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# Intersection cohomology of quotients of nonsingular varieties

## 1. Introduction

Let $`M^n`$ be a nonsingular projective variety acted on by a connected complex reductive group $`G=K^{}`$ via a homomorphism $`GGL(n+1)`$ which is the complexification of a homomorphism $`KU(n+1)`$. Geometric invariant theory (GIT) gives us a recipe to form a quotient $`\varphi :M^{ss}M//G`$ of the set of semistable points and many interesting spaces in algebraic geometry are constructed in this manner \[MFK94\]. But often this quotient is singular and hence intersection cohomology with middle perversity is an important topological invariant. The purpose of this paper is to present a way to compute the middle perversity intersection cohomology of the singular quotients.

The choice of an embedding $`M^n`$ provides us with a moment map for the $`K`$-action and the Morse stratification of $`M`$ with respect to its norm square is $`K`$-equivariantly perfect, with the unique open dense stratum $`M^{ss}`$ \[Kir84\]. Hence one can compute the Betti numbers for the equivariant cohomology $`H_K^{}(M^{ss})`$ as well as the cup product, at least in principle. See also \[Kir92\].

When $`G`$ acts locally freely on $`M^{ss}`$, we get an orbifold $`M//G=M^{ss}/G`$ and

$$H_K^{}(M^{ss})H^{}(M//G)IH^{}(M//G).$$

Hence this equivariant Morse theory enables us to compute the cohomology ring of the orbifold quotient.

However, if the $`G`$ action on $`M^{ss}`$ is not locally free, then $`M//G`$ has more serious singularities than finite quotient singularities. In general, the induced homomorphism $`H^{}(M//G)H_K^{}(M^{ss})`$, which comes from the quotient map

$$\varphi _K:EK\times _KM^{ss}M//G,$$

is neither injective nor surjective. Furthermore, the natural map from the ordinary cohomology $`H^{}(M//G)`$ to the intersection cohomology $`IH^{}(M//G)`$ due to Goresky and MacPherson \[GM80, GM83\] is neither injective nor surjective. Hence, knowledge of the equivariant cohomology $`H_K^{}(M^{ss})`$ does not directly enable us to compute the topological invariants for $`M//G`$.

In \[Kir85\], Kirwan invented a method to partially desingularize $`M//G`$ by blowing up $`M^{ss}`$ systematically. When the set of stable points $`M^s`$ is nonempty, she used this process to define a map, which we call the Kirwan map

$$\kappa _M^{ss}:H_K^{}(M^{ss})IH^{}(M//G)$$

and then to provide an algorithm for the computation of the Betti numbers of $`IH^{}(M//G)`$. See \[Kir86a\] for the Betti number computation of the moduli space of rank 2 holomorphic vector bundles over a Riemann surface. However, this method does not give us any information on the intersection pairing of $`IH^{}(M//G)`$ which is also an essential topological invariant.

In this paper, we construct a natural injection

(1.1)
$$\varphi _K^{}:IH^{}(M//G)H_K^{}(M^{ss})$$

under an assumption, named the *almost balanced* condition (Definition 5.1). This homomorphism is the right inverse of the Kirwan map above (Proposition 6.2).

It is well-known that intersection cohomology is contravariant only for some limited classes of maps. One of the most general known conditions for a subanalytic map

$$f:XY$$

between subanalytic pseudo-manifolds to induce a contravariant homomorphism

$$f^{}:IH^{}(Y)IH^{}(X)$$

by pulling back cycles is the *placid* condition introduced in \[GM85\]: The map $`f`$ is placid if $`Y`$ has a stratification such that for each stratum $`S`$ of $`Y`$, we have

$$\mathrm{codim}S\mathrm{codim}f^1(S).$$

With this condition, the pull-back of an allowable cycle is again allowable and hence we get the desired homomorphism $`f^{}`$.

Furthermore, when there is a compact Lie group $`K`$ acting on $`X`$ and $`f`$ is invariant, we have a homomorphism

$$f_K^{}:IH^{}(Y)IH_K^{}(X)$$

under the placid condition because $`EK\times _KX`$ can be approximated by a sequence of finite dimensional pseudo-manifolds (see §2.5).

More generally, if we have

(1.2)
$$q(\mathrm{codim}S)p(\mathrm{codim}f^1(S))$$

for some perversities $`p`$ and $`q`$, then the pull-back of cycles gives us a homomorphism

$$f^{}:IH_q^{}(Y)IH_p^{}(X).$$

We call (1.2) the $`(p,q)`$-placid condition.

In our case, $`M^{ss}`$ is smooth and hence $`H_K^{}(M^{ss})`$ is isomorphic to the equivariant intersection cohomology

$$IH_{p,K}^{}(M^{ss})$$

for any perversity $`p`$. Hence if $`\varphi `$ is $`(p,m)`$-placid, we get a homomorphism

$$\varphi _K^{}:IH^{}(M//G)H_K^{}(M^{ss}).$$

Obviously the most general condition is obtained when $`p`$ is the top perversity $`t`$. Hence, when $`\varphi `$ is $`(t,m)`$-placid, we obtain the natural homomorphism (1.1).

Because $`\varphi _K^{}`$ is defined by pulling back cycles, we can deduce that the intersection pairing is preserved in the following sense: for $`\alpha ,\beta `$ of complementary degrees in $`IH^{}(M//G)`$, i.e. $`\mathrm{deg}\alpha +\mathrm{deg}\beta =dimM//G`$, we have

(1.3)
$$\varphi _K^{}(\alpha )\varphi _K^{}(\beta )=\alpha ,\beta \varphi _K^{}(\tau )$$

where $`\tau `$ is the top degree class represented by a point. Hence, we can compute the intersection numbers in terms of the cup product structure of the equivariant cohomology.

By the local model theorem (Lemma 4.1 and Proposition 4.2) from \[SL91\], we can describe a topological stratification of $`M^{ss}`$ and $`M//G`$ explicitly and compute the codimensions of strata in terms of the weight distributions of the actions of the stabilizer subgroups on the symplectic slices. By the results of \[Kir84\], we will see in §5 that the $`(t,m)`$-placid condition is in fact a condition on the balancedness of the weight distributions. This is our almost balanced condition.

Suppose now the almost balanced condition is satisfied. Then by (1.1) and (1.3), the middle perversity intersection cohomology of $`M//G`$ is completely determined as a graded vector space with non-degenerate intersection pairing if we can identify the image of $`\varphi _K^{}`$ in $`H_K^{}(M^{ss})`$.

In the light of Deligne’s construction of intersection cohomology sheaf, it seems reasonable to expect that the answer should be obtained by “truncating locally” along each stratum. But complications arise when various strata intersect. To control the complications, we require that the submanifolds of $`M`$ fixed by subgroups of $`G`$ also satisfy the almost balanced condition. We call it the *weakly balanced* condition (Definition 7.1). When this condition is satisfied, we can identify the image of $`\varphi _K^{}`$ as a subspace $`V_M^{}`$ of $`H_K^{}(M^{ss})`$ obtained by truncation. See Definition 7.5 and (7.6). By computing the dimension of $`V_M^{}`$, we get the intersection Betti numbers without going through the desingularization process as in \[Kir86b, Kir86a\]. One can furthermore compute the Hodge numbers since both $`\varphi _K^{}`$ and $`\kappa _M^{ss}`$ preserve the Hodge structure.

The weakly balanced condition is satisfied by many interesting spaces including the moduli spaces of holomorphic vector bundles over a Riemann surface for any rank and degree. (See Proposition 7.4.) Also we demonstrate the computations of $`V_M^{}`$ for some standard examples in §9.

The layout of this paper is as follows. In section 2, we recall the sheaf theoretic definition of intersection cohomology while in section 3 we show that intersection cohomology is functorial with respect to $`(p,q)`$-placid maps. The stratification of a symplectic reduction is discussed in section 4 and the homomorphism $`\varphi _K^{}`$ is constructed in section 5 after defining the almost balanced condition. In section 6 we recall the Kirwan map and prove that $`\varphi _K^{}`$ is the right inverse of $`\kappa _M^{ss}`$. In section 7 we define $`V_M^{}`$ and state the theorem, which says

(1.4)
$$\varphi _K^{}(IH^{}(M//G))=V_M^{}.$$

This is proved in section 8 and several examples are computed in section 9.

The proof of (1.4) is unfortunately quite lengthy and so I briefly sketch the outline. Our proof is by induction on the maximum among the dimensions of stabilizers. We first show that

$$\varphi _K^{}(IH^{}(M//G))V_M^{}.$$

This is best seen from the sheaf theoretic perspective and we need the full strength of the weakly balanced condition for the computation of stalks.

Next let $`\widehat{M}`$ be the first blow-up in the partial desingularization process \[Kir85\]. By our induction hypothesis, we have

$$\widehat{\varphi }_K^{}(IH^{}(\widehat{M}//G))=V_{\widehat{M}}^{}$$

where $`\widehat{\varphi }:\widehat{M}^{ss}\widehat{M}//G`$ is the GIT quotient map. Then we show there is an embedding

$$V_M^{}V_{\widehat{M}}^{}IH^{}(\widehat{M}//G).$$

Since the difference between $`IH^{}(\widehat{M}//G)`$ and $`IH^{}(M//G)`$ comes from a sheaf complex supported at the exceptional divisor, we will see that the proof reduces to the computation for the normal bundle $`𝒩`$ to the blow-up center in $`M^{ss}`$. By spectral sequence, this further reduces to the computation for the normal space at a point. Upon checking this, we complete the proof.

The main application of the results of this paper is to generalize the theorem of Jeffrey and Kirwan \[JK98\] about the intersection numbers on the *smooth* moduli spaces of bundles over a Riemann surface. In a joint work with Jeffrey, Kirwan and Woolf, we will show that the intersection numbers of the intersection cohomology of the *singular* moduli spaces of bundles over a Riemann surface are given by a residue formula similar to that of \[JK98\].

The first version of this paper was written several years ago. There $`V_M^{}`$ was defined and it was shown that the Kirwan map $`\kappa _M^{ss}`$ restricted to $`V_M^{}`$ is an isomorphism onto $`IH^{}(M//G)`$ under the weakly balanced condition (Definition 7.2). About a year later, in \[KW\], we generalized the Kirwan map to symplectic reductions and extended the results of this paper to the purely symplectic setting by interpreting the first condition of the weakly balanced action as the cosupport axiom for intersection homology sheaf. After finishing \[KW\], it occurred to us that the almost-balanced condition could be most naturally explained in terms of $`(p,q)`$-placid maps and hence the current paper was revised using this new observation. In \[Kie\], we showed that the extended moduli spaces defined by L. Jeffrey \[Jef94\] satisfy our assumptions and hence we can compute the intersection cohomology of representation spaces of surface groups in terms of the equivariant cohomology.

Every cohomology group in this paper has *complex coefficients*.

Acknowledgements. I would like to express my deep gratitude to Professor Ronnie Lee for encouragement and advice. I am grateful to Professors Frances Kirwan, Lisa Jeffrey and Jon Woolf for useful discussions and crucial comments. The referee’s suggestions improved the exposition considerably and I wish to thank the referee.

## 2. Intersection cohomology

Intersection cohomology was introduced by Goresky and MacPherson in \[GM80, GM83\] as an invariant of singular spaces which retains useful properties like Poincaré duality and Lefschetz theorems. In this section we recall the definition and some properties that we will use.

### 2.1. Topological stratification

An even dimensional topological space $`X`$ equipped with a filtration by even dimensional closed subsets

(2.1)
$$(𝔛)X=X_nX_{n2}\mathrm{}X_0\mathrm{}$$

is called a *stratified pseudo-manifold* if

* $`XX_{n2}`$ is dense
* for each $`i`$, $`S_i=X_iX_{i2}`$ is a topological manifold of dimension $`i`$ or empty
* for each $`xS_i`$ there are a compact stratified pseudo-manifold

$$L=L_{ni1}\mathrm{}L_0\mathrm{}$$

and a stratum-preserving homeomorphism of a neighborhood of $`x`$ onto $`^i\times cL`$ where $`cL=L\times [0,\mathrm{})/L\times 0`$.

