Intersections of Q-Divisors on Kontsevich's Moduli Space $\bar{M}_{0,n}(P^r,d)$ and Enumerative Geometry

We present an approach to a large class of enumerative problems concerning rational curves in projective spaces. This approach uses analysis to obtain topological information about moduli spaces of stable maps. We demonstrate it by enumerating one-component rational curves with a triple point or a tacnodal point in the three-dimensional projective space and with a cusp in any projective space.

Let $V$ be a smooth, projective, convex variety. We define tautological $\psi$ and $\kappa$ classes on the moduli space of stable maps $\M_{0,n}(V)$, give a (graphical) presentation for these classes in terms of boundary strata, derive differential equations for the generating functions of the Gromov-Witten invariants of $V$ twisted by these tautological classes, and prove that these intersection numbers are completely determined by the Gromov-Witten invariants of $V$. This r...

Let n > 2 and let d < (n+1)/2. We prove that for a general hypersurface X of degree d in P^n, all the genus 0 Kontsevich moduli spaces M_{0,n}(X,e) are irreducible, reduced, local complete intersection stacks of the expected dimension.

We study the geometry of the Kontsevich compactification of stable maps to the Grassmannian of lines in the projective space. We consider a stratification of this space. As an application we compute the degree of the variety parametrizing rational ruled surfaces with a minimal directix of degree d/2-1 by intersecting divisors in the moduli space of stable maps. For example, there are 128054031872040 rational ruled sextics passing through 25 points in $\mathbb{P}^{3}$ with a m...

On a general hypersurface of degree $d\leq n$ in $\mathbb P^n$ or $\mathbb P^n$ itself, we prove the existence of curves of any genus and high enough degree depending on the genus passing through the expected number $t$ of general points or incident to a general collection of subvarieties of suitable codimensions. In some cases we also show that the family of curves through $t$ fixed points has general moduli as family of $t$-pointed curves. These results imply positivity of ...

In this mostly expository paper we review several known results about the cohomology of moduli spaces of smooth and stable curves, focusing in particular on low degree cohomology. We also give a new proof of Harer's theorem describing the second cohomology group of the moduli space of smooth n-pointed curves of given genus

We give a presentation for the Chow ring of the moduli space of degree two stable maps from two-pointed rational curves to P^1. Also, integrals of of all degree four monomials in the hyperplane pullbacks and boundary divisors of this ring are computed using equivariant intersection theory. Finally, the presentation is used to give a new computation of the (previously known) values of the genus zero, degree two, two-pointed gravitational correlators of P^1. This article is a s...

We introduce and compute the class of a number of effective divisors on the moduli space of stable maps $\bar M_{0,0}(P^{r},d)$, which, for small d, provide a good understanding of the extremal rays and the stable base locus decomposition for the effective cone. We also discuss various birational models that arise in Mori's program, including the Hilbert scheme, the Chow variety, the space of $k$-stable maps, the space of branchcurves and the space of semi-stable sheaves.

We define a collection $\Theta_{g,n}\in H^{4g-4+2n}(\overline{\cal M}_{g,n},\mathbb{Q})$ for $2g-2+n>0$ of cohomology classes that restrict naturally to boundary divisors. We prove that the intersection numbers $\int_{\overline{\cal M}_{g,n}}\Theta_{g,n}\prod_{i=1}^n\psi_i^{m_i}$ can be recursively calculated. We conjecture that a generating function for these intersection numbers is a tau function of the KdV hierarchy. This is analogous to the conjecture of Witten proven by ...

This is a survey describing recents developments in enumerative geometry of curves on projective varieties. Various methods to arrive at results such as Kontsevich's formula for plane rational curves, or Caporaso-Harris's formula for plane curves of any genus, are illustrated on concrete examples It will appear on the Proceedings of the European Congress of Mathematics, Budapest 1996.