The moduli space of curves, double Hurwitz numbers, and Faber's intersection number conjecture

DOI10.1007/S00026-011-0102-9MaRDI QIDQ659646zbMATH OpenOpenAlexWikidataFDO

Authors R. Vakil, I. P. Goulden, David M. Jackson

Publication date 24 January 2012

Published in Annals of Combinatorics (Search for Journal in Brave)

Full work available at URL https://arxiv.org/abs/math/0611659

branched covers curve with rational tails double Hurwitz numbers ELSV formula Faber's conjectures Faber-Hurwitz classes moduli space of curves Mumford-Morita-Miller classes tautological ring

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Algebraic combinatorics (05E99) Families, moduli of curves (algebraic) (14H10) Picard schemes, higher Jacobians (14K30)

Abstract: We define the dimension 2g-1 Faber-Hurwitz Chow/homology classes on the moduli space of curves, parametrizing curves expressible as branched covers of P^1 with given ramification over infinity and sufficiently many fixed ramification points elsewhere. Degeneration of the target and judicious localization expresses such classes in terms of localization trees weighted by ``top intersections of tautological classes and genus 0 double Hurwitz numbers. This identity of generating series can be inverted, yielding a ``combinatorialization of top intersections of psi-classes. As genus 0 double Hurwitz numbers with at most 3 parts over infinity are well understood, we obtain Faber's Intersection Number Conjecture for up to 3 parts, and an approach to the Conjecture in general (bypassing the Virasoro Conjecture). We also recover other geometric results in a unified manner, including Looijenga's theorem, the socle theorem for curves with rational tails, and the hyperelliptic locus in terms of kappa_{g-2}.

Review text

The celebrated Faber conjectures give a description of the tautological ring in the cohomology of the moduli space of smooth genus \(g\) curves. They assert, roughly speaking, that it behaves like a cohomology ring of a \((g-2)\)--dimensional complex projective manifold, in particular its structure is completely determined by the top intersections of the Mumford-Morita-Miller \(\kappa\)-classes. Furthermore, Faber's Intersection Number Conjecture gives a combinatorial description of these top intersections. Graber and Pandharipande showed that the latter follows from the degree \(0\) part of the Virasoro conjecture for the projective plane, proved by Givental. However, the proof via Virasoro conceals the combinatorial structure behind the intersection numbers, so a direct combinatorial proof is desirable. This paper outlines a strategy for such a proof and partially implements it. The idea is to express the cohomology of the moduli space of stable \(n\)--pointed genus \(g\) maps with rational tails \(\mathcal{M}_{g,n}^{rt}\) in terms of combinatorics of the double Hurwitz numbers. A stable map with rational tails consists of a single smooth genus \(g\) component with chains of spheres attached, the dual graph is therefore a tree. The paper relies on the observation that an analog of the ELSV formula links the cohomology of \(\mathcal{M}_{g,n}^{rt}\) to the genus \(0\) double Hurwitz numbers, just as the ELSV formula itself links the cohomology of the Deligne-Mumford compactification \(\overline{\mathcal{M}}_{g,n}\) to the Hurwitz numbers. The dual graphs being trees simplifies the link considerably. The double Hurwitz numbers enumerate the branched covers of a sphere by another sphere with prescribed ramifications over \(0\) and \(\infty\) and simplest non-trivial branchings at other points. The number \(n\) of marked points corresponds to the maximal number of parts in the partitions describing the ramifications. Degeneration of the target yields a join-cut recursion for the tautological classes of \(\mathcal{M}_{g,n}^{rt}\), the Faber-Hurwitz classes, which can be solved explicitly. On the other hand, localization expresses them as sums over decorated trees in terms of the double Hurwitz numbers and the top intersections of the \(\kappa\)--classes. As with the ELSV formula, this relation can be explicitly inverted expressing the top intersections in terms of the Faber-Hurwitz classes and the double Hurwitz numbers. The results are merged into a single generating series in genus, which contains all the necessary pieces for proving Faber's Intersection Number Conjecture. The proof is completed for \(n\leq3\), where genus \(0\) double Hurwitz numbers are known explicitly, and the same approach works for \(n=4,5\). Unfortunately, for \(n>5\) such explicit expressions are lacking so far.

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