In this case, $`𝔛`$ is called a *topological stratification*. A pseudo-manifold $`X`$ of dimension $`n`$ is normal if $`H_n(X,Xx)=1`$ for any $`xX`$.

### 2.2. Deligne’s construction of intersection cohomology sheaf

Let

$$p:\{2,3,\mathrm{},n\}\{0,1,2,\mathrm{},n2\}$$

be an increasing function such that $`q(i)=i2p(i)`$ is also an increasing nonnegative function. We call such $`p`$ a perversity. For instance,

$$m(i)=[\frac{i2}{2}]$$

is the middle perversity and $`t(i)=i2`$ is the top perversity. Given a normal stratified pseudo-manifold $`X`$ with stratification $`(𝔛)`$, put $`U_{2k}=XX_{n2k}`$ and let $`j_{2k}:U_{2k}U_{2k+2}`$ denote the inclusion. Then the perversity $`p`$ intersection cohomology $`IH_p^{}(X)`$ of $`X`$ is the hypercohomology of the sheaf complex defined inductively by

$$𝒞_{p,X}^{}|_{U_2}=_{U_2}$$

$$𝒞_{p,X}^{}|_{U_{2k+2}}\tau _{p(2k)}Rj_{2k}^{}{}_{}{}^{}(𝒞_{p,X}^{}|_{U_{2k}}).$$

This defines an object in the derived category $`𝔻_c^+(X)`$ of bounded below cohomologically constructible sheaves, which is independent of the choice of stratification, and the intersection cohomology is a homeomorphism invariant \[GM83\]. If $`p`$ is the zero perversity, i.e. $`p(i)=0`$, then $`𝒞_{p,X}^{}`$ and hence $`IH_0^{}(X)`$ is isomorphic to the (singular) cohomology $`H^{}(X)`$. When $`p`$ is the top perversity $`t`$, $`𝒞_{t,X}^{}`$ is isomorphic to the dualizing complex $`D_X^{}`$ and thus $`IH_t^i(X)`$ is isomorphic to the Borel-Moore homology $`H_{ni}^{BM}(X)`$.

More generally, suppose we have a filtration

$$(𝔛^{})X=X_n^{}X_{n2}^{}\mathrm{}X_0^{}\mathrm{}$$

by even dimensional closed subsets (not necessarily a topological stratification) such that

1. $`XX_{n2}^{}`$ is dense,
2. $`S_i^{}=X_i^{}X_{i2}^{}`$ is a $``$-homology manifold of dimension $`i`$ or empty.

Let $`U_{2k}^{}=XX_{n2k}^{}`$ and $`j_{2k}^{}:U_{2k}^{}U_{2k+2}^{}`$. Define a sheaf complex $`𝒫_{p,X}^{}`$ inductively by

$$𝒫_{p,X}^{}|_{U_2^{}}=_{U_2^{}}$$

$$𝒫_{p,X}^{}|_{U_{2k+2}^{}}\tau _{p(2k)}Rj_{2k}^{}{}_{}{}^{}(𝒫_{p,X}^{}|_{U_{2k}^{}}).$$

###### Definition/Lemma 2.1.

If $`𝒫_{p,X}^{}`$ is topologically constructible (see \[GM83\] p83) then $`𝒫_{p,X}^{}𝒞_{p,X}^{}`$. We call $`𝔛^{}`$ a *nice* filtration if $`𝒫_{p,X}^{}`$ is topologically constructible.

###### Proof.

It suffices to show that $`𝒫_{p,X}^{}`$ satisfies \[AX2\] in \[GM83\] p107. The proof is exactly same as the proof of Lemma 2 in \[GM83\] p110. ∎

For a space $`X`$ constructed as the GIT quotient of a smooth variety, the decomposition by orbit types gives us a topological stratification while the infinitesimal orbit types will give us only a nice filtration. See §4.

### 2.3. Geometric chains

Explicitly intersection cohomology can by described in terms of geometric chains. Suppose $`X`$ is a subanalytic pseudo-manifold with subanalytic stratification $`𝔛=\{X_i\}`$. For an open subset $`U`$ let $`C^{}(U)`$ be the chain complex defined by

$$C^i(U)=\{\text{locally finite chains in }U\text{ of dimension }ni\}.$$

Note that our indexing scheme is “cohomology superscript” (\[GM83\] p98).

For an open subset $`U`$ and a perversity $`p`$, define a subcomplex of $`C^{}(U)`$ by

$$\begin{array}{cc}IC_p^i(U)=\{\xi C^i(U)|\hfill & dim(|\xi |X_{nc}U)nic+p(c),\hfill \\ & dim(|\xi |X_{nc}U)ni1c+p(c)\}.\hfill \end{array}$$

This gives rise to a *soft* sheaf complex which is isomorphic to $`𝒞_{p,X}^{}`$. (See §2.1, §3.6 \[GM83\].) Hence the cohomology of $`IC_p^{}(X)`$ is the perversity $`p`$ intersection cohomology $`IH_p^{}(X)`$.

### 2.4. Intersection pairing

If perversities $`p,q,r`$ satisfy $`p+qr`$, then there is a unique morphism

$$𝒞_{p,X}^{}^L𝒞_{q,X}^{}𝒞_{r,X}^{}$$

in $`𝔻_c^+(X)`$ extending $``$ over $`U_2`$ (\[GM83\] p112). This morphism induces a homomorphism

$$IH_p^i(X)IH_q^j(X)IH_r^{i+j}(X).$$

For instance if $`p=q=r=0`$ then this is just the cup product of cohomology classes.

For the middle perversity $`m`$, we have $`m+mt`$. Thus if $`X`$ is normal compact connected oriented pseudo-manifold, we have the intersection pairing

(2.2)
$$IH_m^i(X)IH_m^j(X)IH_t^n(X)$$

for $`i+j=n`$. In terms of geometric chains, this intersection pairing is defined as follows: For $`\alpha ,\beta IH_m^{}(X)`$ such that $`\mathrm{deg}(\alpha )+\mathrm{deg}(\beta )=n`$, we can find representative cycles $`\xi `$ and $`\sigma `$ such that they intersect only at finitely many points in the smooth part $`U_2`$, transversely. The intersection pairing $`\alpha ,\beta `$ of $`\alpha `$ and $`\beta `$ is the number of intersection points counted with signs as usual. (See §2.3 \[GM80\].)

### 2.5. Equivariant intersection cohomology

Suppose a compact connected Lie group $`K`$ acts on a pseudo-manifold preserving a topological stratification $`𝔛=\{X_i\}`$2.2). Let $`EK`$ be a contractible space on which $`K`$ acts freely and $`BK=EK/K`$. Then the closed subsets

$$EK\times _KX_i$$

form a filtration of $`X_K:=EK\times _KX`$. For a perversity $`p`$, apply Deligne’s construction (§2.2) to this filtration to obtain a sheaf complex $`𝒞_{p,X_K}^{}`$. The equivariant intersection cohomology $`IH_{p,K}^{}(X)`$ is defined as the hypercohomology of this sheaf complex. (See §5.2, §13.4 in \[BL94\].) From the fibration $`X_KBK`$ with fiber $`X`$, we get a spectral sequence

$$H^i(BK)IH^j(X)IH_{p,K}^{i+j}(X).$$

More concretely, choose a smooth classifying sequence (§12 \[BL94\])

$$EK_0EK_1EK_2\mathrm{}$$

where $`EK_k`$ is a $`k`$-acyclic free $`K`$-manifold. Let $`BK_k=EK_k/K`$ so that $`BK=lim_k\mathrm{}BK_k`$. The filtration

$$EK_k\times _KX_i$$

of $`EK_k\times _KX`$ is a topological stratification and thus Deligne’s construction gives rise to $`𝒞_{p,EK_k\times _KX}^{}`$. From the spectral sequences for the fibrations

we see immediately that

(2.3)
$$IH_{p,K}^{}(X)=\underset{k\mathrm{}}{lim}IH_p^{}(EK_k\times _KX)$$

because $`H^{<k}(BK_k)H^{<k}(BK)`$ by Whitehead’s theorem.

## 3. Placid maps

Unlike ordinary cohomology, intersection cohomology is contravariant only for a limited class of maps. In this section we generalize slightly the concept of placid maps due to Goresky and MacPherson and show the functoriality. This will give us the right inverse of the Kirwan map.

### 3.1. Placid maps

Let $`f:XY`$ be a subanalytic map between subanalytic pseudo-manifolds. Suppose $`Y`$ is compact.

###### Definition 3.1.

$`f`$ is called *$`(p,q)`$-placid* if there is a subanalytic stratification of $`Y`$ such that

(3.1)
$$q(\mathrm{codim}S)p(\mathrm{codim}f^1(S))$$

for each stratum $`S`$ of $`Y`$.

When $`p=q`$, we recover the original placid maps \[GM85\].

With this definition, Proposition 4.1 in \[GM85\] is modified as follows.

###### Proposition 3.2.

If $`f`$ is $`(p,q)`$-placid, then the pull-back of generic chains induces a homomorphism on intersection cohomology

(3.2)
$$f^{}:IH_q^{}(Y)IH_p^{}(X).$$

###### Proof.

See p373 in \[GM85\] for details. Since $`f`$ is subanalytic, there is a stratification of $`X`$ for which $`f`$ is a stratified map (\[GM83\] §1.2). By McCrory’s transversality, any cohomology class $`\alpha `$ in $`IH_q^i(Y)`$ can be represented by a chain $`\xi `$ which is dimensionally transverse to any stratum in $`X`$ and the cycle $`f^1(\xi )`$ lies in $`IC_p^i(X)`$ because of (3.1). The class $`f^{}\alpha `$ is represented by the cycle $`f^1(\xi )`$. ∎

### 3.2. Pull-back morphism

The homomorphism (3.2) comes from a morphism

(3.3)
$$f^{}:𝒞_{q,Y}^{}Rf_{}𝒞_{p,X}^{}$$

in the derived category $`𝔻^+(Y)`$.

Suppose $`𝔛=\{X_i\}_{i=0}^n`$ (resp. $`𝔜=\{Y_i\}_{i=0}^l`$) is a *nice* filtration of $`X`$ (resp. $`Y`$). Let $`f:XY`$ be a continuous map such that for every connected component $`S`$ of any stratum $`Y_iY_{i2}`$, $`f^1(S)`$ is a union of some connected components of strata in $`X`$ and (3.1) holds.

Over $`U_2=YY_{l2}`$, let $`f_{U_2}^{}`$ be the composition of the adjunction morphism $`_{U_2}Rf_{}f^{}_{U_2}=Rf_{}_{f^1(U_2)}`$ with the morphism $`Rf_{}_{f^1(U_2)}Rf_{}𝒞_{p,X}^{}|_{f^1(U_2)}`$ from §5.1 \[GM83\].

###### Proposition 3.3.

There is a unique morphism (3.3) in $`𝔻_c^+(Y)`$ extending $`f_{U_2}^{}`$.

We need the following simple lemma to prove the proposition.

###### Lemma 3.4.

For $`𝒜^{}𝔻_c^+(X)`$, $`\tau _qRf_{}𝒜^{}\tau _qRf_{}\tau _p𝒜^{}`$ if $`qp`$.

