arXiv subjects
Publications and source records attributed to Eduard Looijenga.
We discuss the construction of a one parameter family of complex hyperbolic structures on the complement of a toric mirror arrangement associated with a simply laced root system. Subsequently we find conditions for which parameter values this leads to ball quotients.
We find for g at most 5 a stratification of depth g-2 of the moduli space of curves M_g with the property that its strata are affine and the classes of their closures provide a Q-basis for the Chow ring of M_g. The first property confirms a conjecture of one of us. The way we establish the second property yields new (and simpler) proofs of theorems of Faber and Izadi which, taken together, amount to the statement that in this range the Chow ring is generated by the lambda-class.
We determine the projectively flat unitary structure on abelian conformal blocks in terms of WZW-data.
We define for every affine Coxeter graph a certain factor group of the associated Artin group and prove that some of these groups appear as orbifold fundamental groups of moduli spaces. Examples are the moduli space of nonsingular cubic algebraic surfaces and the universal nonhyperelliptic smooth genus three curve. We use this to obtain a simple presentation of the mapping class group of a compact genus three topological surface with connected boundary. This leads to a modification of Wajnryb's presentation of the mapping class groups in the higher genus case that can be understood in algebro-geometric terms.
The period map for cubic fourfolds takes values in a locally symmetric variety of orthogonal type of dimension 20. We determine the image of this period map (thus confirming a conjecture of Hassett) and give at the same time a new proof of the theorem of Voisin that asserts that this period map is an open embedding. An algebraic version of our main result is an identification of the algebra of SL(6)-invariant polynomials on the space of cubic forms in 6 complex variables with a certain algebra of meromorphic automorphic forms on a symmetric domain of orthogonal type of dimension 20. We also describe the stratification of the moduli space of semistable cubic fourfolds in terms of a Dynkin-Vinberg diagram.
Coble defined in his 1929 treatise invariants for cubic surfaces and quartic curves. We reinterpret these in terms of the root systems of type E_6 and E_7 that are naturally associated to these varieties, thereby giving some of his results a more intrinsic treatment. Our discussion is uniform for all Del Pezzo surfaces of degree 2,3,4 and 5.
Allcock-Carlson-Toledo defined a period map for cubic threefolds which takes values in a ball quotient of dimension 10. A theorem of Voisin implies that this is an open embedding. We determine its image and show that on the algebraic level this amounts to an identification of the algebra of SL(5,C)-invariant polynomials on the third symmetric power of the dual of the tautological representation of SL(5,C) with an explicitly described algebra of meromorphic automorphic forms on the complex 10-ball.
For certain complex projective manifolds (such as K3 surfaces and their higher dimensional analogues, the complex symplectic projective manifolds) the period map takes values in a locally symmetric variety of type IV. It is often an open embedding and in such cases it has been observed that the image is the complement of a locally symmetric (Heegner) divisor. We explain that phenomenon and get our hands on the complementary divisor in terms of geometric data.
This is a survey of the Deligne-Mostow theory of Lauricella functions, or what almost amounts to the same thing, of the period map for cyclic coverings of the Riemann sphere.
We give a simple coordinate free description of the WZW connection and derive its main properties.
We identify the algebra of regular functions on the space of quartic polynomials in three complex variables invariant under SL(3,C) with an algebra of meromorphic automorphic forms on the complex 6-ball. We also discuss the underlying geometry.
We discuss a special eigenstate of the quantized periodic Calogero-Moser system associated to a root system. This state has the property that its eigenfunctions, when regarded as multivalued functions on the space of regular conjugacy classes in the corresponding semisimple complex Lie group, transform under monodromy according to the complex reflection representation of the affine Hecke algebra.We show that this endows the space of conjugacy classes in question with a projective structure. For a certain parameter range this projective structure underlies a complex hyperbolic structure. If in addition a Schwarz type of integrality condition is satisfied, then it even has the structure of a ball quotient minus a Heegner divisor. For example, the case of the root system E_8 with the triflection monodromy representation describes a special eigenstate for the system of 12 unordered points on the projective line under a particular constraint.
Consider a complex projective space with its Fubini-Study metric. We study certain one parameter deformations of this metric on the complement of an arrangement (=a finite union of hyperplanes) whose Levi-Civita connection is of Dunkl type--interesting examples are obtained from the arrangements defined by finite complex reflection groups. We determine a parameter interval for which the metric is locally of Fubini-Study type, flat, or complex-hyperbolic. We find a finite subset of this interval for which we get a complete orbifold or at least a Zariski open subset thereof, and we analyze these cases in some detail (e.g., we determine their orbifold fundamental group). In this set-up, the principal results of Deligne-Mostow on the Lauricella hypergeometric differential equation and work of Barthel-Hirzebruch-Hoefer on arrangements in a projective plane appear as special cases. Along the way we produce in a geometric manner all the pairs of complex reflection groups with isomorphic discriminants, thus providing a uniform approach to work of Orlik-Solomon.
We define a new class of completions of locally symmetric varieties of type IV which interpolates between the Baily-Borel compactification and Mumford's toric compactifications. An arithmetic arrangement in a locally symmetric variety of type IV determines such a completion canonically. This completion admits a natural contraction that leaves the complement of the arrangement untouched. The resulting completion of the arrangement complement is very much like a Baily-Borel compactification: it is the proj of an algebra of meromorphic automorphic forms. When that complement has a moduli space interpretation, then what we get is often a compactification obtained by means of geometric invariant theory. We illustrate this with several examples: moduli spaces of polarized $K3$ and Enriques surfaces and the semi-universal deformation of a triangle singularity. We also discuss the question when a type IV arrangement is definable by an automorphic form.
We define a natural compactification of an arrangement complement in a ball quotient. We show that when this complement has a moduli space interpretation, then this compactification is often one that appears naturally by means of geometric invariant theory. We illustrate this with the moduli spaces of smooth quartic curves and rational elliptic surfaces.
We show that the moduli space of rational elliptic surfaces admitting a section is locally a complex hyperbolic variety of dimension eight. We compare its Satake-Baily-Borel compactification with a compactification obtained by means of geometric invariant theory, considered by Miranda.