Tautological Ring Research Articles

Nonvarying, affine and extremal geometry of strata of differentials

AbstractWe prove that the nonvarying strata of abelian and quadratic differentials in low genus have trivial tautological rings and are affine varieties. We also prove that strata of k-differentials of infinite area are affine varieties for all k. Vanishing of homology in degree higher than the complex dimension follows as a consequence for these affine strata. Moreover we prove that the stratification of the Hodge bundle for abelian and quadratic differentials of finite area is extremal in the sense that merging two zeros in each stratum leads to an extremal effective divisor in the boundary. A common feature throughout these results is a relation of divisor classes in strata of differentials as well as its incarnation in Teichmüller dynamics.

Incidence varieties in the projectivized kth Hodge bundle over curves with rational tails

Over the moduli space of pointed smooth algebraic curves, the projectivized [Formula: see text]th Hodge bundle is the space of [Formula: see text]-canonical divisors. The incidence loci are defined by requiring the [Formula: see text]-canonical divisors to have prescribed multiplicities at the marked points. We compute the classes of the closure of the incidence loci in the projectivized [Formula: see text]th Hodge bundle over the moduli space of curves with rational tails. The classes are expressed as a linear combination of tautological classes indexed by decorated stable graphs with coefficients enumerating appropriate weightings. As a consequence, we obtain an explicit expression for some relations in tautological rings of moduli of curves with rational tails.

Tautological rings of Shimura varieties and cycle classes of Ekedahl–Oort strata

Tautological rings of Shimura varieties and cycle classes of Ekedahl–Oort strata

Chow rings of stacks of prestable curves II

Abstract We continue the study of the Chow ring of the moduli stack 𝔐 g , n {\mathfrak{M}_{g,n}} of prestable curves begun in [Y. Bae and J. Schmitt, Chow rings of stacks of prestable curves I, Forum Math. Sigma 10 2022, Paper No. e28]. In genus 0, we show that the Chow ring of 𝔐 0 , n {\mathfrak{M}_{0,n}} coincides with the tautological ring and give a complete description in terms of (additive) generators and relations. This generalizes earlier results by Keel and by Kontsevich and Manin for the spaces of stable curves. Our argument uses the boundary stratification of the moduli stack together with the study of the first higher Chow groups of the strata, in particular providing a new proof of the results of Kontsevich and Manin.

Rings of tautological forms on moduli spaces of curves

We define and study a natural system of tautological rings on the moduli spaces of marked curves at the level of differential forms. We show that certain 2-forms obtained from the natural normal functions on these moduli spaces are tautological. Also we show that rings of tautological forms are always finite dimensional. Finally we characterize the Kawazumi–Zhang invariant as essentially the only smooth function on the moduli space of curves whose Levi form is a tautological form.

Stable Cohomology of the Moduli Space of Trigonal Curves

Abstract We prove that the rational cohomology $H^{i}(\mathcal {T}_{g};\mathbf {Q})$ of the moduli space of trigonal curves of genus $g$ is independent of $g$ in degree $i<\lfloor g/4\rfloor .$ This makes possible to define the stable cohomology ring as $H^{\bullet }(\mathcal {T}_{g};\mathbf {Q})$ for a sufficiently large $g.$ We also compute the stable cohomology ring, which turns out to be isomorphic to the tautological ring. This is done by studying the embedding of trigonal curves in Hirzebruch surfaces and using Gorinov–Vassiliev’s method.

Gromov–Witten theory of complete intersections via nodal invariants

AbstractWe provide an inductive algorithm computing Gromov–Witten invariants in all genera with arbitrary insertions of all smooth complete intersections in projective space. We also prove that all Gromov–Witten classes of all smooth complete intersections in projective space belong to the tautological ring of the moduli space of stable curves. The main idea is to show that invariants with insertions of primitive cohomology classes are controlled by their monodromy and by invariants defined without primitive insertions but with imposed nodes in the domain curve. To compute these nodal Gromov–Witten invariants, we introduce the new notion of nodal relative Gromov–Witten invariants. We then prove a nodal degeneration formula and a relative splitting formula. These results for nodal relative Gromov–Witten theory are stated in complete generality and are of independent interest.