###### Proof.

Choose an injective resolution $`^{}`$ of $`𝒜^{}`$. (See for instance \[GeMa\] p181.) It is elementary to find an injective resolution $`𝒥^{}`$ of $`\tau _p𝒜^{}`$ such that $`^k=𝒥^k`$ for $`kp`$. Then $`Rf_{}𝒜^{}=f_{}^{}`$ is equal to $`Rf_{}\tau _p𝒜^{}=f_{}𝒥^{}`$ up to degree $`p`$. So we proved the lemma.∎

###### Proof of Proposition 3.3.

Let $`U_{2k}=YY_{l2k}`$ and $`j_{2k}:U_{2k}U_{2k+2}`$. Recall from §2.2 that Deligne’s construction applied to $`𝔜`$ with perversity $`q`$ gives us the intersection cohomology sheaf $`𝒞_{q,Y}^{}`$. Suppose we have constructed

$$f_{U_{2k}}^{}:𝒞_{q,Y}^{}|_{U_{2k}}Rf_{}𝒞_{p,X}^{}|_{f^1(U_{2k})}.$$

This gives rise to

$$\begin{array}{cc}𝒞_{q,Y}^{}|_{U_{2k+2}}\hfill & \tau _{q(2k)}Rj_{2k}^{}{}_{}{}^{}𝒞_{q,Y}^{}|_{U_{2k}}\tau _{q(2k)}Rj_{2k}^{}{}_{}{}^{}Rf_{}𝒞_{p,X}^{}|_{f^1(U_{2k})}\hfill \\ & =\tau _{q(2k)}Rf_{}Ri_{2k}^{}{}_{}{}^{}𝒞_{p,X}^{}|_{f^1(U_{2k})}\hfill \\ & \tau _{q(2k)}Rf_{}\tau _{q(2k)}Ri_{2k}^{}{}_{}{}^{}𝒞_{p,X}^{}|_{f^1(U_{2k})}\hfill \end{array}$$

by Lemma 3.4 where $`i_{2k}:f^1(U_{2k})f^1(U_{2k+2})`$ since $`j_{2k}f=fi_{2k}`$. We claim

$$\tau _{q(2k)}Ri_{2k}^{}{}_{}{}^{}𝒞_{p,X}^{}|_{f^1(U_{2k})}\tau _{q(2k)}𝒞_{p,X}^{}|_{f^1(U_{2k+2})}.$$

For simplicity, suppose $`f^1(U_{2k+2})f^1(U_{2k})`$ consists of only one connected stratum $`\stackrel{~}{S}`$. Then

$$𝒞_{p,X}|_{f^1(U_{2k+2})}\tau _{p(\mathrm{codim}\stackrel{~}{S})}^{\stackrel{~}{S}}Ri_{2k}^{}{}_{}{}^{}𝒞_{p,X}|_{f^1(U_{2k})}$$

where $`\tau _p^{\stackrel{~}{S}}`$ is the “truncation over a closed subset functor” (see §1.14 \[GM83\]). In particular,

$$\begin{array}{cc}\tau _{q(2k)}𝒞_{p,X}|_{f^1(U_{2k+2})}\hfill & \tau _{q(2k)}\tau _{p(\mathrm{codim}\stackrel{~}{S})}^{\stackrel{~}{S}}Ri_{2k}^{}{}_{}{}^{}𝒞_{p,X}|_{f^1(U_{2k})}\hfill \\ & \tau _{q(2k)}Ri_{2k}^{}{}_{}{}^{}𝒞_{p,X}|_{f^1(U_{2k})}\hfill \end{array}$$

because $`q(2k)p(\mathrm{codim}\stackrel{~}{S})`$. When there are more than one strata in $`f^1(U_{2k+2})f^1(U_{2k})`$ we simply repeat the argument for each stratum in the order of increasing codimension. Hence we get a morphism

$$\begin{array}{cc}𝒞_{q,Y}^{}|_{U_{2k+2}}\hfill & \tau _{q(2k)}Rf_{}\tau _{q(2k)}𝒞_{p,X}^{}|_{f^1(U_{2k+2})}\hfill \\ & \tau _{q(2k)}Rf_{}𝒞_{p,X}^{}|_{f^1(U_{2k+2})}Rf_{}𝒞_{p,X}^{}|_{f^1(U_{2k+2})}.\hfill \end{array}$$

Uniqueness is an elementary exercise. ∎

By taking hypercohomology, the morphism (3.3) induces a homomorphism

$$IH_q^{}(Y)IH_p^{}(X).$$

Suppose $`f`$ is subanalytic and $`𝔜`$ is a subanalytic stratification. Note that an intersection cycle $`\xi `$ is completely determined by its intersection with the open dense stratum (\[B<sup>+</sup>84\] p10) and over $`U_2`$ (3.3) is just the adjunction. If we use the sheaf complexes by geometric chains (§2.3) for $`𝒞_{p,X}^{}`$ and $`𝒞_{q,Y}^{}`$, the induced homomorphism sends the class $`[\xi ]IH_q^{}(Y)`$, which is represented by a chain $`\xi `$ dimensionally transverse to any stratum of $`X`$, to $`[f^1(\xi )]`$. In other words, the induced homomorphism is exactly the homomorphism (3.2).

### 3.3. Equivariant case

Suppose a compact connected Lie group $`K`$ acts on $`X`$ preserving a nice filtration $`𝔛=\{X_i\}_{i=0}^n`$. Deligne’s construction with the filtration $`\{EK\times _KX_i\}`$ and perversity $`p`$ gives us $`𝒞_{p,X_K}^{}`$ in $`𝔻^+(X_K)`$ whose hypercohomology is $`IH_{p,K}^{}(X)`$.

Let $`Y`$ be a compact pseudo-manifold with a nice filtration $`𝔜=\{Y_i\}_{i=0}^m`$. Let $`f:XY`$ be an invariant continuous map such that for any connected component $`S`$ of a stratum, $`f^1(S)`$ is a union of some connected components of strata in $`X`$ and (3.1) holds.

Then the proof of Proposition 3.3 gives us a morphism

(3.4)
$$𝒞_{q,Y}^{}Rf_{K}^{}{}_{}{}^{}𝒞_{p,X_K}^{}$$

where $`f_K:X_K=EK\times _KXY`$ is the obvious map induced from $`f`$. So we have a homomorphism

(3.5)
$$f_K^{}:IH_q^{}(Y)IH_{p,K}^{}(X).$$

Similarly, we have a morphism

$$𝒞_{q,Y}^{}Rf_{k}^{}{}_{}{}^{}𝒞_{p,EK_k\times _KX}^{}$$

where $`f_k:EK_k\times _KXY`$ and a homomorphism

$$f_k^{}:IH_q^{}(Y)IH_p^{}(EK_k\times _KX).$$

From the commutative diagram

we see that the composition

is $`f_k^{}`$ since $`ı_k^{}𝒞_{p,X_K}^{}𝒞_{p,EK_k\times _KX}^{}`$ by construction. Hence $`\{f_k^{}\}`$ determine $`f_K^{}`$ because of (2.3).

### 3.4. $`f^{}`$ preserves the intersection pairing

Our interest lies in the case where $`X`$ is a smooth analytic manifold with an action by a compact connected Lie group $`K`$ and $`f:XY`$ is invariant. In particular we wish to relate the middle perversity intersection cohomology $`IH_m^{}(Y)`$ with the equivariant cohomology $`H_K^{}(X)=H^{}(EK\times _KX)`$. From now on when using middle perversity, we will drop the subscript $`m`$ for convenience.

Suppose $`X`$ is smooth. Then since intersection cohomology is independent of stratification, $`IH_p^{}(X)H^{}(X)`$ for any perversity $`p`$ and hence for any $`(p,m)`$-placid subanalytic map $`f`$ we have a homomorphism $`f^{}:IH_q^{}(Y)H^{}(X)`$. Obviously $`(t,m)`$-placid condition is most general for us to get such a homomorphism.

If furthermore $`K`$ acts on $`X`$ preserving a subanalytic stratification $`𝔛`$ for which $`f`$ is $`(t,m)`$-placid stratified map with a stratification $`𝔜`$ of $`Y`$, we have a morphism

$$f_K^{}:𝒞_Y^{}Rf_{K}^{}{}_{}{}^{}_{X_K}$$

and the induced homomorphism

$$f_K^{}:IH^{}(Y)H_K^{}(X).$$

###### Proposition 3.5.

Let $`f:XY`$ be a $`(t,m)`$-placid map. Suppose $`X`$ is smooth and $`Y`$ is compact connected normal oriented. Let $`\tau `$ be the top degree class represented by a point in the smooth part. Then the induced map $`f^{}:IH^{}(Y)H^{}(X)`$ preserves the intersection pairing in the sense that

(3.6)
$$f^{}(\alpha )f^{}(\beta )=\alpha ,\beta f^{}(\tau )$$

for any $`\alpha ,\beta IH^{}(Y)`$ of complementary degrees. In the equivariant case, the same is true for $`f_K^{}:IH^{}(Y)H_K^{}(X)`$.

###### Proof.

Recall from §2.4 that $`\alpha `$ and $`\beta `$ are represented by intersection cycles $`\xi `$ and $`\sigma `$ that intersect only at finitely many points in the smooth part. In this case, $`\xi \sigma IC^n(Y)`$ represents $`\alpha ,\beta \tau IH^n(Y)`$. By McCrory’s transversality result we can further assume that $`\xi `$ and $`\sigma `$ are dimensionally transverse to each stratum in $`X`$ so that $`f^{}\alpha `$ and $`f^{}\beta `$ are represented by $`f^1(\xi )`$ and $`f^1(\sigma )`$. Because $`X`$ is smooth, the complex $`𝒞^{}`$ of geometric chains is isomorphic to the constant sheaf $`_X`$ and the cup product is just the intersection of chains. Hence the cup product $`f^{}(\alpha )f^{}(\beta )`$ is represented by $`f^1(\xi )f^1(\sigma )=f^1(\xi \sigma )`$ which also represents $`\alpha ,\beta f^{}(\tau )`$. So we proved (3.6).

For the equivariant case, observe that the statement is true for $`f_k:EK_k\times _KXY`$ for any $`k`$ since $`EK_k\times _KX`$ is a finite dimensional manifold. If we take a sufficiently large $`k`$, then $`H_K^l(X)H^l(EK_k\times _KX)`$ and $`f_k^{}=f_K^{}`$ where $`l=dimY`$. So we are done. ∎

###### Corollary 3.6.

Suppose furthermore $`f^{}(\tau )0`$ in $`H^{}(X)`$. Then $`f^{}:IH^{}(Y)H^{}(X)`$ is injective and the intersection pairing is given by the cup product structure of $`H^{}(X)`$. A similar result is true for the equivariant case.

###### Proof.

The result follows from Proposition 3.5 since the intersection pairing is non-degenerate for $`IH^{}(Y)`$.∎

## 4. Symplectic reduction

Let $`(M,\omega )`$ be a connected Hamiltonian $`K`$-space with proper moment map $`\mu :M𝔨^{}`$ where $`𝔨=Lie(K)`$. Then the symplectic reduction $`X=\mu ^1(0)/K`$, which we denote by $`M//K`$, is in general a pseudomanifold, whose strata are symplectic manifolds. In this section, we describe the orbit type stratification and the infinitesimal orbit type decomposition of $`X`$ from \[SL91, MS99\].

### 4.1. Stratification of $`X`$

Let $`Z=\mu ^1(0)`$ and $`Z_{(H)}=\{xZ|\mathrm{Stab}(x)(H)\}`$ for a subgroup $`H`$ of $`K`$, where $`(H)`$ denotes the conjugacy class of $`H`$. Also, let $`Z_H=\{xZ|\mathrm{Stab}(x)=H\}`$. Then

(4.1)
$$Z=\underset{(H)}{}Z_{(H)}$$

and $`Z_{(H)}=K\times _{N^H}Z_H`$ where $`N^H`$ is the normalizer of $`H`$ in $`K`$. This decomposition induces a stratification

(4.2)
$$X=\underset{(H)}{}X_{(H)}$$

where $`X_{(H)}=Z_{(H)}/K=Z_H/N^H`$.

