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We consider the generating series of special cycles on $\mathcal{A}_1(N)\times \mathcal{A}_g(N)$, with full level $N$ structure, valued in the cohomology of degree $2g$. The modularity theorem of Kudla-Millson for locally symmetric spaces implies that these series are modular. When $N=1$, the images of these loci in $\mathcal{A}_g$ are the $d$-elliptic Noether-Lefschetz loci, which are conjectured to be modular. In the appendix, it is shown that the resulting modular forms are nonzero for $g=2$ when $N\geq 11$ and $N\neq 12$., Comment: 25 pages including appendix, comments welcome

We show that two natural cycle classes on the moduli space of compact type stable maps to a varying elliptic curve agree. The first is the virtual fundamental class from Gromov-Witten theory, and the second is the Torelli pullback of the special cycle on A_g of principally polarized abelian varieties admitting an elliptic isogeny factor., Comment: minor changes, accepted version to appear in Math. Res. Lett

We study the enumerativity of Gromov-Witten invariants where the domain curve is fixed in moduli and required to pass through the maximum possible number of points. We say a Fano manifold satisfies asymptotic enumerativity if such invariants are enumerative whenever the degree of the curve is sufficiently large. Lian and Pandharipande speculate that every Fano manifold satisfies asymptotic enumerativity. We give the first counterexamples, as well as some new examples where asymptotic enumerativity holds. The negative examples include special hypersurfaces of low Fano index and certain projective bundles, and the new positive examples include many Fano threefolds and all smooth hypersurfaces of degree $d \leq (n+3)/3$ in $\mathbb{P}^n$., Comment: minor changes, 32 pages, to appear in Forum of Mathematics, Sigma

Let $Z\subset Fl(n)$ be the closure of a generic torus orbit in the full flag variety. Anderson-Tymoczko express the cohomology class of $Z$ as a sum of classes of Richardson varieties. Harada-Horiguchi-Masuda-Park give a decomposition of the permutohedron, the moment map image of $Z$, into subpolytopes corresponding to the summands of the Anderson-Tymoczko formula. We construct an explicit toric degeneration inside $Fl(n)$ of $Z$ into Richardson varieties, whose moment map images coincide with the HHMP decomposition, thereby obtaining a new proof of the Anderson-Tymoczko formula., Comment: 21 pages, many examples added, minor corrections. Accepted version to appear in IMRN

We consider the problem of enumerating maps $f$ of degree $d$ from a fixed general curve $C$ of genus $g$ to $\mathbb{P}^r$ satisfying incidence conditions of the form $f(p_i)\in X_i$, where $p_i\in C$ are general points and $X_i\subset\mathbb{P}^r$ are general linear spaces. We give a complete answer in the case where the $X_i$ are points, where the counts, the ``Tevelev degrees'' of $\mathbb{P}^r$, were previously known only when $r=1$, when $d$ is large compared to $r,g$, or virtually in Gromov-Witten theory. We also give a complete answer in the case $r=2$ with arbitrary incidence conditions. Our main approach studies the behavior of complete collineations under various degenerations., Comment: small corrections. Accepted version to appear in J. Reine Angew. Math

We compare two formulas for the class of a generic torus orbit closure on the Grassmannian, due to Klyachko and Berget-Fink. The naturally emerging combinatorial objects are semi-standard fillings we call 1-strip-less tableaux., Comment: 20 pages, revised after referee comments. Detailed appendix added (formerly lemma 6). Some details and examples added to proofs, Proposition 11 corrected

We study the problem of counting pointed curves of fixed complex structure in blow-ups of projective space at general points. The geometric and virtual (Gromov-Witten) counts are found to agree asymptotically in the Fano (and some $(-K)$-nef) examples, but not in general. For toric blow-ups, geometric counts are expressed in terms of integrals on products of Jacobians and symmetric products of the domain curves, and evaluated explicitly in genus 0 and in the case of $\text{Bl}_q(\mathbb{P}^r)$. Virtual counts for $\text{Bl}_q(\mathbb{P}^r)$ are also computed via the quantum cohomology ring., Comment: minor corrections, some references updated, comments still welcome

Let $(C,p_1,\ldots,p_n)$ be a fixed general pointed curve and let $(X,x_1,\ldots,x_n)$ be a smooth hypersurface of degree $e$ and dimension $r$ with $n$ general points. We consider the problem of enumerating maps $f:C\to X$ of degree $d$ (as measured in the ambient projective space) such that $f(p_i)=x_i$. When $e$ is small compared to $r$ and $d$ is large compared to $g$, $e$, and $r$, these numbers have been computed first by passing to a virtual count in Gromov-Witten theory obtained by Buch-Pandharipande, and then by showing (in work of the author with Pandharipande) that the virtual counts are enumerative via an analysis of boundary contributions in the moduli space of stable maps. In this note, we give a simpler computation via projective geometry., Comment: final version, numerous corrections and improvements after referee comments. to appear in Michigan Math. J

Let $(C,p_1,\ldots,p_n)$ be a general curve. We consider the problem of enumerating covers of the projective line by $C$ subject to incidence conditions at the marked points. These counts have been obtained by the first named author with Pandharipande and Schmitt via intersection theory on Hurwitz spaces and by the second named author with Farkas via limit linear series. In this paper, we build on these two approaches to generalize these counts to the situation where the covers are constrained to have arbitrary ramification profiles: that is, additional ramification conditions are imposed at the marked points, and some collections of marked points are constrained to have equal image., Comment: final version, to appear in J. Pure Appl. Algebra. notation simplified, other minor changes after referee report

