Tautological and non-tautological cycles on the moduli space of abelian varieties

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates the existence of non-tautological algebraic cycles on the moduli space of abelian varieties by analyzing the Torelli pullback and tautological rings, revealing new geometric insights and extending previous results.

Contribution

It constructs the first explicit non-tautological algebraic class on moduli spaces of abelian varieties using Torelli pullback and tautological ring analysis.

Findings

The class [A_1×A_5] in CH^5(A_6) is non-tautological.

The tautological ring R^*(M_6^{ct}) has a 1-dimensional Gorenstein kernel.

Torelli pullback of certain classes always lies in the Gorenstein kernel.

Abstract

The tautological Chow ring of the moduli space $\mathcal{A}_g$ of principally polarized abelian varieties of dimension $g$ was defined and calculated by van der Geer in 1999. By studying the Torelli pullback of algebraic cycles classes from $\mathcal{A}_g$ to the moduli space $\mathcal{M}_g^{\mathrm{ct}}$ of genus $g$ of curves of compact type, we prove that the product class $[\mathcal{A}_1\times \mathcal{A}_5]\in \mathsf{CH}^{5}(\mathcal{A}_6)$ is non-tautological, the first construction of an interesting non-tautological algebraic class on the moduli spaces of abelian varieties. For our proof, we use the complete description of the the tautological ring $\mathsf{R}^*(\mathcal{M}_6^{\mathrm{ct}})$ in genus 6 conjectured by Pixton and recently proven by Canning-Larson-Schmitt. The tautological ring $\mathsf{R}^*(\mathcal{M}_6^{\mathrm{ct}})$ has a 1-dimensional Gorenstein kernel, which is geometrically explained by the Torelli pullback of $[\mathcal{A}_1\times \mathcal{A}_5]$. More generally, the Torelli pullback of the difference between $[\mathcal{A}_1\times \mathcal{A}_{g-1}]$ and its tautological projection always lies in the Gorenstein kernel of $\mathsf{R}^*(\mathcal{M}_g^{\mathrm{ct}})$. The product map $\mathcal{A}_1\times \mathcal{A}_{g-1}\rightarrow \mathcal{A}_g$ is a Noether-Lefschetz locus with general Neron-Severi rank 2. A natural extension of van der Geer's tautological ring is obtained by including more general Noether-Lefschetz loci. Results and conjectures related to cycle classes of Noether-Lefschetz loci for all $g$ are presented.