53 research outputs found
On the Coble quartic
We review and extend the known constructions relating Kummer threefolds, Gšopel systems, theta constants and their derivatives, and the GIT quotient for 7 points in P^2 to obtain an explicit expression for the Coble quartic. The Coble quartic was recently determined completely in [RSSS12], where it was computed completely explicitly, as a polynomial with 372060 monomials of bidegree (28, 4) in theta constants of the second order and theta functions of the second order, respectively. Our expression is in terms of products of theta constants with characteristics corresponding to Gšopel systems, and is a polynomial with 134 terms. Our approach is based on the beautiful geometry studied by Coble and further investigated by Dolgachev and Ortland and highlights the geometry and combinatorics of syzygetic octets of characteristics, and the corresponding representations of Sp(6, F_2). One new ingredient is the relationship of Gšopel systems and Jacobian determinants of theta functions. In genus 2, we similarly obtain a short explicit equation for the universal Kummer surface, and relate modular forms of level two to binary invariants of six points on P^
The vanishing of two-point functions for three-loop superstring scattering amplitudes
In this paper we show that the two-point function for the three-loop chiral
superstring measure ansatz proposed by Cacciatori, Dalla Piazza, and van Geemen
vanishes. Our proof uses the reformulation of ansatz in terms of even cosets,
theta functions, and specifically the theory of the linear system
on Jacobians introduced by van Geemen and van der Geer.
At the two-loop level, where the amplitudes were computed by D'Hoker and
Phong, we give a new proof of the vanishing of the two-point function (which
was proven by them). We also discuss the possible approaches to proving the
vanishing of the two-point function for the proposed ansatz in higher genera
An explicit solution to the weak Schottky problem
We give an explicit weak solution to the Schottky problem, in the spirit of Riemann and Schottky. For any genus g, we write down a collection of polynomials in genus g theta constants such that their common zero locus contains the locus of Jacobians of genus g curves as an irreducible component. These polynomials arise by applying a specific Schottky-Jung proportionality to an explicit collection of quartic identities for genus g - 1 theta constants
On some differential-geometric aspects of the Torelli map
In this note we survey recent results on the extrinsic geometry of the
Jacobian locus inside . We describe the second fundamental form
of the Torelli map as a multiplication map, recall the relation between totally
geodesic subvarieties and Hodge loci and survey various results related to
totally geodesic subvarieties and the Jacobian locus.Comment: To appear on Boll. UMI, special volume in memory of Paolo de
Bartolomei
The class of the locus of intermediate Jacobians of cubic threefolds
We study the locus of intermediate Jacobians of cubic threefolds within the
moduli space of complex principally polarized abelian fivefolds, and its
generalization to arbitrary genus - the locus of abelian varieties with a
singular odd two-torsion point on the theta divisor. Assuming that this locus
has expected codimension (which we show to be true for genus up to 5), we
compute the class of this locus, and of is closure in the perfect cone toroidal
compactification, in the Chow, homology, and the tautological ring.
We work out the cases of genus up to 5 in detail, obtaining explicit
expressions for the classes of the closures of the locus of products of an
elliptic curve and a hyperelliptic genus 3 curve, in moduli of principally
polarized abelian fourfolds, and of the locus of intermediate Jacobians in
genus 5. In the course of our computation we also deal with various
intersections of boundary divisors of a level toroidal compactification, which
is of independent interest in understanding the cohomology and Chow rings of
the moduli spaces.Comment: v2: new section 9 on the geometry of the boundary of the locus of
intermediate Jacobians of cubic threefolds. Final version to appear in
Invent. Mat
Eluding SUSY at every genus on stable closed string vacua
In closed string vacua, ergodicity of unipotent flows provide a key for
relating vacuum stability to the UV behavior of spectra and interactions.
Infrared finiteness at all genera in perturbation theory can be rephrased in
terms of cancelations involving only tree-level closed strings scattering
amplitudes. This provides quantitative results on the allowed deviations from
supersymmetry on perturbative stable vacua. From a mathematical perspective,
diagrammatic relations involving closed string amplitudes suggest a relevance
of unipotent flows dynamics for the Schottky problem and for the construction
of the superstring measure.Comment: v2, 17 pages, 8 figures, typos corrected, new figure added with 3
modular images of long horocycles,(obtained with Mathematica
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
Extending the Belavin-Knizhnik "wonderful formula" by the characterization of the Jacobian
A long-standing question in string theory is to find the explicit expression
of the bosonic measure, a crucial issue also in determining the superstring
measure. Such a measure was known up to genus three. Belavin and Knizhnik
conjectured an expression for genus four which has been proved in the framework
of the recently introduced vector-valued Teichmueller modular forms. It turns
out that for g>3 the bosonic measure is expressed in terms of such forms. In
particular, the genus four Belavin-Knizhnik "wonderful formula" has a
remarkable extension to arbitrary genus whose structure is deeply related to
the characterization of the Jacobian locus. Furthermore, it turns out that the
bosonic string measure has an elegant geometrical interpretation as generating
the quadrics in P^{g-1} characterizing the Riemann surface. All this leads to
identify forms on the Siegel upper half-space that, if certain conditions
related to the characterization of the Jacobian are satisfied, express the
bosonic measure as a multiresidue in the Siegel upper half-space. We also
suggest that it may exist a super analog on the super Siegel half-space.Comment: 15 pages. Typos corrected, refs. and comments adde
Triangulated Surfaces in Twistor Space: A Kinematical Set up for Open/Closed String Duality
We exploit the properties of the three-dimensional hyperbolic space to
discuss a simplicial setting for open/closed string duality based on (random)
Regge triangulations decorated with null twistorial fields. We explicitly show
that the twistorial N-points function, describing Dirichlet correlations over
the moduli space of open N-bordered genus g surfaces, is naturally mapped into
the Witten-Kontsevich intersection theory over the moduli space of N-pointed
closed Riemann surfaces of the same genus. We also discuss various aspects of
the geometrical setting which connects this model to PSL(2,C) Chern-Simons
theory.Comment: 35 pages, references added, slightly revised introductio
Determinantal Characterization of Canonical Curves and Combinatorial Theta Identities
We characterize genus g canonical curves by the vanishing of combinatorial
products of g+1 determinants of Brill-Noether matrices. This also implies the
characterization of canonical curves in terms of (g-2)(g-3)/2 theta identities.
A remarkable mechanism, based on a basis of H^0(K_C) expressed in terms of
Szego kernels, reduces such identities to a simple rank condition for matrices
whose entries are logarithmic derivatives of theta functions. Such a basis,
together with the Fay trisecant identity, also leads to the solution of the
question of expressing the determinant of Brill-Noether matrices in terms of
theta functions, without using the problematic Klein-Fay section sigma.Comment: 35 pages. New results, presentation improved, clarifications added.
Accepted for publication in Math. An
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