The Hodge bundle, the universal 0-section, and the log Chow ring of the moduli space of curves

We bound from below the complexity of the top Chern class $\lambda _g$ of the Hodge bundle in the Chow ring of the moduli space of curves: no formulas for $\lambda _g$ in terms of classes of degrees 1 and 2 can exist. As a consequence of the Torelli map, the 0-section over the second Voronoi compactification of the moduli of principally polarized abelian varieties also cannot be expressed in terms of classes of degree 1 and 2. Along the way, we establish new cases of Pixton's conjecture for tautological relations. In the log Chow ring of the moduli space of curves, however, we prove $\lambda _g$ lies in the subalgebra generated by logarithmic boundary divisors. The proof is effective and uses Pixton's double ramification cycle formula together with a foundational study of the tautological ring defined by a normal crossings divisor. The results open the door to the search for simpler formulas for $\lambda _g$ on the moduli of curves after log blow-ups.

Tautological classes on low-degree Hurwitz spaces

Abstract Let ${\mathcal {H}}_{k,g}$ be the Hurwitz stack parametrizing degree $k$, genus $g$ covers of ${\mathbb {P}}^{1}$. We define the tautological ring of ${\mathcal {H}}_{k,g}$ and we show that all Chow classes, except possibly those supported on the locus of “factoring covers,” are tautological up to codimension roughly $g/k$ when $k \leq 5$. The set-up developed here is also used in our subsequent work [6], wherein we prove new results about the structure of the Chow ring for $k \leq 5$.

On the tautological ring of Humbert curves

We exhibit a 2-dimensional family of non-hyperelliptic curves of genus 5, called Humbert curves, for which the tautological ring injects into cohomology. In particular, Humbert curves have a multiplicative Chow-K\"unneth decomposition (in the sense of Shen-Vial), and their Ceresa cycle is torsion.

Characteristic classes for families of bundles

The generalized Miller–Morita–Mumford classes of a manifold bundle with fiber M depend only on the underlying tau _M-fibration, meaning the family of vector bundles formed by the tangent bundles of the fibers. This motivates a closer study of the classifying space for tau _M-fibrations, Baut(tau _M), and its cohomology ring, i.e., the ring of characteristic classes of tau _M-fibrations. For a bundle xi over a simply connected Poincaré duality space, we construct a relative Sullivan model for the universal xi -fibration with holonomy in a given connected monoid, together with explicit cocycle representatives for the characteristic classes of the canonical bundle over its total space. This yields tools for computing the rational cohomology ring of Baut(xi ) as well as the subring generated by the generalized Miller–Morita–Mumford classes. To illustrate, we carry out sample computations for spheres and complex projective spaces. We discuss applications to tautological rings of simply connected manifolds and to the problem of deciding whether a given tau _M-fibration comes from a manifold bundle.

Bi-Hamiltonian Recursion, Liu\u2013Pandharipande Relations, and Vanishing Terms of the Second Dubrovin\u2013Zhang Bracket

The Dubrovin–Zhang hierarchy is a Hamiltonian infinite-dimensional integrable system associated to a semi-simple cohomological field theory or, alternatively, to a semi-simple Dubrovin–Frobenius manifold. Under an extra assumption of homogeneity, Dubrovin and Zhang conjectured that there exists a second Poisson bracket that endows their hierarchy with a bi-Hamiltonian structure. More precisely, they gave a construction for the second bracket, but the polynomiality of its coefficients in the dispersion parameter expansion is yet to be proved. In this paper we use the bi-Hamiltonian recursion and a set of relations in the tautological rings of the moduli spaces of curves derived by Liu and Pandharipande in order to analyze the second Poisson bracket of Dubrovin and Zhang. We give a new proof of a theorem of Dubrovin and Zhang that the coefficients of the dispersion parameter expansion of the second bracket are rational functions with prescribed singularities. We also prove that all terms in the expansion of the second bracket in the dispersion parameter that cannot be realized by polynomials because they have negative degree do vanish, thus partly confirming the conjecture of Dubrovin and Zhang.

Chow rings of stacks of prestable curves I

Abstract We study the Chow ring of the moduli stack $\mathfrak {M}_{g,n}$ of prestable curves and define the notion of tautological classes on this stack. We extend formulas for intersection products and functoriality of tautological classes under natural morphisms from the case of the tautological ring of the moduli space $\overline {\mathcal {M}}_{g,n}$ of stable curves. This paper provides foundations for the paper [BS21]. In the appendix (jointly with J. Skowera), we develop the theory of a proper, but not necessary projective, pushforward of algebraic cycles. The proper pushforward is necessary for the construction of the tautological rings of $\mathfrak {M}_{g,n}$ and is important in its own right. We also develop operational Chow groups for algebraic stacks.