For $`xZ_H`$, consider the *symplectic slice*

(4.3)
$$T_x(Kx)^_\omega /T_x(Kx)$$

and let $`W`$ be the symplectic complement of the $`H`$-fixed point set in the slice. We recall the following result from \[SL91\] Lemma 7.1.

###### Lemma 4.1.

There exists a neighborhood of the submanifold $`Z_{(H)}`$ of $`M`$ that is symplectically and $`K`$-equivariantly diffeomorphic to a neighborhood of the zero section of a vector bundle $`𝒩Z_{(H)}`$. The space $`𝒩`$ is a symplectic fiber bundle over the stratum $`X_{(H)}`$

$$F𝒩X_{(H)}$$

with fiber $`F`$ given by

$$F=K\times _H((𝔨/𝔥)^{}\times W).$$

In particular, for any $`xZ_H`$, there is a neighborhood of the orbit $`Kx`$ that is equivariantly diffeomorphic to $`F\times ^{dimX_{(H)}}`$.

Now the reduction of $`𝒩`$ is homeomorphic to a neighborhood of $`X_{(H)}`$ in $`X`$. The principle of reduction in stages gives us the following.

###### Proposition 4.2.

(\[SL91\] 7.4) Given a stratum $`X_{(H)}`$ of $`X`$, there exists a fiber bundle over $`X_{(H)}`$ with typical fiber being the cone $`W//H`$ such that a neighborhood of the vertex section of this bundle is symplectically diffeomorphic to a neighborhood of the stratum inside $`X`$.

Consequently, $`\{X_{(H)}\}`$ gives us a topological stratification of $`X`$. This is called the *orbit type stratification*.

### 4.2. Stratification of $`M^{ss}`$

Let $`M^{ss}`$ denote the open subset of elements in $`M`$ whose gradient flow for $`f=|\mu |^2`$ has a limit point in $`Z`$ and put $`r:M^{ss}Z`$ denote the retraction by the flow.

Let $`\varphi `$ be the composition

(4.4)
$$M^{ss}ZZ/K=X$$

of the retraction $`r`$ and the quotient map. Let us call it the symplectic quotient map. The inverse image $`\varphi ^1(X_{(H)})`$ of the stratum $`X_{(H)}`$ is diffeomorphic to a sub-fiber bundle of $`𝒩`$ in Lemma 4.1 with typical fiber $`K\times _H((𝔨/𝔥)^{}\times \varphi _W^1())`$ where $`\varphi _W:WW//H`$ is the symplectic quotient map for $`W`$ and $`=\varphi _W(0)`$ is the vertex of the cone $`W//H`$. If we assign a complex structure, compatible with the symplectic structure, it is well-known that $`\varphi _W^1()`$ is the affine cone over $`WW^{ss}`$ where the superscript $`ss`$ denotes the semistable set defined by Mumford \[MFK94\]. Hence, the affine cones over the unstable strata of $`W`$ minus 0, together with $`\{0\}`$, give us a stratification of $`\varphi ^1(X_{(H)})`$ via the diffeomorphism in Lemma 4.1. Observe that $`M^{ss}`$ is diffeomorphic to a neighborhood of $`Z`$ by the gradient flow of $`|\mu |^2`$. Since the diffeomorphism in Lemma 4.1 is $`K`$-equivariant and the stratification of $`\varphi ^1(X_{(H)})`$ is completely determined by the group action, we get a K-invariant stratification of $`M^{ss}`$ for which $`\varphi :M^{ss}X`$ is stratified.

See \[Kir94\] for a description of the above stratification for GIT quotients and an application to the Atiyah-Jones conjecture.

### 4.3. Infinitesimal orbit type decomposition

There is another way to decompose $`X`$ which is useful for partial desingularization. For a Lie subalgebra $`𝔥`$ of $`𝔨`$, let $`Z_𝔥=\{xZ|\text{Lie}\text{Stab}(x)=𝔥\}`$ and

$$Z_{(𝔥)}=\{xZ|\text{Lie}\text{Stab}(x)(𝔥)\}$$

where $`(𝔥)`$ is the conjugacy class of $`𝔥`$. Let $`X_{(𝔥)}=Z_{(𝔥)}/K`$. Then we have a decomposition

$$X=\underset{(𝔥)}{}X_{(𝔥)}.$$

This is called the infinitesimal orbit type decomposition of $`X`$. From \[MS99\] §3, $`X_{(𝔥)}`$ are just orbifolds and thus homology manifolds. If we use the local normal form in \[MS99\] §3.1, it is elementary to show that Deligne’s construction for this decomposition gives us a topologically constructible sheaf complex with respect to the orbit type stratification. This fact will not be used in this paper so we leave the details to the reader.

## 5. Almost-balanced action

We use the notations of the previous section. We assume that there is at least one point in $`Z=\mu ^1(0)`$ with finite stabilizer.

### 5.1. Placid maps for symplectic quotients

With the orbit type stratification, $`\varphi ^1(X_{(H)})`$ is a fiber bundle over $`X_{(H)}`$ with fiber $`K\times _H((𝔨/𝔥)^{}\times \varphi _W^1())`$ and hence

$$\mathrm{codim}_{M^{ss}}\varphi ^1(X_{(H)})=\mathrm{codim}_W\varphi _W^1().$$

On the other hand,

$$\mathrm{codim}_XX_{(H)}=dimW//H$$

by Proposition 4.2. Recall that the map $`\varphi :M^{ss}X`$ is $`(t,m)`$-placid if

$$t(\mathrm{codim}_{M^{ss}}\varphi ^1(X_{(H)}))m(\mathrm{codim}_XX_{(H)})$$

or equivalently

$$\mathrm{codim}_W\varphi _W^1()2\frac{1}{2}dimW//H1.$$

Hence $`\varphi `$ is $`(t,m)`$-placid if and only if

(5.1)
$$\mathrm{codim}_W\varphi _W^1()>\frac{1}{2}dimW//H$$

for each $`(H)`$.

The unstable strata of $`W`$ by the norm square of the moment map can be described using the weights of the maximal torus action, as follows: For any collection of weights of the maximal torus action, we consider the convex hull of them and get the closest point from the origin to the hull. Let $``$ be the set of such closest points in the positive Weyl chamber. Then the unstable strata are in one-to-one correspondence with the set $``$. (See \[Kir84\].)

For each $`\beta `$, let $`n(\beta )`$ denote the number of weights $`\alpha `$ such that $`\alpha ,\beta <\beta ,\beta `$. Then Kirwan proved in \[Kir84\] that the codimension of the stratum corresponding to $`\beta `$ is precisely

$$2n(\beta )dimH/\mathrm{Stab}\beta $$

where $`\mathrm{Stab}\beta `$ is the stabilizer of $`\beta `$ in $`H`$. Therefore, the $`(t,m)`$-placid condition is equivalent to

(5.2)
$$2n(\beta )dimH/\mathrm{Stab}\beta >\frac{1}{2}(dimW2dimH)$$

for each $`\beta `$. In particular, this condition is satisfied when

$$2n(\beta )\frac{1}{2}dimW$$

for all $`\beta `$. For example, if the set of weights is symmetric with respect to the origin, the above is satisfied . This is the case for the moduli spaces of vector bundles over a Riemann surface. (See Proposition 7.4.)

When $`K=U(1)`$ acts on $`M=^n`$ linearly and if $`n_+,n_0,n_{}`$ denote the number of positive, zero, negative weights respectively, then the condition (5.2) is satisfied if and only if $`n_+=n_{}`$. Hence the $`(t,m)`$-placid condition may be viewed as a condition on “balancedness of weights”.

###### Definition 5.1.

\[KW\] The action on $`M`$ is said to be *almost balanced* if the condition (5.2) is satisfied for all $`\beta `$ and $`(H)`$.

###### Remark 5.2.

By (5.1), if almost balanced, we have an isomorphism

$$H_H^{<a_H}(W)H_H^{<a_H}\left(W\varphi _W^1()\right)$$

where $`a_H=\frac{1}{2}dimW//H=\frac{1}{2}dimWdimH`$. This is an easy consequence of the Gysin sequence (applied stratum by stratum) because $`\varphi _W^1()`$ is stratified.

### 5.2. Almost-balanced action and GIT quotient

We recall the following well-known facts from \[Kir84\]: The obvious action of $`U(n+1)`$ on $`^n`$ is Hamiltonian with moment map $`\mu _^n`$. When $`M^n`$ is a smooth projective variety and $`K`$ acts on $`M`$ via a homomorphism $`KU(n+1)`$, the composition

is the moment map for $`M`$ and the set of semistable points in $`M`$ is equal to the minimal Morse stratum $`M^{ss}`$ for $`|\mu |^2`$. The GIT quotient $`M//G`$ of $`M`$ is homeomorphic to the symplectic reduction $`M//K`$ and the symplectic quotient map $`\varphi :M^{ss}M//K`$ is the GIT quotient map. Since we are interested in topology, we will not distinguish symplectic quotients from GIT quotients.

###### Theorem 5.3.

Let $`M^n`$ be a smooth projective variety acted on by a compact connected Lie group $`K`$ via a homomorphism $`KU(n+1)`$. Suppose the $`K`$ action is almost balanced and there is at least one point in $`Z`$ with finite stabilizer. Then we have a natural map

(5.3)
$$\varphi _K^{}:IH^{}(X)H_K^{}(M^{ss})H_K^{}(Z)$$

of the middle perversity intersection cohomology of $`X=\mu ^1(0)/K`$ into the $`K`$-equivariant cohomology of $`M^{ss}`$. Moreover, $`\varphi _K^{}`$ is injective and the intersection pairing of $`IH^{}(X)`$ is given by the cup product of $`H_K^{}(Z)`$ from the formula

$$\varphi _K^{}(\alpha )\varphi _K^{}(\beta )=\alpha ,\beta \varphi _K^{}(\tau )$$

where $`\tau `$ is the class in $`IH^{dimX}(X)`$ represented by a point.

###### Proof.

Certainly the GIT quotient map is subanalytic and the stratification of $`M^{ss}`$ in §4.2 is $`K`$-invariant. The almost balanced condition is equivalent to the $`(t,m)`$-placid condition and hence we have

$$\varphi _K^{}:IH^{}(X)H_K^{}(M^{ss})H_K^{}(Z)$$

by Proposition 3.5. For injectivity and intersection pairing, it suffices to show that $`\varphi _K^{}(\tau )`$ is nonzero in $`H_K^{}(Z)`$ by Corollary 3.6.

Let $`\mathrm{\Sigma }`$ denote the set of points in $`Z`$ whose stabilizer is not finite. According to \[MS99\] §4, there is an equivariant proper map $`\pi :\stackrel{~}{Z}Z`$ such that $`\pi |_{\pi ^1(Z\mathrm{\Sigma })}`$ is a homeomorphism and the stabilizer of every point in $`\stackrel{~}{Z}`$ is a finite group. Thus $`H_K^{}(\stackrel{~}{Z})H^{}(\stackrel{~}{Z}/K)`$.

Let $`X^s=(Z\mathrm{\Sigma })/K`$ and consider the commutative diagram of natural maps

$$\begin{array}{ccc}H_c^{dimX}(X^s)& \stackrel{\varphi ^{}}{}& H_K^{dimX}(Z)\\ & & & & \\ H^{dimX}(\stackrel{~}{Z}/K)& \stackrel{}{}& H_K^{dimX}(\stackrel{~}{Z})\end{array}$$

where the subscript $`c`$ denotes compact support. The class $`\tau `$ is the image of a nonzero class in $`H_c^{dimX}(X^s)`$ and hence it follows from the above diagram that $`\varphi _K^{}(\tau )`$ is nonzero. ∎

###### Remark 5.4.

Recall that (5.3) comes from a morphism (3.4) in the derived category $`𝔻_c^+(X)`$ of bounded below cohomologically constructible sheaves over $`X`$ because $`\varphi :M^{ss}X`$ is $`(t,m)`$-placid. In particular, for any open subset $`UX`$ we get a map $`\varphi _K^{}:IH^{}(U)H_K^{}(\varphi ^1(U))`$ and it is functorial with respect to restrictions.

