The j-invariant of a plane tropical cubic

Several results in tropical geometry have related the j-invariant of an algebraic plane curve of genus one to the cycle length of a tropical curve of genus one. In this paper, we prove that for a plane cubic over the field of Puiseux series the negative of the generic valuation of the $j$-invariant is equal to the cycle length of the tropicalization of the curve, if there is a cycle at all.Comment: The proofs rely partly on computations done with polymake, topcom and Singula

An algorithm for lifting points in a tropical variety

The aim of this paper is to give a constructive proof of one of the basic theorems of tropical geometry: given a point on a tropical variety (defined using initial ideals), there exists a Puiseux-valued ``lift'' of this point in the algebraic variety. This theorem is so fundamental because it justifies why a tropical variety (defined combinatorially using initial ideals) carries information about algebraic varieties: it is the image of an algebraic variety over the Puiseux series under the valuation map. We have implemented the ``lifting algorithm'' using Singular and Gfan if the base field are the rational numbers. As a byproduct we get an algorithm to compute the Puiseux expansion of a space curve singularity in (K^{n+1},0).Comment: 33 page

Kontsevich's formula and the WDVV equations in tropical geometry

Using Gromov-Witten theory the numbers of complex plane rational curves of degree d through 3d-1 general given points can be computed recursively with Kontsevich's formula that follows from the so-called WDVV equations. In this paper we establish the same results entirely in the language of tropical geometry. In particular this shows how the concepts of moduli spaces of stable curves and maps, (evaluation and forgetful) morphisms, intersection multiplicities and their invariance under deformations can be carried over to the tropical world.Comment: 24 pages, minor changes to match the published versio

Tropical covers of curves and their moduli spaces

We define the tropical moduli space of covers of a tropical line in the plane as weighted abstract polyhedral complex, and the tropical branch map recording the images of the simple ramifications. Our main result is the invariance of the degree of the branch map, which enables us to give a tropical intersection-theoretic definition of tropical triple Hurwitz numbers. We show that our intersection-theoretic definition coincides with the one given by Bertrand, Brugall\'e and Mikhalkin in the article "Tropical Open Hurwitz numbers" where a Correspondence Theorem for Hurwitz numbers is proved. Thus we provide a tropical intersection-theoretic justification for the multiplicities with which a tropical cover has to be counted. Our method of proof is to establish a local duality between our tropical moduli spaces and certain moduli spaces of relative stable maps to the projective line.Comment: 24 pages, 10 figure

Counting tropical elliptic plane curves with fixed j-invariant

In complex algebraic geometry, the problem of enumerating plane elliptic curves of given degree with fixed complex structure has been solved by R.Pandharipande using Gromov-Witten theory. In this article we treat the tropical analogue of this problem, the determination of the number of tropical elliptic plane curves of degree d and fixed ``tropical j-invariant'' interpolating an appropriate number of points in general position. We show that this number is independent of the position of the points and the value of the j-invariant and that it coincides with the number of complex elliptic curves. The result can be used to simplify Mikhalkin's algorithm to count curves via lattice paths in the case of rational plane curves.Comment: 34 pages; minor changes to match the published versio

The space of tropically collinear points is shellable

The space T_{d,n} of n tropically collinear points in a fixed tropical projective space TP^{d-1} is equivalent to the tropicalization of the determinantal variety of matrices of rank at most 2, which consists of real d x n matrices of tropical or Kapranov rank at most 2, modulo projective equivalence of columns. We show that it is equal to the image of the moduli space M_{0,n}(TP^{d-1},1) of n-marked tropical lines in TP^{d-1} under the evaluation map. Thus we derive a natural simplicial fan structure for T_{d,n} using a simplicial fan structure of M_{0,n}(TP^{d-1},1) which coincides with that of the space of phylogenetic trees on d+n taxa. The space of phylogenetic trees has been shown to be shellable by Trappmann and Ziegler. Using a similar method, we show that T_{d,n} is shellable with our simplicial fan structure and compute the homology of the link of the origin. The shellability of T_{d,n} has been conjectured by Develin in 2005.Comment: final version, minor revision, 15 page