Decomposition of BPS moduli spaces and asymptotics of supersymmetric partition functions

We present a prototype for Wilsonian analysis of asymptotics of supersymmetric partition functions of non-abelian gauge theories. Localization allows expressing such partition functions as an integral over a BPS moduli space. When the limit of interest introduces a scale hierarchy in the problem, asymptotics of the partition function is obtained in the Wilsonian approach by i) decomposing (in some suitable scheme) the BPS moduli space into various patches according to the set of light fields (lighter than the scheme dependent cut-off Λ) they support, ii) localizing the partition function of the effective field theory on each patch (with cut-offs set by the scheme), and iii) summing up the contributions of all patches to obtain the final asymptotic result (which is scheme-independent and accurate as Λ → ∞). Our prototype concerns the Cardy-like asymptotics of the 4d superconformal index, which has been of interest recently for its application to black hole microstate counting in AdS5/CFT4. As a byproduct of our analysis we obtain the most general asymptotic expression for the index of gauge theories in the Cardy-like limit, encompassing and extending all previous results.

Random Unitary Representations of Surface Groups I: Asymptotic Expansions

In this paper, we study random representations of fundamental groups of surfaces into special unitary groups. The random model we use is based on a symplectic form on moduli space due to Atiyah, Bott and Goldman. Let $$\Sigma _{g}$$ Σ g denote a topological surface of genus $$g\ge 2$$ g ≥ 2 . We establish the existence of a large n asymptotic expansion, to any fixed order, for the expected value of the trace of any fixed element of $$\pi _{1}(\Sigma _{g})$$ π 1 ( Σ g ) under a random representation of $$\pi _{1}(\Sigma _{g})$$ π 1 ( Σ g ) into $$\mathsf {SU}(n)$$ SU ( n ) . Each such expected value involves a contribution from all irreducible representations of $$\mathsf {SU}(n)$$ SU ( n ) . The main technical contribution of the paper is effective analytic control of the entire contribution from irreducible representations outside finite sets of carefully chosen rational families of representations.

Comparison of Poisson structures on moduli spaces

Let X be a complex irreducible smooth projective curve, and let $${{\mathbb {L}}}$$ L be an algebraic line bundle on X with a nonzero section $$\sigma _0$$ σ 0 . Let $${\mathcal {M}}$$ M denote the moduli space of stable Hitchin pairs $$(E,\, \theta )$$ ( E , θ ) , where E is an algebraic vector bundle on X of fixed rank r and degree $$\delta $$ δ , and $$\theta \, \in \, H^0(X,\, {\mathcal {E}nd}(E)\otimes K_X\otimes {{\mathbb {L}}})$$ θ ∈ H 0 ( X , E n d ( E ) ⊗ K X ⊗ L ) . Associating to every stable Hitchin pair its spectral data, an isomorphism of $${\mathcal {M}}$$ M with a moduli space $${\mathcal {P}}$$ P of stable sheaves of pure dimension one on the total space of $$K_X\otimes {{\mathbb {L}}}$$ K X ⊗ L is obtained. Both the moduli spaces $${\mathcal {P}}$$ P and $${\mathcal {M}}$$ M are equipped with algebraic Poisson structures, which are constructed using $$\sigma _0$$ σ 0 . Here we prove that the above isomorphism between $${\mathcal {P}}$$ P and $${\mathcal {M}}$$ M preserves the Poisson structures.

The perfect cone compactification of quotients of type IV domains

The perfect cone compactification is a toroidal compactification which can be defined for locally symmetric varieties. Let $$\overline{D_{L}/\widetilde{O}^{+}(L)}^{p}$$ D L / O ~ + ( L ) ¯ p be the perfect cone compactification of the quotient of the type IV domain $$D_{L}$$ D L associated to an even lattice L. In our main theorem we show that the pair $${ (\overline{D_{L}/\widetilde{O}^{+}(L)}^{p}, \Delta /2) }$$ ( D L / O ~ + ( L ) ¯ p , Δ / 2 ) has klt singularities, where $$\Delta $$ Δ is the closure of the branch divisor of $${ D_{L}/\widetilde{O}^{+}(L) }$$ D L / O ~ + ( L ) . In particular this applies to the perfect cone compactification of the moduli space of 2d-polarised K3 surfaces with ADE singularities when d is square-free.

A supersingular coincidence

The 15 primes 2, 3, 5, 7, 11, 13, 17, 19, 23, 29, 31, 41, 47, 59, 71 are called the supersingular primes: they occur in several contexts in number theory and also, strikingly, they are the primes that divide the order of the Monster. It is also known that the moduli space of (1, p)-polarised abelian surfaces is of general type for these primes. In this note, we explain that apparently coincidental fact by relating it to other number-theoretic occurences of the supersingular primes.

Shimura subvarieties in the Prym locus of ramified Galois coverings

We study Shimura (special) subvarieties in the moduli space $$A_{p,D}$$ A p , D of complex abelian varieties of dimension p and polarization type D. These subvarieties arise from families of covers compatible with a fixed group action on the base curve such that the quotient of the base curve by the group is isomorphic to $${{\mathbb {P}}}^1$$ P 1 . We give a criterion for the image of these families under the Prym map to be a special subvariety and, using computer algebra, obtain 210 Shimura subvarieties contained in the Prym locus.