## 6. The Kirwan map

In this section, we recall the definition of the Kirwan map from \[Kir86b\] and show that it is a left inverse of the pull-back homomorphism $`\varphi _K^{}`$.

Let $`M^n`$ be a connected nonsingular projective variety acted on linearly by a connected reductive group $`G`$ via a homomorphism $`GGL(n+1)`$. We may assume that the maximal compact subgroup $`K`$ of $`G=K^{}`$ acts unitarily possibly after conjugation. Let $`\mu :^nu(n+1)^{}𝔨^{}`$ be the moment map for the action of $`K`$. Then $`M^{ss}=M(^n)^{ss}`$ retracts onto $`Z:=\mu ^1(0)M`$ by the gradient flow of $`|\mu |^2`$ and the GIT quotient $`M//G`$ is homeomorphic to the symplectic quotient $`M//K=M\mu ^1(0)/K=:X`$.

### 6.1. Definition of the Kirwan map

In order to define the Kirwan map, we assume that there is at least one stable point in $`M`$, which amounts to saying that there is at least one point in $`Z`$ whose stabilizer is finite.

We quote the following definitions from \[Kir85\].

###### Definition 6.1.

1. Let $`(M)`$ be a set of representatives of the conjugacy classes of identity components of all subgroups of $`K`$ which appear as the stabilizer of some point $`xZ=\mu ^1(0)`$.
2. Let $`M_H^{ss}`$ denote the set of those $`xM^{ss}`$ fixed by $`H(M)`$.
3. Let $`r(M)=\mathrm{max}\{dimH|H(M)\}`$.

Of course, $`M_H^{ss}`$ is a smooth complex manifold.

The definition of the Kirwan map is by induction on $`r(M)`$. When $`r(M)=0`$, the action of $`K`$ is locally free and $`X`$ is an orbifold. Thus $`𝒞_X^{}_X`$. The pull-back morphism $`\varphi _K^{}`$ in this case is equal to the adjunction morphism $`_XR\varphi _{K}^{}{}_{}{}^{}`$ which is an isomorphism by \[BL94\] Theorem 9.1 (ii). The Kirwan map is defined as the hypercohomology

$$\kappa _M^{ss}:H_K^{}(M^{ss})IH^{}(X)$$

of the inverse $`R\varphi _{K}^{}{}_{}{}^{}_X𝒞_X^{}`$ of $`\varphi _K^{}`$.

Now suppose $`r(M)>0`$. Let $`\pi :\widehat{M}M^{ss}`$ be the blow-up of $`M^{ss}`$ along the submanifold

$$\underset{dimH=r(M)}{}GM_H^{ss}.$$

If we choose a suitable linearization $`\widehat{M}`$, the semistable points in the closure of $`\widehat{M}`$ all lie in $`\widehat{M}`$ and $`r(\widehat{M})<r(M)`$. Let $`\widehat{X}=\widehat{M}//G`$ and $`\widehat{\varphi }:\widehat{M}^{ss}\widehat{X}`$ be the GIT quotient map. If we keep blowing up in this fashion, we get a quasi-projective variety $`\stackrel{~}{M}^{ss}`$ birational to $`M`$ whose quotient $`\stackrel{~}{X}`$ has only finite quotient singularities. This is called the *partial desingularization* of $`X`$. See \[Kir85\] for details.

We have the following commutative diagram

(6.1)
Since the GIT quotient $`\widehat{X}`$ is the categorical quotient of $`\widehat{M}^{ss}`$, $`\sigma `$ is defined uniquely by the universal property of the categorical quotient. (Recall that GIT quotients are categorical quotients \[MFK94\].)

Inductively, we may suppose that we have a morphism

$$\kappa _{\widehat{M}}^{ss}:R(\widehat{\varphi }_K)_{}𝒞_{\widehat{X}}^{}.$$

Then we have a morphism

(6.2)
$$R\varphi _{K}^{}{}_{}{}^{}R\pi _{K}^{}{}_{}{}^{}R\varphi _{K}^{}{}_{}{}^{}R\pi _{K}^{}{}_{}{}^{}Rı_{K}^{}{}_{}{}^{}=R\sigma _{}R(\widehat{\varphi }_K)_{}R\sigma _{}𝒞_{\widehat{X}}^{}$$

by composing the above with the adjunction morphism $`Rı_{K}^{}{}_{}{}^{}ı_K^{}=Rı_{K}^{}{}_{}{}^{}`$, where $`\pi _K:EK\times _K\widehat{M}EK\times _KM^{ss}`$ is the induced map from $`\pi `$ and $`ı_K`$ is defined similarly. This induces a homomorphism

(6.3)
$$\kappa _{\widehat{M}}^{ss}ı_{K}^{}{}_{}{}^{}:H_K^{}(\widehat{M})H_K^{}(\widehat{M}^{ss})IH^{}(\widehat{M}//G).$$

Next, compose (6.2) with the adjunction morphism

$$R\varphi _{K}^{}{}_{}{}^{}R\varphi _{K}^{}{}_{}{}^{}R\pi _{K}^{}{}_{}{}^{}\pi _K^{}=R\varphi _{K}^{}{}_{}{}^{}R\pi _{K}^{}{}_{}{}^{}$$

to get a morphism

(6.4)
$$R\varphi _{K}^{}{}_{}{}^{}R\sigma _{}𝒞_{\widehat{X}}^{}.$$

By \[Kir85\] §3, $`\widehat{X}`$ is just the blow-up of $`X`$ along

$$\underset{dimH=r(M)}{}GM_H^{ss}//G.$$

In particular, $`\sigma `$ is proper and hence we can apply the decomposition theorem of Beilinson, Bernstein, Deligne and Gabber in \[BBD82\] which says

(6.5)
$$R\sigma _{}𝒞_{\widehat{X}}^{}=𝒞_X^{}^{}$$

where $`^{}`$ is a sheaf complex supported on the blow-up center. Therefore, we have a morphism

(6.6)
$$R\sigma _{}𝒞_{\widehat{X}}^{}𝒞_X^{}$$

whose kernel is $`^{}.`$

The composition of (6.4) with (6.6) is the desired morphism

$$\kappa _M^{ss}:R\varphi _{K}^{}{}_{}{}^{}𝒞_X^{}$$

which induces a homomorphism

$$H_K^{}(\varphi ^1(U))IH^{}(U)$$

for an open set $`U`$ in $`X`$. This is denoted also by $`\kappa _M^{ss}`$ by abuse of notations and called the *Kirwan map*.

### 6.2. The pull-back is a right inverse

From §5, when the $`K`$ action on $`M`$ is almost balanced we have a morphism

$$\varphi _K^{}:𝒞_X^{}R\varphi _{K}^{}{}_{}{}^{}.$$

This induces a homomorphism

$$IH^{}(U)H_K^{}(\varphi ^1(U))$$

for any open set $`U`$ in $`X`$ which we also denote by $`\varphi _K^{}`$ by abuse of notations. The Kirwan map is a left inverse of $`\varphi _K^{}`$.

###### Proposition 6.2.

$`\kappa _M^{ss}\varphi _K^{}=1`$.

###### Proof.

We know both $`\varphi _K^{}`$ and $`\kappa _M^{ss}`$ come from morphisms in the derived category $`𝔻_c^+(X)`$. If we compose them, we get a morphism

$$𝒞_X^{}R\varphi _{K}^{}{}_{}{}^{}𝒞_X^{}.$$

On the set of stable points $`M^s`$ in $`M^{ss}`$, the action of $`K`$ is locally free (i.e. the stabilizers are finite groups). Let $`X^s=\varphi (M^s)`$ which is an orbifold. Then $`\varphi _K^{}|_{X^s}`$ is the adjunction morphism

$$𝒞_{X^s}^{}_{X^s}R\varphi _{K}^{}{}_{}{}^{}|_{X^s}$$

which is an isomorphism by \[BL94\] Theorem 9.1 (ii) again, and $`\kappa _M^{ss}|_{X^s}`$ is its inverse by definition since $`X^s`$ is untouched by the blow-ups in the partial desingularization process. Therefore, $`\kappa _M^{ss}|_{X^s}\varphi _K^{}|_{X^s}`$ is the identity.

It is well-known (\[B<sup>+</sup>84\], V §9) that a morphism $`𝒞_X^{}𝒞_X^{}`$ which restricts to the identity over the smooth part (that is obviously contained in $`X^s`$) is unique. Therefore, $`\kappa _M^{ss}\varphi _K^{}=1`$. ∎

In particular, $`\varphi _K^{}`$ is injective and $`\kappa _M^{ss}`$ is surjective.

## 7. The image of $`\varphi _K^{}`$

In this section, we identify the image of $`\varphi _K^{}`$ with a naturally defined subspace $`V_M^{}H_K^{}(M^{ss})`$ under a slightly stronger assumption than almost balanced condition.

### 7.1. Weakly-balanced action

Let us make precise our assumption. We use the notations of §6.1.

###### Definition 7.1.

Let $`M^n`$ be a projective variety with an action of a compact Lie group $`K`$ via a homomorphism $`KU(n+1)`$. We say the $`K`$ action on $`M`$ is *weakly balanced* if it is almost balanced and so is the $`N^H/H`$ action on the $`H`$-fixed submanifold $`M_H`$ for each $`H(M)`$, where $`N^H`$ is the normalizer of $`H`$ in $`K`$.

For practical application, the following 2-step equivalent definition is more useful. Recall that $`G`$ is the complexification of $`K`$ which acts on $`M`$ via a homomorphism $`GGL(n+1)`$.

###### Definition 7.2.

1. Suppose a nontrivial compact group $`H`$ acts on a vector space $`W`$ unitarily. Using the notations of §5, the action is said to be *weakly linearly balanced* if

(7.1)
$$2n(\beta )dimH/\mathrm{Stab}\beta >\frac{1}{2}(dimW2dimH)$$

for every $`\beta `$.
2. The $`K`$-action on $`M`$ is said to be *weakly balanced* if for each $`H(M)`$ and for a point $`x\mu ^1(0)`$ with $`\mathrm{Lie}\mathrm{Stab}(x)=\mathrm{Lie}H`$, the linear action of $`H`$ on the normal space $`𝒩_x`$ to $`GM_H^{ss}`$ is weakly linearly balanced and so is the action of $`(HN^L)/L`$ on the $`L`$-fixed linear subspace $`𝒩_{x,L}`$ for each connected subgroup $`L`$ of $`H`$ whose conjugate appears in $`(M)`$.

###### Lemma 7.3.

The two definitions 7.1 and 7.2 are equivalent.

###### Proof.

Let $`x\mu ^1(0)`$ and $`P=\mathrm{Stab}(x)`$. Let $`L`$ be the identity component of $`P`$. By Lemma 4.1, a neighborhood of $`Kx`$ is equivariantly diffeomorphic to

$$K\times _P\left((𝔨/𝔭)^{}\times W\right)\times ^{dimX_{(P)}}$$

for some symplectic $`P`$-vector space $`W`$. Let us call $`W`$ the *normal slice* at $`x`$.

Since $`P/L`$ is discrete, $`PN^L`$ and $`P`$ acts on the $`L`$-fixed subspace $`W^L`$ of $`W`$. By direct computation, one can check that $`M_L^{ss}`$ in this neighborhood is

$$N^L\times _P\left((𝔫^L/𝔭)^{}\times W^L\right)\times ^{dimX_{(P)}}$$

and hence $`GM_L^{ss}`$ is

$$K\times _P\left((𝔨/𝔭)^{}\times W^L\right)\times ^{dimX_{(P)}}$$

where $`𝔫^L`$ (resp. $`𝔭`$) is the Lie algebra of $`N^L`$ (resp. $`P`$). Therefore the normal space $`𝒩_x`$ to $`GM_L^{ss}`$ is the orthogonal complement of $`W^L`$ in $`W`$.

