Real automorphisms of a bundle and Cauchy-Riemann operators

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Abstract: Let (N,cN) be a complex vector bundle equipped with a real structure over a real curve (Sigma,cSigma) of genus ggeq0. We compute the sign of the action of the automorphisms of (N,cN) lifting the identity of Sigma on the orientations of the determinant line bundle over the space of real Cauchy-Riemann operators on (N,cN). This sign can be obtained as the product of two terms. The first one computes the signature of the permutations induced by the automorphisms acting on the Pinpm structures of the real part of (N,cN). The second one comes from the action of the automorphisms of (N,cN) on the bordism classes of real Spin structures on (Sigma,cSigma).


Motivated by applications in real Gromov-Witten theory, this article investigates certain issues of orientation related to complex vector bundles over Riemann surfaces with a real structure. Let \(\Sigma_g\) be a compact oriented real surface of genus \(g\) without boundary, let \(c_\Sigma:\Sigma_g\to\Sigma_g\) be an orientation reversing involution, and let \(N\to\Sigma_g\) be a complex vector bundle equipped with a compatible real structure (a semi-linear involution \(c_N\) of \(N\) above \(c_\Sigma\)). Let \(\bar\partial\) be a real Cauchy-Riemann operator on \(N\). This notion depends on the choice of a complex structure \(J\) on \(\Sigma_g\) that is compatible with orientation and involution, and the \((0,1)\) part of a connection on \(N\) that is equivariant with respect to \(c_N\). Denote by \(\text{Det}(\bar\partial)\) the determinant of the trivial complex \(\{(H^*_{\bar\partial}(\Sigma_g,N)_{+1},\bar\partial)\}\) of \(c_N\)-invariant cohomoloy groups. As \(\bar\partial\) varies over the space \({\mathbb R}{\mathcal C}(N)\) of real Cauchy-Riemann operators on \(N\), the determinants \(\text{Det}(\bar\partial)\) fit together to the determinant bundle \(\mathrm{Det}(N)\). This real line bundle is orientable over the contractible space \({\mathbb R}{\mathcal C}(N)\), but the orientation might not be preserved by automorphisms of \(N\) not connected to the identity. In the applications to real Gromov-Witten theory, \(N\) arises as the normal bundle to a \(J\)-holomorphic curve in a symplectic manifold, equipped with an anti-symplectic involution and a compatible almost complex structure, and one is interested in orienting the moduli space of such maps that are real. The deformation theory is controlled by the invariant cohomology \(H^*_{\bar\partial}(\Sigma_g,N)_{+1}\), and so the moduli space will be orientable if the orientation of \(\text{Det}(N)\) is preserved by all automorphisms of \(N\). This article is concerned with the action on \(\text{Det}(N)\) of the subgroup \({\mathbb R}\mathrm{GL}(N)\) of automorphisms that lift the identity on \(\Sigma_g\). It is shown that the sign of the action of an automorphism \(f\in {\mathbb R}\mathrm{GL}(N)\) on \(\text{Det}(N)\) can be expressed in terms of (i) the signature of the permutation induced by \(f\) of \(\mathit{Pin}^{\pm}\)-structures on the real part of \(N\), and (ii) the action induced by \(f\) on the bordism classes of real \(\mathit{Spin}\) structures on \((\Sigma_g,c_\Sigma)\). (The final formula depends a bit on the parity of the number of components of \({\mathbb R}N\), and will not be reproduced here.) This article gives a precise answer to a subtle question in the theory of Riemann surfaces with anti-holomorphic involutions that is valuable for further progress in real Gromov-Witten theory. Similar results had been obtained previously by J.~Solomon, MIT Thesis (2006), and more recently by \textit{P. Georgieva} [Geom. Topol. 17, No. 4, 2485--2512 (2013; Zbl 1278.53088)], and P.~Georgieva and A.~Zinger (several recent preprints).











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