Abstract
The goal of the paper is to apply the theory of integrable systems to construct explicit sections of line bundles over the combinatorial model of the moduli space of pointed Riemann surfaces based on Strebel differentials. These line bundles are tensor products of the determinants of the Hodge or Prym vector bundles with the standard tautological line bundles \(\mathcal {L}_j\), and the sections are constructed in terms of tau functions. The combinatorial model is interpreted as the real slice of a complex analytic moduli space of quadratic differentials where the phase of each tau-function provides a section of a circle bundle. The phase of the ratio of the Prym and Hodge tau functions gives a section of the \(\kappa _1\)-circle bundle. By evaluating the increment of the phase around co-dimension 2 sub-complexes, we identify the Poincaré dual cycles to the Chern classes of the corresponding line bundles: they are expressed explicitly as combination of Witten’s cycle \(W_{5} \) and Kontsevich’s boundary. This provides combinatorial analogues of Mumford’s relations on \({\mathcal {M}}_{g,n}\) and Penner’s relations in the hyperbolic combinatorial model. The free homotopy classes of loops around \(W_{5} \) are interpreted as pentagon moves while those of loops around Kontsevich’s boundary as combinatorial Dehn twists. Throughout the paper we exploit the classical description of the combinatorial model in terms of Strebel differentials, parametrized in terms of period, or homological coordinates; we show that they provide Darboux coordinates for the symplectic structure introduced by Kontsevich. We also express the latter as the intersection pairing in the odd homology of the canonical double cover.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Abikoff, W.: The Real Analytic Theory of Teichmüller Space. Lecture Notes in Mathematics, vol. 820. Springer, Berlin (1980)
Arbarello, E., Cornalba, M.: Combinatorial and algebro-geometric cohomology classes on the moduli spaces of curves. J. Algebr. Geom. 5(4), 705–749 (1996)
Arbarello, E., Cornalba, M., Griffiths, P.: Geometry of Algebraic Curves, Grundlehren der mathematischen Wissenshaften, 268, vol. 2. Springer, Berlin (2011)
Basok, M.: Tau function and moduli of spin curves. Int. Math. Res. Not. 20, 10095–10117 (2015)
Bertola, M., Korotkin, D., Norton, C.: Symplectic geometry of the moduli space of projective structures in homological coordinates. Invent. Math. 210(3), 759–814 (2017)
Bertola, M., Korotkin, D.: Discriminant circle bundles over local models of Strebel graphs and Boutroux curves. Theor. Math. Phys. 197, 1535–1571 (2018)
Bottacin, F.: Symplectic geometry on moduli spaces of stable pairs. Ann. Sci. Ecole Norm. Sup. (4) 28(4), 391–433 (1995)
Chekhov, L., Fock, V.: Quantum Teichmüller spaces. Theor. Math. Phys. 120(3), 1245–1259 (1999). arXiv:math/9908165
Cornalba, M., Harris, J.: Divisor classes associated to families of stable varieties, with applications to the moduli space of curves. Ann. Sci. Ec. Norm. Super. 4(21), 455–475 (1988)
Dubrovin, B.: Painlevé Transcendents in Two-dimensional Topological Field Theory, The Painlevé property, 287–412 CRM Ser. Math. Phys. Springer, New York (1999)
Ekedahl, T., Lando, S., Shapiro, M., Vainshtein, A.: Hurwitz numbers and intersections on moduli spaces of curves. Invent. Math. 146, 297–327 (2001)
Eskin, A., Kontsevich, M., Zorich, A.: Sum of Lyapunov exponents of the Hodge bundle with respect to the Teichmller geodesic flow. Publ. Math. Inst. Hautes Tudes Sci. 120, 207–333 (2014)
Eynard, B., Kokotov, A., Korotkin, D.: Genus one contribution to free energy in Hermitian two-matrix model. Nucl. Phys. B 694, 443–472 (2004)
Farb, B., Margalit, D.: A Primer on Mapping Class Groups, p. 472. Princeton University Press, Princeton (2002)
Farkas, G., Verra, A.: The geometry of the moduli space of odd spin curves. Ann. Math. 180(3), 927–970 (2014)
Griffiths, P., Harris, G.: Principles of Algebraic Geometry, p. 813. Wiley, New York (1978)
Harer, J.: The virtual cohomological dimension of the mapping class group of an orientable surface. Invent. Math. 84(1), 157–176 (1986)
Hitchin, N.: The self-duality equations on a Riemann surface. Proc. LMS 55(3), 59–126 (1987)
Igusa, K.: Combinatorial Miller–Morita–Mumford classes and Witten cycles. Algebr. Geom. Topol. 4, 473–520 (2004)
John, D.: FayTheta Functions on Riemann Surfaces. Lecture Notes in Mathematics, vol. 352, p. 137. Springer, Berlin (1973)
John, D.: Fay Kernel functions, analytic torsion, and moduli spaces. Mem. Am. Math. Soc. 96(464), 123 (1992)
Jimbo, M., Miwa, T., Ueno, K.: Monodromy preserving deformation of linear ordinary differential equations with rational coefficients I. Physica 2 D, 306–352 (1981)
Kalla, C., Korotkin, D.: Baker–Akhiezer spinor kernel and tau-functions on moduli spaces of meromorphic differentials. Commun. Math. Phys. 331, 1191–1235 (2014)
Kazarian, M.: KP hierarchy for Hodge integrals. Adv. Math. 221, 1–21 (2009)