If $`x`$ is a generic point in $`M_L^{ss}\mu ^1(0)`$ such that $`P`$ is minimal among those containing $`L`$, then $`𝒩_x=W`$. Suppose the $`K`$-action on $`M`$ is almost balanced, i.e. the action of $`\mathrm{Stab}(x)`$ on the normal slice $`W`$ at $`x`$ is weakly linearly balanced for all $`x\mu ^1(0)`$. Then by choosing a generic $`x`$ for each $`L(M)`$, we deduce that the action of $`L`$ on the normal space $`𝒩_x=W`$ to $`GM_L^{ss}`$ is weakly linearly balanced.

In general, we only have $`𝒩_xW`$. But $`L`$ acts trivially on $`𝒩_x^{}W`$ and hence the weights of the maximal torus action on $`𝒩_x^{}W`$ are all zero. By examining the inequality (7.1) it is easy to see that if the $`L`$-action on $`𝒩_x`$ is weakly linearly balanced then so is the $`P`$ action on $`W`$. Therefore, if for each $`L(M)`$ the action of $`L`$ on the normal space to $`GM_L^{ss}`$ at a generic point $`x\mu ^1(0)`$ with $`\mathrm{LieStab}(x)=\mathrm{Lie}(L)`$ is weakly linearly balanced, then the action of $`\mathrm{Stab}(x)`$ on the normal slice $`W`$ at $`x`$ is weakly linearly balanced for all $`x\mu ^1(0)`$, i.e. the $`K`$-action on $`M`$ is almost balanced.

Now let $`J(M)`$ and suppose $`xM_J^{ss}\mu ^1(0)`$. Then $`LJ`$. Using Lemma 8.2 which is purely a group theoretic result, it is direct to check that in the neighborhood of $`Kx`$, $`M_J^{ss}`$ is

$$\begin{array}{cc}& N^J\times _{PN^J}\left((𝔫^J/𝔭𝔫^J)^{}\times W^J\right)\times ^{dimX_{(P)}}\\ & N^J/J\times _{PN^J/J}\left((𝔫^J/𝔭𝔫^J)^{}\times W^J\right)\times ^{dimX_{(P)}}\end{array}$$

See the proof of Proposition 8.4 for a similar computation.

If $`\mathrm{Stab}(x)`$ is minimal with $`\mathrm{LieStab}(x)=\mathrm{Lie}L`$ so that $`𝒩_x=W`$, then the $`J`$-fixed sets $`𝒩_{x,J}`$ and $`W^J`$ are isomorphic. In general, we only have $`𝒩_{x,J}W^J`$. But by the arguments in the previous paragraphs, we deduce that the action of $`N^J/J`$ on $`M_J`$ is almost balanced if and only if the action of $`LN^J/J`$ on $`𝒩_{x,J}`$ is weakly linearly balanced for $`x\mu ^1(0)`$ with $`\mathrm{LieStab}(x)=\mathrm{Lie}L`$ for all $`LJ`$. So we proved the lemma. ∎

The weakly balanced condition is satisfied by many interesting spaces including the diagonal $`SL(2)`$ action on $`(^1)^{2n}`$. (See §9.) Also, it is satisfied by (the GIT construction of) the moduli spaces of holomorphic vector bundles over a Riemann surface of any rank and any degree. For the next proposition, let us use Definition 7.2.

###### Proposition 7.4.

Let $`M(n,d)`$ be the moduli space of rank $`n`$ holomorphic vector bundles of degree $`d>n(2g1)`$ over a Riemann surface $`\mathrm{\Sigma }`$ of genus $`g`$, which is a GIT quotient of a nonsingular quasiprojective variety $`(n,d)^{ss}`$ by $`G=SL(p)`$ for $`p=dn(g1)`$. (See \[New78, Kir86a\].) The action of $`SL(p)`$ on $`(n,d)^{ss}`$ is weakly balanced.

###### Proof.

Let $`E`$ be a semistable vector bundle such that $`Em_1E_1\mathrm{}m_sE_s`$ where $`E_i`$’s are non-isomorphic stable bundles with the same slope. Then the identity component of $`\mathrm{Stab}E`$ in $`G`$ is $`H^{}=S(_{i=1}^sGL(m_i))`$ where $`S`$ denotes the subset of elements whose determinant is 1. The normal space to $`GM_H^{ss}`$ at $`E`$ is (\[AB82, Kir86a\])

$$\begin{array}{ccc}H^1(\mathrm{\Sigma },End_{}^{}E)\hfill & =H^1(\mathrm{\Sigma },_{i,j}(m_im_j\delta _{ij})Hom(E_i,E_j))\hfill & \\ & =_{i,j}H^1(\mathrm{\Sigma },(m_im_j\delta _{ij})E_i^{}E_j)\hfill & \end{array}$$

More precisely,

$$\begin{array}{ccc}H^1(\mathrm{\Sigma },End_{}^{}E)=\hfill & _{i<j}[H^1(\mathrm{\Sigma },E_i^{}E_j)Hom(^{m_i},^{m_j})\hfill & \\ & H^1(\mathrm{\Sigma },E_iE_j^{})Hom(^{m_j},^{m_i})]\hfill & \\ & [_iH^1(\mathrm{\Sigma },EndE_i)sl(m_i)]\hfill & \end{array}$$

Because $`E_i`$ is not isomorphic to $`E_j`$ for $`ij`$, $`H^0(\mathrm{\Sigma },E_i^{}E_j)=0=H^0(\mathrm{\Sigma },E_iE_j^{})`$ and thus

$$\begin{array}{ccc}dimH^1(\mathrm{\Sigma },E_i^{}E_j)\hfill & =RR(\mathrm{\Sigma },E_i^{}E_j)=(rankE_i)(rankE_j)(g1)\hfill & \\ & =RR(\mathrm{\Sigma },E_iE_j^{})=dimH^1(\mathrm{\Sigma },E_iE_j^{})\hfill & \end{array}$$

where $`RR`$ denotes the Riemann-Roch number. Therefore, the weights of the representation of $`H^{}`$ on $`H^1(\mathrm{\Sigma },End_{}^{}E)`$ are symmetric with respect to the origin. This implies that the action is weakly linearly balanced. As each subgroup $`L^{}`$ as in Definition 7.2 (2) is conjugate to $`S(_{i=1}^sGL(m_i^{}))`$ for a “subdivision” $`(m_1^{},m_2^{},\mathrm{})`$ of $`(m_1,m_2,\mathrm{})`$, it is easy to check that such $`HN^L/L`$ action on the $`L`$-fixed point set is also weakly linearly balanced. ∎

### 7.2. The image of the pull-back homomorphism

For any $`H(M)`$, consider the natural map (sometimes called the “resolution”)

(7.2)
$$K\times _{N^H}M_H^{ss}KM_H^{ss}$$

and the corresponding map on the cohomology (\[Kir86a\] Lemma 1.21)

(7.3)
$$H_K^{}(KM_H^{ss})H_K^{}(K\times _{N^H}M_H^{ss})H_{N^H}^{}(M_H^{ss})[H_{N_0^H/H}^{}(M_H^{ss})H_H^{}]^{\pi _0N^H}$$

where $`N_0^H`$ is the identity component of $`N^H`$. For any $`\zeta H_K^{}(M^{ss})`$ let $`\zeta |_{K\times _{N^H}M_H^{ss}}`$ denote the image of $`\zeta `$ by the composition of the above map with the restriction map $`H_K^{}(M^{ss})H_K^{}(KM_H^{ss})`$. Now, we can describe the image of $`\varphi _K^{}`$.

###### Definition 7.5.

Put $`n_H=\frac{1}{2}\mathrm{codim}GM_H^{ss}dimH`$ and $`H_H^{<n_H}=_{i<n_H}H_H^i`$. We define $`V_M^{}`$ as the set of $`\zeta H_K^{}(M^{ss})`$ such that

(7.4)
$$\zeta |_{K\times _{N^H}M_H^{ss}}H_{N_0^H/H}^{}(M_H^{ss})H_H^{<n_H}$$

for each $`H(M)`$.

###### Remark 7.6.

The definition of $`V_M^{}`$ is independent of the choices of $`H`$s in the conjugacy classes and the tensor product expressions: The former is easy to check by translating by $`g`$ if $`H`$ is replaced by $`gHg^1`$. The latter can be immediately seen by considering the gradation of the degenerating spectral sequence for the cohomology of the fibration

(7.5)
$$\begin{array}{c}(EN_0^H\times EN_0^H/H)\times _{N_0^H}M_H^{ss}\\ & & \\ EN_0^H/H\times _{N_0^H/H}M_H^{ss}\end{array}$$

The fiber is homotopically equivalent to $`BH`$. (See \[Kir86a\] Lemma1.21.) Though the last isomorphism in (7.3) is not canonical, the subspace in (7.4) is canonical.

From (7.4), we have

(7.6)
$$V_M^{}=\mathrm{Ker}\left(H_K^{}(M^{ss})\underset{H(M)}{}H_{N_0^H/H}^{}(M_H^{ss})H_H^{n_H}\right)$$

and thus $`V_M^{}`$ can be thought of as a subset of $`H_K^{}(M^{ss})H_K^{}(Z)`$, obtained by “truncating locally”.

Now we can state the main theorem of the section which will be proved in the next section.

###### Theorem 7.7.

Let $`M^n`$ be a projective smooth variety acted on unitarily by a compact connected group $`K`$ with at least one stable point. Suppose that the weakly balanced condition is satisfied. Then we have $`\varphi _K^{}(IH^{}(X))=V_M^{}`$. Moreover, for any open set $`U`$ of $`X`$, if we define $`V_{\varphi ^1(U)}^{}H_K^{}(\varphi ^1(U))`$ as in Definition 7.5, then we have $`\varphi _K^{}(IH^{}(U))=V_{\varphi ^1(U)}^{}`$.

## 8. Proof of Theorem 7.7

This section is devoted to a proof of Theorem 7.7. Let us use the notations of §6.1 and §7. Recall that

(8.1)
$$r:=r(M)=\mathrm{max}\{dimH|H(M)\}.$$

Our proof is by induction on $`r(M)`$.

When $`r=0`$, we have nothing to prove since

$$V_M^{}=H_K^{}(M^{ss})IH^{}(M//G).$$

So we consider the case $`r>0`$. Suppose the theorem is true for all projective varieties $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ with $`r(\mathrm{\Gamma })r1`$. Let $`\widehat{M}`$ be the blowup of $`M^{ss}`$ along the submanifold

$$\underset{dimH=r}{}GM_H^{ss}.$$

Then from \[Kir85\] §6, we have

$$(\widehat{M})=\{H(M)|dimHr1\}$$

and thus $`r(\widehat{M})r1`$.

For simplicity, we assume from now on that there exists only one $`H`$ such that $`dimH=r`$. (The general case is no more difficult except for repetition. We can deal with each $`H`$ one by one. See \[Kir85\], Cor.8.3.) We fix this $`H`$ once and for all till the end of this section.

###### Remark 8.1.

(1) To be precise, we have to take the closure of $`\widehat{M}`$ with respect to a suitable linearization described in \[Kir85\] and then resolve the possible singularities. But as argued in \[Kir85\], this does not cause any trouble for us because all the semistable points are contained in $`\widehat{M}`$ and we are only interested in the semistable points.

