On the sharp lower bounds of modular invariants and fractional Dehn twist coefficients

Arithmetic aspects of modular and Shimura varieties (11G18) Fibrations, degenerations in algebraic geometry (14D06) Arithmetic varieties and schemes; Arakelov theory; heights (14G40) Families, moduli of curves (algebraic) (14H10)

Abstract: Modular invariants of families of curves are Arakelov invariants in arithmetic algebraic geometry. All the known uniform lower bounds of these invariants are not sharp. In this paper, we aim to give explicit lower bounds of modular invariants of families of curves, which is sharp for genus 2. According to the relation between fractional Dehn twists and modular invariants, we give the sharp lower bounds of fractional Dehn twist coefficients and classify pseudo-periodic maps with minimal coefficients for genus 2 and 3 firstly. We also obtain a rigidity property for families with minimal modular invariants, and other applications.

Review text

Let \({\mathcal{M}}_g\) be the moduli space of smooth curves of genus \(g\), and \(\overline{\mathcal{M}}_g\) be the Deligne-Mumford compactification of \({\mathcal{M}}_g\). Let \(C\) be a smooth projective curve, and \(f:S\to C\) be a family of curves of genus \(g\) whose general fiber is smooth. Suppose that \(F_1, F_2,\ldots,F_s\) are all the singular fibers of \(f\). Let \(J_f:C\to\overline{\mathcal{M}}_g\) be the extension of the moduli map \(C-\{f(F_1),\ldots,f(F_s)\}\to {\mathcal{M}}_g\). For each rational divisor class \(\gamma\) of \(\overline{\mathcal{M}}_g\), the modular invariant \(\gamma(f)\) corresponding to \(\gamma\) is the degree \(\deg J_f^*(\gamma)\). In particular, \(\lambda(f)\) (resp. \(\delta(f)\)) is the modular invariant corresponding to the Hodge divisor class (resp. the boundary divisor class) of \(\overline{\mathcal{M}}_g\). Then \(\kappa(f)=12\lambda(f)-\delta(f)\) is the modular invariant corresponding to the first Morita-Mumford class. The above three modular invariants are Arakelov invariants in arithmetic algebraic geometry. The uniform lower bounds of these invariants are important in birational geometry of \(\overline{\mathcal{M}}_g\) and arithmetic geometry (for example, the effective Bogomolov conjecture). But all the known uniform lower bounds are not sharp. In this paper under review, the authors give a brand-new method to get sharp bounds over complex number field. The main result is obtaining the sharp lowers bounds of modular invariants when \(g=2\). For \(g\geq3\), the method can be used to get the ``combinatorial sharp bounds (see Remark 5.1), which is conjectured to be sharp. This paper is a significant breakthrough in such field. Now we explain the authors' method. Let \(\Delta_0,\Delta_1,\ldots,\Delta_{[g/2]}\) be the boundary divisors of \(\overline{\mathcal{M}}_g\), and \(\delta_i\) be the corresponding rational divisor classes. The modular invariants \(\delta_i(f)\) is shown to be fractional Dehn twists coefficients of pseudo-periodic maps. Using the theory of pseudo-periodic maps and the method of classification of singular fibers, one can obtain the sharp lower bounds of fractional Dehn twists coefficients. Then the modular invariants can be obtained by Moriwaki's slope inequality. The strictness of the bounds is conjectured to be realized by hyperelliptic families. The paper also obtains a rigidity property for families with minimal modular invariants, and some application to the effective Bogomolov conjecture.

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