Extending Torelli map to toroidal compactifications of Siegel space

It has been known since the 1970s that the Torelli map $M_g \to A_g$, associating to a smooth curve its jacobian, extends to a regular map from the Deligne-Mumford compactification $\bar{M}_g$ to the 2nd Voronoi compactification $\bar{A}_g^{vor}$. We prove that the extended Torelli map to the perfect cone (1st Voronoi) compactification $\bar{A}_g^{perf}$ is also regular, and moreover $\bar{A}_g^{vor}$ and $\bar{A}_g^{perf}$ share a common Zariski open neighborhood of the image of $\bar{M}_g$. We also show that the map to the Igusa monoidal transform (central cone compactification) is NOT regular for $g\ge9$; this disproves a 1973 conjecture of Namikawa.Comment: To appear in Inventiones Mathematica

The Schottky problem in genus five

In this paper, we present a solution to the Schottky problem in the spirit of Schottky and Jung for genus five curves. To do so, we exploit natural incidence structures on the fibers of several maps to reduce all questions to statements about the Prym map for genus six curves. This allows us to find all components of the big Schottky locus and thus, to show that the small Schottky locus introduced by Donagi is irreducible.Comment: 20 page

Comparing Perfect and 2nd Voronoi decompositions: the matroidal locus

We compare two rational polyhedral admissible decompositions of the cone of positive definite quadratic forms: the perfect cone decomposition and the 2nd Voronoi decomposition. We determine which cones belong to both the decompositions, thus providing a positive answer to a conjecture of V. Alexeev and A. Brunyate. As an application, we compare the two associated toroidal compactifications of the moduli space of principal polarized abelian varieties: the perfect cone compactification and the 2nd Voronoi compactification.Comment: 27 pages, 2 figures, final version, to appear in Mathematische Annale

Complete moduli of cubic threefolds and their intermediate Jacobians

The intermediate Jacobian map, which associates to a smooth cubic threefold its intermediate Jacobian, does not extend to the GIT compactification of the space of cubic threefolds, not even as a map to the Satake compactification of the moduli space of principally polarized abelian fivefolds. A much better "wonderful" compactification of the space of cubic threefolds was constructed by the first and fourth authors --- it has a modular interpretation, and divisorial normal crossing boundary. We prove that the intermediate Jacobian map extends to a morphism from the wonderful compactification to the second Voronoi toroidal compactification of the moduli of principally polarized abelian fivefolds --- the first and fourth author previously showed that it extends to the Satake compactification. Since the second Voronoi compactification has a modular interpretation, our extended intermediate Jacobian map encodes all of the geometric information about the degenerations of intermediate Jacobians, and allows for the study of the geometry of cubic threefolds via degeneration techniques. As one application we give a complete classification of all degenerations of intermediate Jacobians of cubic threefolds of torus rank 1 and 2.Comment: 56 pages; v2: multiple updates and clarification in response to detailed referee's comment

Local Calabi-Yau manifolds of type \tilde{A} via SYZ mirror symmetry

We carry out the SYZ program for the local Calabi--Yau manifolds of type $\widetilde{A}$ by developing an equivariant SYZ theory for the toric Calabi--Yau manifolds of infinite-type. Mirror geometry is shown to be expressed in terms of the Riemann theta functions and generating functions of open Gromov--Witten invariants, whose modular properties are found and studied in this article. Our work also provides a mathematical justification for a mirror symmetry assertion of the physicists Hollowood--Iqbal--Vafa.Comment: v3: 43 pages, 12 figures, improved expositio