Tevelev degrees in Gromov-Witten theory are defined whenever there are virtually a finite number of genus $g$ maps of fixed complex structure in a given curve class $\beta$ through $n$ general points of a target variety $X$. These virtual Tevelev degrees often have much simpler structure than general Gromov-Witten invariants. We explore here the question of the enumerativity of such counts in the asymptotic range for large curve class $\beta$. A simple speculation is that for all Fano $X$, the virtual Tevelev degrees are enumerative for sufficiently large $\beta$. We prove the claim for all homogeneous varieties and all hypersurfaces of sufficiently low degree (compared to dimension). As an application, we prove a new result on the existence of very free curves of low degree on hypersurfaces in positive characteristic., Comment: final version, erroneous example removed, reference to forthcoming work of Beheshti-Lehmann-Riedl-Starr-Tanimoto added. To appear in Ann. Sc. Norm. Super. Pisa Cl. Sci

Using degeneration and Schubert calculus, we consider the problem of computing the number of linear series of given degree $d$ and dimension $r$ on a general curve of genus $g$ satisfying prescribed incidence conditions at $n$ points. We determine these numbers completely for linear series of arbitrary dimension when $d$ is sufficiently large, and for all $d$ when either $r=1$ or $n=r+2$. Our formulas generalize and give new proofs of recent results of Tevelev and of Cela-Pandharipande-Schmitt., Comment: version 2, various corrections (including error in section 4), plus references to later work. To appear in J. Inst. Math. Jussieu

Let X -> P^1 be a general cyclic cover. We give a simple formula for the number of equivariant meromorphic functions on X subject to ramification conditions at variable points. This generalizes and gives a new proof of a recent result of the second author and Pirola on hyperelliptic odd covers., Comment: final version, to appear in Israel J. Math

We show that various loci of stable curves of sufficiently large genus admitting degree $d$ covers of positive genus curves define non-tautological algebraic cycles on $\overline{\mathcal{M}}_{g,N}$, assuming the non-vanishing of the $d$-th Fourier coefficient of a certain modular form. Our results build on those of Graber-Pandharipande and van Zelm for degree 2 covers of elliptic curves; the main new ingredient is a method to intersect the cycles in question with boundary strata, as developed recently by Schmitt-van Zelm and the author., Comment: final version, to appear in Math. Z

We extend the theory of tautological classes on moduli spaces of stable curves to the more general setting of moduli spaces of admissible Galois covers of curves, introducing the so-called H-tautological ring. The main new feature is the existence of restriction-corestriction morphisms remembering intermediate quotients of Galois covers, which are a rich source of new classes. In particular, our new framework includes classes of Harris-Mumford admissible covers on moduli spaces of curves, which are known in some (and speculatively many more) examples to lie outside the usual tautological ring. We give additive generators for the H-tautological ring and show that their intersections may be algorithmically computed, building on work of Schmitt-van Zelm. As an application, we give a method for computing integrals of Harris-Mumford loci against tautological classes of complementary dimension, recovering and giving a mild generalization of a recent quasi-modularity result of the author for covers of elliptic curves., Comment: Final version, to appear in Selecta Math. (N.S.)

Let X be a smooth projective surface over C and let L be an ample line bundle on X. In this note, we show that, for all sufficiently large d, any number of general double points on X imposes the expected number of conditions on the linear system |L^d|. Equivalently, the space of d-plane sections of X singular at any number of general points has the expected dimension. We conjecture that the same holds for X of arbitrary dimension., Comment: It was pointed out to the author soon after posting that a result subsuming both the main theorem and conjecture of this paper were proven in: J. Alexander and A. Hirschowitz, An asymptotic vanishing theorem for generic unions of multiple points, Invent. Math. 140 (2000), 303-325. This article is no longer intended for publication

We consider the loci of curves of genus 2 and 3 admitting a $d$-to-1 map to a genus 1 curve. After compactifying these loci via admissible covers, we obtain formulas for their Chow classes, recovering results of Faber-Pagani and van Zelm when $d=2$. The answers exhibit quasimodularity properties similar to those in the Gromov-Witten theory of a fixed genus 1 curve; we conjecture that the quasimodularity persists in higher genus, and indicate a number of possible variants., Comment: some minor errors in formulas pointed out by Aaron Pixton corrected

We compute the rational Chow class of the locus of genus 2 curves admitting a d-to-1 map to a genus 1 curve, recovering a result of Faber-Pagani when d=2. The answer exhibits quasi-modularity properties similar to those in the Gromov-Witten theory of a fixed genus 1 curve. Along the way, we give a classification of Harris-Mumford admissible covers of a genus 1 curve by a genus 2 curve, which may be of independent interest. As an application of the main calculation, we compute the number of d-elliptic curves in a very general family of genus 2 curves obtained by fixing five branch points of the hyperelliptic map and varying the sixth., Comment: The results of this paper have been subsumed by arXiv 2004.06768 and is no longer intended for publication

We consider the general problem of enumerating branched covers of the projective line from a fixed general curve subject to ramification conditions at possibly moving points. Our main computations are in genus 1; the theory of limit linear series allows one to reduce to this case. We first obtain a simple formula for a weighted count of pencils on a fixed elliptic curve E, where base-points are allowed. We then deduce, using an inclusion-exclusion procedure, formulas for the numbers of maps E->P^1 with moving ramification conditions. A striking consequence is the invariance of these counts under a certain involution. Our results generalize work of Harris, Logan, Osserman, and Farkas-Moschetti-Naranjo-Pirola., Comment: 33 pages. To appear in J. Algebraic Geom. Also appears as chapter 2 of the author's PhD thesis