Kokotov, A., Korotkin, D.: Tau-functions on spaces of Abelian and quadratic differentials and determinants of Laplacians in Strebel metrics of finite volume, math.SP/0405042, preprint No. 46 of Max-Planck Institut for Mathematics in Science, Leipzig (2004)
Kokotov, A., Korotkin, D.: Tau-functions on spaces of Abelian differentials and higher genus generalization of Ray–Singer formula. J. Differ. Geom. 82, 35–100 (2009)
Kokotov, A., Korotkin, D., Zograf, P.: Isomonodromic tau function on the space of admissible covers. Adv. Math. 227(1), 586–600 (2011)
Kokotov, A., Korotkin, D.: On \(G\)-function of Frobenius manifolds related to Hurwitz spaces. Int. Math. Res. Not. 2004(7), 343–360 (2004)
Korotkin, D., Sauvaget, A., Zograf, P.: Tau functions, Prym-Tyurin classes and loci of degenerate differentials. Math. Ann. 375(1–2), 213–246 (2019)
Korotkin, D., Zograf, P.: Tau function and moduli of differentials. Math. Res. Lett. 18(3), 447–458 (2011)
Korotkin, D., Zograf, P.: Tau function and the Prym class. In: Dzhamay, A., Maruno, K., Pierce, V.U. (eds.) Algebraic and Geometric Aspects of Integrable Systems and Random Matrices. Contemporary Mathematics, vol. 593, pp. 241–261. American Mathematical Society, Providence, RI (2013)
Kokotov, A., Korotkin, D.: Isomonodromic tau function of Hurwitz–Frobenius manifolds and its applications. IMRN 2006, 1–34 (2006)
Korotkin, D.: Solution of an arbitrary matrix Riemann–Hilbert problem with quasi-permutation monodromy matrices. Math. Ann. 329(2), 335–364 (2004)
Kontsevich, M.: Intersection theory on the moduli space of curves and the matrix Airy function. Commun. Math. Phys. 147(1), 1–23 (1992)
Lando, S., Zvonkin, A.: Graphs on Surfaces and Their Applications With an Appendix by Don B. Zagier. Encyclopaedia of Mathematical Sciences, 141. Low-Dimensional Topology, II. Springer, Berlin (2004)
Looijenga, E.: Cellular Decompositions of Compactified Moduli Spaces of Pointed Curves, The Moduli Space of Curves, (Texel Island, 1994), pp. 369–400. Birkhäuser Boston, Boston, MA (1995)
Malgrange, B.: Sur les déformations isomonodromiques. I: singularités réguliéres in Séminaire ENS. Progress in Mathematics. Birkhäuser, Basel (1983)
Markman, E.: Spectral curves and integrable systems. Compos. Math. 93, 255–290 (1994)
Mondello, G.: Combinatorial classes on \(M_{g, n}\) are tautological. Int. Math. Res. Not. 44, 2329–2390 (2004)
Mondello, G.: Riemann surfaces, ribbon graphs and combinatorial classes. In: Handbook of Teichmüller Theory, vol. II, pp. 151–215. IRMA Lectures in Mathematics and Theoretical Physics, vol 13. European Mathematical Society, Zürich (2009)
Okounkov, A.: Toda equations for Hurwitz numbers. Math. Res. Lett. 7, 447–453 (2000)
Pandharipande, R.: A calculus for the moduli space of curves. In: Proceedings of Symposia in Pure Mathematics, vol. 97.1, pp. 459–487. Algebraic geometry, Salt Lake City, Providence, RI (2018)
Penner, R.: The Poincaré dual of the Weil–Petersson Kähler two-form. Commun. Anal. Geom. 1(1), 43–69 (1993)
Seiberg, N., Witten, E.: Monopole condensation, and confinement In N=2 supersymmetric Yang–Mills theory. Nucl. Phys. B 426, 19–52 (1994)
Strebel, K.: Quadratic Differentials. Springer, Berlin (1984)
Takhtajan, L., Zograf, P.: A local index theorem for families of \(\bar{\partial }\)-operators on punctured Riemann surfaces and a new Kähler metric on their moduli spaces. Commun. Math. Phys. 137(2), 399–426 (1991)
Witten, E.: Two-dimensional gravity and intersection theory on moduli spaces. Surv. Differ. Geom. 1, 243–310 (1991)
Zvonkine, D.: An introduction to moduli spaces of curves and their intersection theory. In: Handbook of Teichmüller Theory, IRMA Lectures in Mathematics and Theoretical Physics, 17, vol. III, pp. 667–716. European Mathematical Society, Zürich (2012)
Acknowledgements
The authors thank Peter Zograf for numerous illuminating discussions. We thank Sam Grushevsky and Martin Möller for comments on the formula (1.2). The work of M.B. is supported in part by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) grant RGPIN-2016-06660. The work of D.K. was supported in part by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada grant RGPIN/3827-2015 and by Alexander von Humboldt Stiftung. Both authors are partially supported by the FQRNT grant “Matrices Aléatoires, Processus Stochastiques et Systèmes Intégrables” (2013–PR–166790). Both authors thank the Institut Mittag–Leffler for hospitality during the workshop “Moduli Integrability and Dynamics”, where parts of the paper where written. D.K. thanks Max-Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics in Golm (Albert Einstein Institute) and SISSA (Trieste) for hospitality and support during preparation of this work.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Communicated by C. Schweigert
Publisher's Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Bertola, M., Korotkin, D. Hodge and Prym Tau Functions, Strebel Differentials and Combinatorial Model of \({\mathcal {M}}_{g,n}\). Commun. Math. Phys. 378, 1279–1341 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00220-020-03819-9
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00220-020-03819-9