A support theorem for\break the Hitchin fibration: The case of GL n and K C

We compute the supports of the perverse cohomology sheaves of the Hitchin fibration for GL n {\mathrm{GL}_{n}} over the locus of reduced spectral curves. In contrast to the case of meromorphic Higgs fields we find additional supports at the loci of reducible spectral curves. Their contribution to the global cohomology is governed by a finite twist of Hitchin fibrations for Levi subgroups. The corresponding summands give non-trivial contributions to the cohomology of the moduli spaces for every n ≥ 2 {n\geq{2}} . A key ingredient is a restriction result for intersection cohomology sheaves that allows us to compare the fibration to the one defined over versal deformations of spectral curves.

Semicontinuity of Gauss maps and the Schottky problem

We show that the degree of Gauss maps on abelian varieties is semicontinuous in families, and we study its jump loci. As an application we obtain that in the case of theta divisors this degree answers the Schottky problem. Our proof computes the degree of Gauss maps by specialization of Lagrangian cycles on the cotangent bundle. We also get similar results for the intersection cohomology of varieties with a finite morphism to an abelian variety; it follows that many components of Andreotti–Mayer loci, including the Schottky locus, are part of the stratification of the moduli space of ppav’s defined by the topological type of the theta divisor.

INTERSECTION COHOMOLOGY OF THE MODULI SPACE OF HIGGS BUNDLES ON A GENUS 2 CURVE

Let C be a smooth projective curve of genus $2$ . Following a method by O’Grady, we construct a semismall desingularisation $\tilde {\mathcal {M}}_{Dol}^G$ of the moduli space $\mathcal {M}_{Dol}^G$ of semistable G-Higgs bundles of degree 0 for $G=\mathrm {GL}(2,\mathbb {C}), \mathrm {SL}(2,\mathbb {C})$ . By the decomposition theorem of Beilinson, Bernstein and Deligne, one can write the cohomology of $\tilde {\mathcal {M}}_{Dol}^G$ as a direct sum of the intersection cohomology of $\mathcal {M}_{Dol}^G$ plus other summands supported on the singular locus. We use this splitting to compute the intersection cohomology of $\mathcal {M}_{Dol}^G$ and prove that the mixed Hodge structure on it is pure, in analogy with what happens to ordinary cohomology in the smooth case of coprime rank and degree.

Polynomial identities related to special Schubert varieties

Let $$\mathcal S$$ S be a single condition Schubert variety with an arbitrary number of strata. Recently, an explicit description of the summands involved in the decomposition theorem applied to such a variety has been obtained in a paper of the second author. Starting from this result, we provide an explicit description of the Poincaré polynomial of the intersection cohomology of $$\mathcal S$$ S by means of the Poincaré polynomials of its strata, obtaining interesting polynomial identities relating Poincaré polynomials of several Grassmannians, both by a local and by a global point of view. We also present a symbolic study of a particular case of these identities.

POINCARÉ DUALITY, CAP PRODUCT AND BOREL–MOORE INTERSECTION HOMOLOGY

Using a cap product, we construct an explicit Poincaré duality isomorphism between the blown-up intersection cohomology and the Borel–Moore intersection homology, for any commutative ring of coefficients and second-countable, oriented pseudomanifolds.