VIRASORO ALGEBRA AND TEICHMULLER SPACES M. L. Kontsevich une 517.43 ‘The supposition of the existence of a connection between the objects mentioned in the title of this note was stated by Manin [1]. It will be shown here that the Teichmiller space is (infinitesimally) the space of double cosets of the "Virasoro group" with respect to the 4 analogs of compact and discrete subgroups, and the action of the Virasoro algebra on the determinant sheaves will be described. Similar results were obtained independently by A. A. Beilinson and V. V. Shekhtman. I thank A. A. Beilinson for helpful discussions. 1, _Infinite-Dinensional Space of Hoduli A11 manifolds will be algebraic over C. We denote by M, ,k the set of equivalence classes of objects of the form (C, a complete nonsingular curve of genus g, p< C, a point; t, the k-jet of a parameter at p), where the parameter at the point t is an elenent of the completed local ring @,, having a zero of first order at p- For k 21, My jk As the set of points of a sooth algebraic variety, the space of moduli, and the Kodaira-Sponcer map T.,.,¢ (My, ,k) "(Cite @ 75" where t, {8 the tangent bundle, Fy is the sheaf of ideals of p, is an isomorphism. Passing to the Limit as k +, we get an infinite-dimensional smooth manifold My.» = LiBM, > whose points will be triplexes X (C being a curve, p being 2 point, t being a Paraneter at p). The tangent space Ty(M, ,.) is equal to A (C, x, @ FB) = lim CUM) PCIE + = CAI, where D is the space of Laurent series at p of vector fields which extend to C \ {p}. Thus, we get a map ¢ from V = C((t))3/at to the space of vector Fields on My 9: 4 Proposition. » is a homomorphism of Lie algebras. | It is easy to see that the subalgebra V., = C[[t]]2/at acts trasitively along fibers of the projection M, ,q > Mg, and thus we get the assertion formulated at the beginning of the note. 7 Determinants of Infinite-Dimensional Spaces (@ormal Version) For a finite-dimensional vector space $ we set det (S) = A4imS(S) which is a one-dimen- sional space. Let T be a vector space over the field k with the topology of the space of Laurent series. In T= k((t)) two classes of subspaces are singled out: a) compact subspaces K ¢ T such that dim (k(t}}/K 1 k{[t]]) <=, dim(K/K 9 k{[t]]) < 5 b) discrete subspaces D c T such that for some, and hence for any compact K, hx°(D) = dim(K D) < =, hy'(D) = dim(T/K + D) <*, These definitions are independent of the choice of isomorphism of T with k((t)). The Grassmanian Gr(T) = {D © 7, D being discrete} is covered by affine coordinate chartst to the decomposition T = D @ K into a direct sum corresponds the open cell %px—(D' CT, 34: D+K, D! = (x @ Ax}}. The Lie algebra gf (T) of continuous endomorphisms of T acts by vector Tnstitute of Problems of Information Transmission, Academy of Sciences of the USSR. Translated from Funktsional'nyi Analizi Ego Prilozheniya, Vol. 21, No. 2, pp. 78-79, April- June, 1987. Original article submitted December 3, 1986. 156 0016-2663/87/2102-0156812.50 ©1987 Plenum Publishing CorporationE fields on Gr(T): in the domain %p. to the operator Pa (Te fa) corresponds the vector field LpA= FRO 4 PER 4 4pDD_ 4pDhq, K = 0}, as follows: to the subspace D corresponds det (TD + K))-?. If K'5 K", then wo can extend dety to x5 %x by the formula dety = dety: @ det (K/K'). It is easy to see that we get an invertible sheaf dety on all of Gr(T), and between sheaves corresponding to different K, there exists a canonical isomorphism (up to multiplication by a constant factor). : i bse decomposition T = D @ K defines a 2-cocycle on gf (1): up,x(FiF2) = Tr (EPKEKD — PEP). In the domain px the bundle dety is canonically trivialized, and ve define the actign of the central extension of st (T) by the cocycle wp,x by the formula Ly = Lp + |" tea), Fest. In order to define the action of this extension on another dondin Moen | we note that there exists a unique primitive @ @CGl(M) d= epee Spin and inva ce | set fy + Lp! + a(F). It is easy to see that the action of the extension (7) on seacions i | of the sheaf dety is well defined. 3. Action of the Virasoro Algeb We fix je 2. Let T= C((t))atd, K = Clfe]}]dtd. We map M, yw into Gr(T) as follows to the point (C, p, t) © M, ,q corresponds the subspace of Laurent series of j-differentials which extend to © \ {p). It is easy to see that this is an inbedding, compatible with the | Action of Vc wt (1), The bundle Ay = dety, Lifted from Gr (T) to Mv, 1a the 1ift from N, toM, ,q of the standard determinant bundle, whose fiber at the foint (C, a curve) © H As dat (6,94) © (aut (0, 38H). According to point 2 we get an action on A; of @ one-dimensional extension of V, J.e., 4 Virasoro algebra. One can show that a central elenent c in the usual basis of Vir = j VO Gre, (etter, efta/ae] = (5 - dretti-ta/ae + 64,-4(J2 - 4)/6re acts by miltiplication by cy = 657 - 6 +1. GOROLLARY. In the sheaf 4,"“J @ Aj there is a flat connection which is the lift of the flat connection in the corresponding sheaf on Mg. Munford proved (cf. [3]) that this sheaf is trivial. 4. Remarks 1) In points 1 and 3 one can assume that several points with local parameters are dis- tinguished on the curve. 2) One can also replace the Lie algebra of vector fields by the algebra of currents (cf. (21). 3) It would be interesting to investigate the representations of Vir which arise on the spaces of sections of the sheaves Aj. LITERATURE CITED 1. Yu. I. Manin, Funkts. Anal. Prilozhen., 20, No. 3, 88-89 (1986). 2. I. V. Cherednik, Funkts. Anal. Prilozhen., 19, No. 3, 36-52 (1985). 3. D. Mumford, L'Enseign Math., Ser. 2, 23,/No. 1-2, 39-110 (1977). 157