English

Euler characteristics of the universal Picard stack

Algebraic Geometry 2026-02-19 v2 Combinatorics

Abstract

We study Sn\mathbb{S}_n-equivariant weight-graded and topological Euler characteristics of the universal Picard stack Picg,ndMg,n\mathrm{Pic}_{g, n}^d \to \mathcal{M}_{g, n} of degree-dd line bundles over Mg,n\mathcal{M}_{g, n}. We prove that in the weight-zero and topological cases, the generating function for Euler characteristics of Picg,nd\mathrm{Pic}_{g, n}^d is obtained from the corresponding one for Mg,n\mathcal{M}_{g, n} by an extremely simple combinatorial transformation. This lets us deduce closed formulas for the two generating functions, taking as input the Chan--Faber--Galatius--Payne formula in the weight-zero case and Gorsky's formula in the topological case. As an immediate corollary, we obtain closed formulas for the weight-zero and topological Euler characteristics of Picgd\mathrm{Pic}^d_g. Our weight-zero calculations follow from a general result passing from the weight-graded Euler characteristics of Mg,n\mathcal{M}_{g, n} to those of Picg,nd\mathrm{Pic}_{g,n}^d.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2602.09117,
  title  = {Euler characteristics of the universal Picard stack},
  author = {Siddarth Kannan},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2602.09117},
  year   = {2026}
}

Comments

v2: minor changes

R2 v1 2026-07-01T10:28:41.915Z