arXiv subjects
Publications and source records attributed to Benjamin Bakker.
We equip integral graded-polarized mixed period spaces with a natural $\mathbb{R}_{alg}$-definable analytic structure, and prove that any period map associated to an admissible variation of integral graded-polarized mixed Hodge structures is definable in $\mathbb{R}_{an,exp}$ with respect to this structure. As a consequence we reprove that the zero loci of admissible normal functions are algebraic.
We extend the Ax-Schanuel theorem recently proven for Shimura varieties by Mok-Pila-Tsimerman to all varieties supporting a pure polarized integral variation of Hodge structures. The essential new ingredient is a volume bound on Griffiths transverse subvarieties of period domains.
It has been a long-standing problem to find an adequate definition of a Clifford index for higher rank vector bundles on curves, which should capture the complexity of the curve in its moduli space. An interesting proposal in rank 2 has been put forward by Mercat, who conjectured that the second Clifford index of a curve should be equal to its classical Clifford index, defined in terms of gonality. Using moduli of sheaves on generic K3 surfaces, we prove Mercat's conjecture for generic curves of every genus. Furthermore, for odd g we identify an effective divisor in the moduli space M_g along which the Mercat Conjecture fails and we compute its slope, which is shown to be equal to 6+12/(g+1).
Given a complex quasiprojective curve $B$ and a non-isotrivial family $\mathcal{E}$ of elliptic curves over $B$, the $p$-torsion $\mathcal{E}[p]$ yields a monodromy representation $ρ_\mathcal{E}[p]:π_1(B)\rightarrow \mathrm{GL}_2(\mathbb{F}_p)$. We prove that if $ρ_{\mathcal E}[p]\cong ρ_{\mathcal E'}[p]$ then $\mathcal{E}$ and $\mathcal E'$ are isogenous, provided $p$ is larger than a constant depending only on the gonality of $B$. This can be viewed as a function field analog of the Frey--Mazur conjecture, which states that an elliptic curve over $\mathbb{Q}$ is determined up to isogeny by its $p$-torsion Galois representation for $p> 17$. The proof relies on hyperbolic geometry and is therefore only applicable in characteristic 0.
The Frey--Mazur conjecture states that an elliptic curve over $\mathbb{Q}$ is determined up to isogeny by its $p$-torsion Galois representation for $p\geq 17$. We study a geometric analog of this conjecture, and show that the map from isogeny classes of "fake elliptic curves"---abelian surfaces with quaternionic multiplication---to their $p$-torsion Galois representations is one-to-one over function fields of small genus complex curves for sufficiently large $p$ relative to the genus.
Classically, an indecomposable class $R$ in the cone of effective curves on a K3 surface $X$ is representable by a smooth rational curve if and only if $R^2=-2$. We prove a higher-dimensional generalization conjectured by Hassett and Tschinkel: for a holomorphic symplectic variety $M$ deformation equivalent to a Hilbert scheme of $n$ points on a K3 surface, an extremal curve class $R\in H_2(M,\mathbb{Z})$ in the Mori cone is the line in a Lagrangian $n$-plane $\mathbb{P}^n\subset M$ if and only if certain intersection-theoretic criteria are met. In particular, any such class satisfies $(R,R)=-\frac{n+3}{2}$ and the primitive such classes are all contained in a single monodromy orbit.
We prove a bound relating the volume of a curve near a cusp in a hyperbolic manifold to its multiplicity at the cusp. The proof uses a hybrid technique employing both the geometry of the uniformizing group and the algebraic geometry of the toroidal compactification. There are a number of consequences: we show that for an $n$-dimensional toroidal compactification $\bar X$ with boundary $D$, $K_{\bar X}+(1-\frac{n+1}{2π}) D$ is nef, and in particular that $K_{\bar X}$ is ample for $n\geq 6$. By an independent algebraic argument, we prove that every hyperbolic manifold of dimension $n\geq 3$ is of general type, and conclude that the phenomena famously exhibited by Hirzebruch in dimension 2 do not occur in higher dimensions. Finally, we investigate the applications to the problem of bounding the number of cusps and to the Green--Griffiths conjecture.
The geometric torsion conjecture asserts that the torsion part of the Mordell--Weil group of a family of abelian varieties over a complex quasiprojective curve is uniformly bounded in terms of the genus of the curve. We prove the conjecture for abelian varieties with real multiplication, uniformly in the field of multiplication. Fixing the field, we furthermore show that the torsion is bounded in terms of the $\mathit{gonality}$ of the base curve, which is the closer analog of the arithmetic conjecture. The proof is a hybrid technique employing both the hyperbolic and algebraic geometry of the toroidal compactifications of the Hilbert modular varieties $\overline X(1)$ parametrizing such abelian varieties. We show that only finitely many torsion covers $\overline X_1(\mathfrak{n})$ contain $d$-gonal curves outside of the boundary for any fixed $d$. We further show the same is true for entire curves $\mathbb{C}\rightarrow \overline X_1(\mathfrak{n})$.
We classify the cohomology classes of Lagrangian 4-planes $¶^4$ in a smooth manifold $X$ deformation equivalent to a Hilbert scheme of 4 points on a $K3$ surface, up to the monodromy action. Classically, the cone of effective curves on a $K3$ surface $S$ is generated by nonegative classes $C$, for which $(C,C)\geq0$, and nodal classes $C$, for which $(C,C)=-2$; Hassett and Tschinkel conjecture that the cone of effective curves on a holomorphic symplectic variety $X$ is similarly controlled by "nodal" classes $C$ such that $(C,C)=-γ$, for $(\cdot,\cdot)$ now the Beauville-Bogomolov form, where $γ$ classifies the geometry of the extremal contraction associated to $C$. In particular, they conjecture that for $X$ deformation equivalent to a Hilbert scheme of $n$ points on a $K3$ surface, the class $C=\ell$ of a line in a smooth Lagrangian $n$-plane $¶^n$ must satisfy $(\ell,\ell)=-\frac{n+3}{2}$. We prove the conjecture for $n=4$ by computing the ring of monodromy invariants on $X$, and showing there is a unique monodromy orbit of Lagrangian 4-planes.
We define and compute higher rank analogs of Pandharipande-Thomas stable pair invariants in primitive classes for K3 surfaces. Higher rank stable pair invariants for Calabi-Yau threefolds have been defined by Sheshmani \cite{shesh1,shesh2} using moduli of pairs of the form $Ø^n\into \F$ for $\F$ purely one-dimensional and computed via wall-crossing techniques. These invariants may be thought of as virtually counting embedded curves decorated with a $(n-1)$-dimensional linear system. We treat invariants counting pairs $Ø^n\into \E$ on a $\K3$ surface for $\E$ an arbitrary stable sheaf of a fixed numerical type ("coherent systems" in the language of \cite{KY}) whose first Chern class is primitive, and fully compute them geometrically. The ordinary stable pair theory of $\K3$ surfaces is treated by \cite{MPT}; there they prove the KKV conjecture in primitive classes by showing the resulting partition functions are governed by quasimodular forms. We prove a "higher" KKV conjecture by showing that our higher rank partition functions are modular forms.