The pullback of a theta divisor to M_g,n

DOI10.1002/MANA.201200072MaRDI QIDQ2852456zbMATH OpenOpenAlexFDO

Authors Fabian Müller

Publication date 8 October 2013

Published in Mathematische Nachrichten (Search for Journal in Brave)

Full work available at URL https://arxiv.org/abs/1203.3102

zbMATH Keywords

limit linear seriesmoduli space of pointed curvestest curvestheta divisor

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Families, moduli of curves (algebraic) (14H10)

Abstract: We compute the class of a divisor on M_{g,n} given as the closure of the locus of smooth pointed curves [C; x_1,..., x_n] for which sum d_j x_j has an effective representative, where d_j are integers summing up to g-1, not all positive. The techniques used are a vector bundle computation, a pushdown argument reducing the number of marked points, and the method of test curves.

Review text

Let \(\underline d=(d_1,\dots,d_n)\) be an \(n\)-tuple of integers summing up to \(g-1\) and consider the map NEWLINE\[NEWLINE\phi_{\underline d}: \mathcal M_{g,n}\to \text{Pic}_g^{g-1}NEWLINE\]NEWLINE from the moduli space of smooth curves of genus \(g\) with \(n\) marked points to the universal Picard variety of degree \(g-1\) over \(\mathcal M_g\) given by \(\phi_{\underline d}(C;x_1,\dots,x_n)=\mathcal O_C(d_1x_1+\dots+d_nx_n)\). Let \(\Theta_g\) be the universal theta divisor on Pic\(^{g-1}_g\) parametrizing the locus of effective divisors of degree \(g-1\). Assume that at least one \(d_i\) is negative. Then the image of \(\phi_{\underline d}\) is not contained in \(\Theta_g\). The main result of the present paper is the computation of the class of the pullback of \(\Theta_g\) via \(\phi_{\underline d}\), NEWLINE\[NEWLINED_{\underline d}:=\phi_{\underline d}^*(\Theta_g)=\{[C;x_1,\dots,x_n]\in\mathcal M_{g,n}| h^0(C,d_1x_1+\dots+x_nd_n)\geq 1\}NEWLINE\]NEWLINE and of its closure \(\overline D_{\underline d}\) on the moduli space of stable curves of genus \(g\) with \(n\) marked points \(\overline {\mathcal M}_{g,n}\).NEWLINENEWLINETo find the coefficients of \([\overline D_{\underline d}]\) in the generators of \(\overline{\mathcal M}_{g,n}\) the author starts by expressing \(D_{\underline d}\) as the degeneracy locus of a map of vector bundles. Then he uses a pushdown argument to reduce the number of marked points and then computes several intersections with test curves. Tools from the theory of limit linear series are also extensively used throughout the paper.NEWLINENEWLINEA similar divisor was computed by \textit{R. Hain} in [``Normal functions and the geometry of moduli spaces of curves, in: G. Farkas (ed.) and I. Morrison (ed.), Handbook of Moduli. Somerville, MA: International Press (2013), \url{arXiv:1102.4031v3}] and both the author's and Hain's results were reproven in a recent work by \textit{S. Grushevsky} and \textit{D. Zakharov} in [``The double ramification cycle and the theta divisor, Duke Math. J. (to appear), \url{arXiv:1206.7001}].

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Cites work

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• Families of Weierstrass points
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Cited in

(14)

• Inverse images of theta divisors
• Extensions of the universal theta divisor
• Tautological classes on the moduli space of hyperelliptic curves with rational tails
• k-differentials on curves and rigid cycles in moduli space
• \(\mathrm{GL}_2\mathbb{R}\)-invariant measures in marked strata: generic marked points, Earle-Kra for strata and illumination
• On the effective cone of \(\overline{\mathcal{M}}_{g, n}\)
• Extremal effective divisors on \(\overline{\mathcal M}_{1,n}\)
• Strata of differentials of the second kind, positivity and irreducibility of certain Hurwitz spaces
• The double ramification cycle and the theta divisor
• The universal theta divisor over the moduli space of curves
• Double points of plane models in \(\overline {\mathcal M}_{6,1}\)
• Divisorial strata of abelian differentials
• Pullbacks of universal Brill–Noether classes via Abel–Jacobi morphisms
• The birational geometry of \(\overline{\mathcal{R}}_{g, 2}\) and Prym-canonical divisorial strata

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