Compact moduli of plane curves

We construct a compactification M_d of the moduli space of plane curves of degree d. We regard a plane curve C as a surface-divisor pair (P^2,C) and define M_d as a moduli space of pairs (X,D) where X is a degeneration of the plane. We show that, if d is not divisible by 3, the stack M_d is smooth and the degenerate surfaces X can be described explicitly.Comment: 46 pages. Final version to be published in Duke Mathematical Journa

The moduli space of curves is rigid

We prove that the moduli stack of stable curves of genus g with n marked points is rigid, i.e., has no infinitesimal deformations. This confirms the first case of a principle proposed by Kapranov. It can also be viewed as a version of Mostow rigidity for the mapping class group.Comment: 11 pages. v2: Proof rewritten to avoid use of log structures. Example of nonrigid moduli space of surfaces adde

Homological mirror symmetry for log Calabi-Yau surfaces

Given a log Calabi-Yau surface $Y$ with maximal boundary $D$ and distinguished complex structure, we explain how to construct a mirror Lefschetz fibration $w: M \to \mathbb{C}$, where $M$ is a Weinstein four-manifold, such that the directed Fukaya category of $w$ is isomorphic to $D^b \text{Coh}(Y)$, and the wrapped Fukaya category $\mathcal{W} (M)$ is isomorphic to $D^b \text{Coh}(Y \backslash D)$. We construct an explicit isomorphism between $M$ and the total space of the almost-toric fibration arising in the work of Gross-Hacking-Keel; when $D$ is negative definite this is expected to be the Milnor fibre of a smoothing of the dual cusp of $D$. We also match our mirror potential $w$ with existing constructions for a range of special cases of $(Y,D)$, notably in work of Auroux-Katzarkov-Orlov and Abouzaid.Comment: Comments welcome

Birational geometry of cluster algebras

We give a geometric interpretation of cluster varieties in terms of blowups of toric varieties. This enables us to provide, among other results, an elementary geometric proof of the Laurent phenomenon for cluster algebras (of geometric type), extend Speyer's example of an upper cluster algebra which is not finitely generated, and show that the Fock-Goncharov dual basis conjecture is usually false.Comment: 50 pages, to appear in Algebraic Geometr

Moduli of surfaces with an anti-canonical cycle

We prove a global Torelli theorem for pairs (Y,D), where Y is a smooth projective rational surface and D is an effective anti-canonical divisor which is a cycle of rational curves. This Torelli theorem was conjectured by Friedman in 1984. In addition, we construct natural universal families for such pairs.Comment: Final version. Much simplified proofs. To appear in Compositi