(2) By \[Kir86b\] 1.6, for $`L(\widehat{M})`$, the $`L`$-fixed set $`\widehat{M}_L^{ss}`$ in $`\widehat{M}^{ss}`$ is the proper transform of the $`L`$-fixed set $`M_L^{ss}`$ in $`M^{ss}`$. In particular, the normal space to $`G\widehat{M}_L^{ss}`$ in $`\widehat{M}^{ss}`$ at a generic point is isomorphic to the normal space to $`GM_L^{ss}`$ in $`M^{ss}`$ at a generic point. Notice that the weakly balanced condition in Definition 7.2 is purely about the actions of $`L`$ on the normal spaces $`𝒩_x`$ to $`GM_L^{ss}`$ for $`L(M)`$. (The fixed set by a subgroup of $`L`$ is determined by the action of $`L`$.) Therefore, if the $`K`$-action on $`M^{ss}`$ is weakly balanced, the action on $`\widehat{M}`$ is also weakly balanced.

By our induction hypothesis, $`\widehat{\varphi }_K^{}(IH^{}(\widehat{M}//G))=V_{\widehat{M}}^{}`$ and the same holds for any open subset of $`\widehat{X}=\widehat{M}//G`$.

We start the proof with a few lemmas.

###### Lemma 8.2.

(\[Kir85\] Proposition 8.10) Suppose $`LP`$ are compact subgroups of $`K`$ and $`L`$ is connected. Then there exist finitely many elements $`k_1,k_2,\mathrm{},k_m`$ in $`K`$ such that

$$\{kK|k^1LkP\}=\underset{1im}{}N^Lk_iP$$

where $`N^L`$ is the normalizer of $`L`$ in $`K`$.

###### Proof.

See the proof of \[Kir85\] p77.∎

Let $`E`$ be the exceptional divisor in $`\widehat{M}`$ of the blow-up.

###### Lemma 8.3.

By restriction, we have an isomorphism

$$\mathrm{Ker}\left(H_K^{}(\widehat{M})H_K^{}(\widehat{M}^{ss})\right)\mathrm{Ker}\left(H_K^{}(E)H_K^{}(E^{ss})\right).$$

###### Proof.

This follows from \[Kir85\] 7.5, 7.6 and 7.11.∎

We first show that the image of $`\varphi _K^{}`$ is contained in $`V_M^{}`$. Let $`U`$ be an open subset of $`X=M//G`$.

###### Proposition 8.4.

$`\varphi _K^{}(IH^{}(U))V_{\varphi ^1(U)}^{}`$.

###### Proof.

Recall that $`E𝒢`$ denotes a contractible free $`𝒢`$-space for a Lie group $`𝒢`$ and $`B𝒢=E𝒢/𝒢`$. Let $`L(M)`$. From the obvious commutative diagram

we get a morphism

$$f^{}R\varphi _{K}^{}{}_{}{}^{}R\varphi _{L}^{}{}_{}{}^{}g^{}\tau _{n_L}R\varphi _{L}^{}{}_{}{}^{}g^{}=\tau _{n_L}R\varphi _{L}^{}{}_{}{}^{}.$$

This induces a morphism by adjunction

(8.2)
$$R\varphi _{K}^{}{}_{}{}^{}Rf_{}f^{}R\varphi _{K}^{}{}_{}{}^{}Rf_{}\tau _{n_L}R\varphi _{L}^{}{}_{}{}^{}=:𝒜_L^{}.$$

The fiber of $`\varphi _L^{}`$ is homotopically equivalent to $`BL`$ and thus this morphism induces the truncation homomorphism

$$H_K^{}(M^{ss})[H_{N_0^L/L}^{}(M_L^{ss})H_L^{n_L}]^{\pi _0N^L}$$

where $`N_0^L`$ is the identity component of $`N^L`$. By composing (8.2) with $`\varphi _K^{}`$, we get a morphism

whose hypercohomology gives us

$$IH^{}(U)H_K^{}(\varphi ^1(U))[H_{N_0^L/L}^{}(M_L^{ss}\varphi ^1(U))H_L^{n_L}]^{\pi _0N^L}.$$

Therefore it suffices to show that $`\rho `$ is equal to zero in view of (7.6).

The sheaf complex $`𝒜_L^{}`$ is trivial on the complement of the closed subset $`GM_L^{ss}//G`$. Hence $`\rho `$ is zero on this open dense subset. Hence by adding stratum by stratum in the order of increasing codimension, it suffices to show the following: Let $`P`$ be a subgroup of $`K`$ and consider the stratum $`X_{(P)}`$ defined in §4. Suppose $`U`$ is an open subset of $`X`$ containing $`X_{(P)}`$ such that $`UX_{(P)}`$ is open and $`\rho |_{UX_{(P)}}`$ is equal to zero. Then $`\rho |_U`$ is also zero.

Let $`ı:UX_{(P)}U`$ and put $`n_P=\frac{1}{2}\mathrm{codim}X_{(P)}`$. We claim that

(8.3)
$$\tau _{<n_P}𝒜_L^{}|_U\tau _{<n_P}Rı_{}𝒜_L^{}|_{UX_{(P)}}.$$

This claim enables us to deduce that $`\rho |_U`$ is zero from $`\rho |_{UX_{(P)}}`$ being zero because $`\rho |_U`$ is the composition

which is zero.

Let us now prove (8.3). If $`L`$ is not conjugate to a subgroup of $`P`$, then $`X_{(P)}`$ does not intersect with $`GM_L^{ss}//G`$ and thus we have nothing to prove. So we may assume $`LP`$ after conjugation if necessary.

Consider the commutative diagram

where $`h`$ is the unique map defined by the universal property of the categorical quotient $`M_L^{ss}//N^L`$ of $`M_L^{ss}`$.

We compute the stalk cohomology of both sides of (8.3). By Lemma 4.1, the preimage of a contractible neighborhood $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$ of a point in $`X_{(P)}`$ by $`\varphi `$ is equivariantly homeomorphic to

(8.4)
$$K\times _P\left((𝔨/𝔭)^{}\times W\right)\times ^{dimX_{(P)}}$$

for some symplectic $`P`$-vector space $`W`$. By Lemma 8.2, it is direct to check that $`M_L^{ss}`$ in this neighborhood is

(8.5)
$$\underset{1im}{}k_iN^{L_i}\times _{PN^{L_i}}\left((𝔫^{L_i}/𝔭𝔫^{L_i})^{}\times W^{L_i}\right)\times ^{dimX_{(P)}}$$

where $`L_i=k_i^1Lk_i`$ and $`W^{L_i}`$ is the $`L_i`$-fixed subspace of $`W`$. Also $`𝔫^L`$ denotes the Lie algebra of $`N^L`$.

If we delete $`X_{(P)}`$ from the neighborhood $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$, then the preimage by $`\varphi `$ is

$$K\times _P\left((𝔨/𝔭)^{}\times (W\varphi _W^1())\right)\times ^{dimX_{(P)}}$$

where $`\varphi _W:WW//P`$ is the GIT quotient map and $``$ is the vertex of the cone $`W//P`$. The intersection of this with $`M_L^{ss}`$ is homeomorphic to

$$\underset{1im}{}k_iN^{L_i}\times _{PN^{L_i}}\left((𝔫^{L_i}/𝔭𝔫^{L_i})^{}\times (W^{L_i}\varphi _W^1())\right)\times ^{dimX_{(P)}}.$$

Hence the stalk cohomology of the left hand side of (8.3) is

$$\underset{i}{}H_{PN^{L_i}/L_i}^{<n_Pn_L}(W^{L_i})H_{L_i}^{n_L}$$

while the right hand side has

$$\underset{i}{}H_{PN^{L_i}/L_i}^{<n_Pn_L}(W^{L_i}\varphi _W^1())H_{L_i}^{n_L}.$$

Thus it suffices to show that

(8.6)
$$H_{PN^{L_i}/L_i}^{<n_Pn_L}(W^{L_i})H_{PN^{L_i}/L_i}^{<n_Pn_L}(W^{L_i}\varphi _W^1()).$$

Without loss of generality, we may assume $`L_i=L`$.

By definition, we have

(8.7)
$$n_P=\frac{1}{2}dimW//P=\frac{1}{2}dimWdimP.$$

From (8.5), it is easy to deduce that $`GM_L^{ss}`$ in the preimage of $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$ is

(8.8)
$$K\times _P\left((𝔨/𝔭)^{}\times P_{}W^L\right)\times ^{dimX_{(P)}}$$

where $`P_{}`$ is the complexification of $`P`$ in $`G`$ and $`W`$ is assigned a complex structure compatible with the symplectic structure. Hence, we have

(8.9)
$$n_L=\frac{1}{2}\mathrm{codim}GM_L^{ss}dimL=\frac{1}{2}\left(dimWdimP_{}W^L\right)dimL.$$

From the surjectivity of the morphism

$$P_{}\times _{P_{}N_{}^L}W^LP_{}W^L$$

we see that

(8.10)
$$dimP_{}W^LdimP_{}+dimW^Ldim(P_{}N_{}^L).$$

Comparing (8.7), (8.9) and (8.10), we get

(8.11)
$$n_Pn_L\frac{1}{2}dimW^Ldim(PN^L/L).$$

Since the action of $`N^L/L`$ on $`M_L^{ss}`$ is almost balanced (Remark 5.2), by (8.11) we have

(8.12)
$$H_{PN^L/L}^{<n_Pn_L}(W^L)H_{PN^L/L}^{<n_Pn_L}(W^L\varphi _{W^L}^1())$$

where $`\varphi _{W^L}:W^LW^L//PN^L`$ is the GIT quotient map.

Finally, we observe that

(8.13)
$$\varphi _{W^L}^1()=\varphi _W^1()W^L.$$

This is because we know the following from \[Kir84\]:

1. For $`xW^L`$, $`x\varphi _{W^L}^1()lim_t\mathrm{}x_t=0`$ where $`x_t`$ is the gradient flow for $`|\mu _{W^L}|^2`$ with $`x_0=x`$ ($`\mu _{W^L}`$ is the moment map for $`W^L`$).
2. For $`xW`$, $`x\varphi _W^1()lim_t\mathrm{}x_t=0`$ where $`x_t`$ is the gradient flow for $`|\mu _W|^2`$ with $`x_0=x`$ ($`\mu _W`$ is the moment map for $`W`$).
3. For a moment map $`\mu `$ on a symplectic manifold, the gradient vector at $`x`$ for $`|\mu |^2`$ is $`2i\mu (x)_x`$ if $`𝔨`$ is identified with $`𝔨^{}`$ by the Killing form.
4. $`\mu _W(x)𝔫^L`$ if $`xW^L`$ and hence $`\mu _W(x)=\mu _{W^L}(x)`$.

(8.6) follows from (8.12) and (8.13).

We need a few more lemmas.

###### Lemma 8.5.

Consider the diagram (6.1) in §6.1. The restriction to $`V_M^{}`$ of

factors through $`V_{\widehat{M}}^{}`$ and is injective. A similar statement is true for $`\varphi ^1(U)`$ where $`U`$ is any open set in $`X`$.

###### Proof.

Let $`\zeta `$ be a nonzero element in $`V_M^{}`$. Then

$$\zeta |_{K\times _{N^L}M_L^{ss}}[H_{N_0^L/L}^{}(M_L^{ss})H_L^{<n_L}]^{\pi _0N^L}$$

for each $`L(M).`$ Its image in $`H_K^{}(\widehat{M}^{ss})`$ satisfies

$$\zeta |_{K\times _{N^L}\widehat{M}_L^{ss}}[H_{N_0^L/L}^{}(\widehat{M}_L^{ss})H_L^{<n_L}]^{\pi _0N^L}$$

for each $`L(\widehat{M})=\{L(M)|dimL<r(M)\}.`$ This follows from the commutative diagram

$$\begin{array}{ccccc}\widehat{M}^{ss}& & K\widehat{M}_L^{ss}& & K\times _{N^L}\widehat{M}_L^{ss}\\ & & & & & & \\ M^{ss}& & KM_L^{ss}& & K\times _{N^L}M_L^{ss}.\end{array}$$

Therefore, $`\zeta `$ is mapped to an element in $`V_{\widehat{M}}^{}`$.

