples \((C, x_1, \dots, x_n)\), where \(C\) is a complex smooth connected projective curve of genus \(g\) and \(x_1, \dots, x_n\) are (not necessarily distinct) points of \(C\); we also write \({\mathcal M}_g\) for \({\mathcal C}^0_g\). Forgetting the \(i\)-th point defines a morphism \({\mathcal C}^n_g\to {\mathcal C}_g^{n-1}\) whose relatively dualizing sheaf is denoted by \(\omega_i\) \((i= 1, \dots, n)\). We write \(K_i\) for the first Chern class of \(\omega_i\), considered as an element of the Chow group \(A^1 ({\mathcal C}^n_g)\) (with rational coefficients); for \(n=1\) we also write \(K\). The direct image of \(K^{d+1}\) in \(A^d ({\mathcal M}_g)\) is the Mumford-Morita-Miller tautological class \(\kappa_d\). \textit{D. Mumford} showed in his fundamental paper [in: Arithmetic and geometry, Pap. dedic. Shafarevich, Vol. II, Prog. Math. 36, 271-328 (1983; Zbl 0554.14008)] that the \(\mathbb{Q}\)-subalgebra of \(A^\bullet ({\mathcal M}_g)\) generated by these classes (the tautological ring of \({\mathcal M}_g\)) is already generated by \(\kappa_1, \dots, \kappa_{g-2}\). On the basis of many calculations \textit{Carel Faber} has made the intriguing conjecture that this ring has the formal properties of the even-dimensional cohomology ring of the projective manifold of dimension \(g-2\), i.e., satisfies Poincaré duality and a Lefschetz decomposition. It is natural to define the tautological ring of \({\mathcal C}^n_g\) as the \(\mathbb{Q}\)-subalgebra of \(A^\bullet ({\mathcal C}^n_g)\) generated by \(K_1, \dots, K_n\), the (pullbacks of the) classes \(\kappa_i\) and the classes of the diagonal divisors on \({\mathcal C}^n_g\) defined by \(x_i= x_j\) \((1\leq i< j\leq n)\). -- The theorem below supports Faber's conjecture (take \(n=0\)) and answers two questions of \textit{S. Morita} [``Problems on the structure of the mapping class group of surfaces and the topology of the moduli space of curves, in: Topology, geometry and field theory, 101-110 (1994)] affirmatively (take \(n=1\)). Theorem. Any element of degree \(d\) of the tautological ring of \({\mathcal C}^n_g\) is a linear combination of the classes of the irreducible components of the locus parametrizing tuples \((C, x_1, \dots, x_n)\) admitting a finite morphism \(C\to \mathbb{P}^1\) of degree \(\leq 2g-2 +n\) such that the fiber over 0 (resp. \(\infty\)) has at most \(g+ n- d- 1\) points (resp. is a singleton) and \(\{x_1, \dots, x_n\}\) is contained in the union of these two fibers. (Hence such a class is zero when \(d> g+ n-2\).) All such classes of degree \(g+ n-2\) are proportional to the class of the locus \(H^n_g\) parametrizing tuples \((C, x_1, \dots, x_n)\) with \(C\) hyperelliptic and \(x_1= \dots= x_n\) a Weierstraß point.

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