Admcycles - a Sage package for calculations in the tautological ring of the moduli space of stable curves

The tautological ring of the moduli space of stable curves has been studied extensively in the last decades. We present a SageMath implementation of many core features of this ring. This includes lists of generators and their products, intersection numbers and verification of tautological relations. Maps between tautological rings induced by functoriality, that is pushforwards and pullbacks under gluing and forgetful maps, are implemented. Furthermore, many interesting cycle classes, such as the double ramification cycles, strata of k-differentials and hyperelliptic or bielliptic cycles are available. In this paper we show how to apply the package, including concrete example computations.

Diffstrata—A Sage Package for Calculations in the Tautological Ring of the Moduli Space of Abelian Differentials

The boundary of the multi-scale differential compactification of strata of abelian differentials admits an explicit combinatorial description. However, even for low-dimensional strata, the complexity of the boundary requires use of a computer. We give a description of the algorithms implemented in the SageMath package diffstrata to enumerate the boundary components and perform intersection theory on this space. In particular, the package can compute the Euler characteristic of strata using the methods developed by the same authors.

The {mathcal {H}}-tautological ring

We extend the theory of tautological classes on moduli spaces of stable curves to the more general setting of moduli spaces of admissible Galois covers of curves, introducing the so-called {mathcal {H}}-tautological ring. The main new feature is the existence of restriction-corestriction morphisms remembering intermediate quotients of Galois covers, which are a rich source of new classes. In particular, our new framework includes classes of Harris–Mumford admissible covers on moduli spaces of curves, which are known in some (and speculatively many more) examples to lie outside the usual tautological ring. We give additive generators for the {mathcal {H}}-tautological ring and show that their intersections may be algorithmically computed, building on work of Schmitt-van Zelm. As an application, we give a method for computing integrals of Harris-Mumford loci against tautological classes of complementary dimension, recovering and giving a mild generalization of a recent quasi-modularity result of the author for covers of elliptic curves.

TAUTOLOGICAL RINGS AND STABILISATION

AbstractWe construct a ring homomorphism comparing the tautological ring, fixing a point, of a closed smooth manifold with that of its stabilisation by S2a×S2b.

Tropical Normal Functions-Higher Abel-Jacobi Invariants of Tropical Cycles

We consider the variation of tropical Hodge structure (TVHS) associated to families of tropical varieties. The family of the tropical intermediate Jacobians of the associated tropical Hodge structure defines a bundle of tropical Jacobians, whose sections we call the tropical normal functions. We define formal sequential derivatives of these functions on the base with respect to the natural Gauss-Manin connection as the Hodge theoretic invariants detecting tropical cycles in the fibers. The associated invariants which are defined inductively are the higher Abel-Jacobi invariants in the tropical category. They naturally identify the tropical Bloch-Beilinson filtration on the tropical Chow group. We examine this construction on the moduli of tropical curves with marked points, in order to study the tropical tautological classes in the tautological ring of trop. The expectation is the nontriviality of these cycles could be examined with less complexity in the tropical category. The construction is compatible with the tropicalization functor on the category of schemes, and the aforementioned procedure will also provide an alternative way to examine the relations in the tautological ring of g,n in the schemes category.

Relations in the tautological ring of the moduli space of curves

The virtual geometry of the moduli space of stable quotients is used to obtain Chow relations among the κ classes on the moduli space of nonsingular genus g curves. In a series of steps, the stable quotient relations are rewritten in successively simpler forms. The final result is the proof of the Faber-Zagier relations (conjectured in 2000).

DR/DZ equivalence conjecture and tautological relations

In this paper we present a family of conjectural relations in the tautological ring of the moduli spaces of stable curves which implies the strong double ramification/Dubrovin-Zhang equivalence conjecture. Our tautological relations have the form of an equality between two different families of tautological classes, only one of which involves the double ramification cycle. We prove that both families behave the same way upon pullback and pushforward with respect to forgetting a marked point. We also prove that our conjectural relations are true in genus $0$ and $1$ and also when first pushed forward from $\overline{\mathcal{M}}_{g,n+m}$ to $\overline{\mathcal{M}}_{g,n}$ and then restricted to $\mathcal{M}_{g,n}$, for any $g,n,m\geq 0$. Finally we show that, for semisimple CohFTs, the DR/DZ equivalence only depends on a subset of our relations, finite in each genus, which we prove for $g\leq 2$. As an application we find a new formula for the class $\lambda_g$ as a linear combination of dual trees intersected with kappa and psi classes, and we check it for $g \leq 3$.