Recall that $`H`$ is the identity component of a stabilizer which has the maximal dimension $`r(M)`$ and the blowup center is the submanifold $`GM_H^{ss}`$. Since $`\pi _K^{}`$ is an injection by the well-known argument in \[GH94\] p605, we may think of $`\zeta `$ as an element of $`H_K^{}(\widehat{M})`$. By Lemma 8.3, if $`\zeta |_{GM_H^{ss}}=0`$ i.e. $`\zeta |_E=0`$, then $`\zeta |_{\widehat{M}^{ss}}0.`$

Let us now consider the case when $`\zeta |_{GM_H^{ss}}0`$. Since $`H`$ is maximal, we have an isomorphism

$$H_{N_0^H/H}^{}(M_H^{ss})H^{}(M_H^{ss}//N_0^H).$$

By the definition of $`V_M^{}`$, $`\zeta |_{GM_H^{ss}}`$ lies in

(8.14)
$$[H^{}(M_H^{ss}//N_0^H)H_H^{<n_H}]^{\pi _0N^H}$$

and we have

(8.15)
$$H_K^{}(E^{ss})=[H^{}(M_H^{ss}//N_0^H)H_H^{}(𝒩_x^{ss})]^{\pi _0N^H}$$

from \[Kir86b\] Lemma 1.16 where $`𝒩_x`$ is the normal space to $`GM_H^{ss}`$. Because the $`K`$-action is almost balanced, the codimensions of the unstable strata in $`𝒩_x`$ are greater than $`n_H`$ by (5.2). Therefore, by the equivariant Morse theory \[Kir84\], we deduce that the restriction homomorphism

$$H_H^{<n_H}(𝒩_x)H_H^{<n_H}(𝒩_x^{ss})$$

is an isomorphism. In particular, $`H_H^{<n_H}`$ injects into $`H_H^{<n_H}(𝒩_x^{ss})`$. By (8.15) and (8.14), the image of $`\zeta `$ in $`H_K^{}(E^{ss})`$ is not zero and thus $`\zeta `$ injects into $`H_K^{}(\widehat{M}^{ss})`$.

It is obvious from our proof that the statement is true for any open set $`U`$ in $`X`$. ∎

Let $`𝒩`$ be the normal bundle to $`GM_H^{ss}`$ in $`M^{ss}`$ and $`𝒩_U`$ be the normal bundle to $`GM_H^{ss}\varphi ^1(U)`$ for any open subset $`U`$ of $`X`$. It is proved in \[Kir86b\] Lemma 2.9 that $`𝒩//K`$ is homeomorphic to a neighborhood of $`X_{(𝔥)}=GM_H^{ss}//G`$ and hence $`𝒩_U//K`$ is homeomorphic to a neighborhood of $`UX_{(𝔥)}`$. We identify $`𝒩_U`$ with a tubular neighborhood of $`GM_H^{ss}\varphi ^1(U)`$ and identify $`𝒩_U//K`$ with a neighborhood $`U_1`$ of $`UX_{(𝔥)}`$ in $`U`$.

By the gradient flow of $`|\mu |^2`$, $`M^{ss}`$ can be equivariantly retracted into $`\mu ^1(D_\epsilon )`$ where $`D_\epsilon `$ is the disk of radius $`\epsilon `$ around $`0`$ in $`𝔨^{}`$. By shrinking $`U_1`$ if necessary and taking $`\epsilon `$ sufficiently small, $`\varphi ^1(U_1)`$ is retracted into $`𝒩_U`$. Conversely, if we decrease the radius of a tubular neighborhood of $`GM_H^{ss}\varphi ^1(U)`$, it is included in $`\varphi ^1(U_1)`$. These two inclusions are clearly inverse to each other *homotopically* and $`K`$-equivariantly since $`\mu `$ is equivariant. In particular, $`𝒩_U`$ and $`\varphi ^1(U_1)`$ are homotopically equivalent open neighborhoods of $`GM_H^{ss}\varphi ^1(U)`$. Therefore, $`H_K^{}(\varphi ^1(U_1))`$ is canonically isomorphic to $`H_K^{}(𝒩_U)`$ and $`V_{\varphi ^1(U_1)}^{}V_{𝒩_U}^{}`$. Hence for cohomological purpose, we can think of $`𝒩_U`$ as the preimage of a neighborhood of $`UX_{(𝔥)}`$.

###### Proposition 8.6.

The restriction of the Kirwan map gives us an isomorphism $`V_{𝒩_U}^{}IH^{}(𝒩_U//G)`$.

We postpone the proof of this proposition and prove Theorem 7.7.

###### Proof of Theorem 7.7.

For an open subset $`U`$ of $`X`$, let $`B^{}(U)`$ be the kernel of the Kirwan map restricted to $`V_{\varphi ^1(U)}^{}`$. Then by Proposition 8.4, we can write

(8.16)
$$V_{\varphi ^1(U)}^{}=IH^{}(U)B^{}(U).$$

We have to show that $`B^{}(U)`$ is zero.

Let $`\widehat{U}`$ be the preimage of $`U`$ by the blow-up map $`\sigma :\widehat{X}X`$. By our induction hypothesis, the pull-back $`\widehat{\varphi }_K^{}`$ is an isomorphism of $`IH^{}(\widehat{U})`$ onto $`V_{\widehat{\varphi }^1(\widehat{U})}^{}`$ and the Kirwan map is its inverse.

Recall that we have the decomposition (6.5) which induces an isomorphism

(8.17)
$$IH^{}(\widehat{U})IH^{}(U)F^{}(U)$$

where $`F^{}(U)`$ is the hypercohomology of $`^{}`$ over $`U`$. Since $`B^{}(U)`$ is mapped to zero by

$$V_{\varphi ^1(U)}^{}V_{\widehat{\varphi }^1(\widehat{U})}^{}IH^{}(\widehat{U})IH^{}(U)F^{}(U)IH^{}(U)$$

we see that $`B^{}(U)`$ injects into $`F^{}(U)`$.

As $`\varphi _K^{}`$, $`\kappa _M^{ss}`$ and (8.17) all came from sheaf complexes, we have the following commutative diagram by restriction

where $`\widehat{𝒩}_U`$ is the preimage of $`𝒩_U`$ in $`\widehat{M}^{ss}`$. Since $`^{}`$ is supported over $`X_{(𝔥)}=GM_H^{ss}//G`$, the vertical map for $`F^{}(U)`$ is the identity map.

Now let $`\zeta `$ be a nonzero element in $`B^{}(U)`$. We know $`\zeta `$ is mapped to a nonzero element, say $`\eta `$ in $`F^{}(U)`$. In the above diagram, $`\eta `$ is mapped to zero in $`IH^{}(𝒩_U//G)`$. Then by Proposition 8.6, $`\zeta |_{𝒩_U}=0`$ and thus $`\eta =0`$. This is a contradiction! So we proved that $`B^{}(U)=0`$. ∎

It remains to prove Proposition 8.6. This is a consequence of the next three lemmas.

Let $`x`$ and $`𝒩_x`$ be as in Definition 7.2. By \[Kir85\] Corollary 5.6 and \[Kir86a\] Lemma 1.21, we have an isomorphism

(8.18)
$$H_K^{}(𝒩_U)[H^{}(M_H^{ss}\varphi ^1(U)//N_0^H)H_H^{}(𝒩_x)]^{\pi _0N^H}$$

from a degenerating spectral sequence.

###### Lemma 8.7.

Via the isomorphism (8.18), we have

(8.19)
$$V_{𝒩_U}^{}[H^{}(M_H^{ss}\varphi ^1(U)//N_0^H)V_{𝒩_x}^{}]^{\pi _0N^H}.$$

###### Proof.

Let $`L(M)`$. If $`L`$ is not conjugate to a subgroup of $`H`$, there is no $`L`$-fixed point in $`𝒩`$. Hence, after conjugation if necessary, we may assume that $`LP`$. Let $`𝒩_{U,L}`$ be the $`L`$-fixed subset of $`𝒩_U`$. For $`V_{𝒩_U}^{}`$ we have to consider the map

(8.20)
$$H_K^{}(𝒩_U)H_K^{}(K\times _{N^L}𝒩_{U,L})H_{N^L}^{}(𝒩_{U,L})[H_{N_0^L/L}^{}(𝒩_{U,L})H_L^{n_L}]^{\pi _0N^L}.$$

It is obvious that $`𝒩_{U,L}`$ is a vector bundle over $`M_L^{ss}GM_H^{ss}\varphi ^1(U)`$. Using Lemma 8.2, it is easy to check that there are $`k_1,\mathrm{},k_s`$ in $`K`$ so that

$$M_L^{ss}GM_H^{ss}\varphi ^1(U)=\underset{i}{}N_0^LM_{H_i}^{ss}\varphi ^1(U)$$

where $`H_i=k_iHk_i^1`$. Since $`H`$ is maximal in $`(M)`$ we have isomorphisms

$$N_0^LM_{H_i}^{ss}\varphi ^1(U)N_0^L\times _{N_0^LN^{H_i}}M_{H_i}^{ss}\varphi ^1(U)N_0^L/L\times _{N_0^LN^{H_i}/L}M_{H_i}^{ss}\varphi ^1(U)$$

by \[Kir85\] 5.6 and hence we have

(8.21)
$$H_{N_0^L/L}^{}(𝒩_{U,L})\underset{i}{}H_{N_0^LN^{H_i}/L}^{}\left(M_{H_i}^{ss}\varphi ^1(U)\right).$$

If we apply Lemma 8.2 with $`LH`$ as subgroups of $`N^H`$, we deduce that there exist $`g_1,\mathrm{},g_t`$ in $`N^H`$ such that

$$\{kN^H|k^1LkH\}=\underset{j}{}(N^HN_0^L)g_jH.$$

But for $`kN^H`$, $`k^1Lkk^1Hk=H`$ and hence we have

$$N^H=\underset{j}{}(N^HN_0^L)g_jH.$$

This implies that the natural embedding

$$N^HN_0^L/HN_0^LN^H/H$$

is of finite index. In particular, the identity component of $`N^HN_0^L/HN_0^L`$ is naturally isomorphic to the identity component $`N_0^H/H`$ of $`N^H/H`$.

Let $`N_i`$ be the identity component of $`N^{H_i}N_0^L`$ and put $`S_i=N_iH_i`$. Then $`N_i/S_iN_0^{H_i}/H_i`$. Therefore,

$$H_{N_0^LN^{H_i}/L}^{}\left(M_{H_i}^{ss}\varphi ^1(U)\right)$$

is the $`\pi _0(N^{H_i}N_0^L)`$-invariant part of

(8.22)
$$\begin{array}{cc}H_{N_i/L}^{}\left(M_{H_i}^{ss}\varphi ^1(U)\right)\hfill & H_{N_i/S_i}^{}\left(M_{H_i}^{ss}\varphi ^1(U)\right)H_{S_i/L}^{}\hfill \\ & H_{N_0^{H_i}/H_i}^{}\left(M_{H_i}^{ss}\varphi ^1(U)\right)H_{S_i/L}^{}\hfill \\ & H^{}(M_{H_i}^{ss}\varphi ^1(U)//N_0^{H_i})H_{S_i/L}^{}\hfill \end{array}$$

The first isomorphism in (8.22) came from \[Kir86a\] Lemma 1.21. Our interest lies in finding the kernel of (8.20). Combining (8.20), (8.21) and (8.22), we see that $`V_{𝒩_U}^{}`$ is the intersection of the kernels of

(8.23)
$$H_K^{}(𝒩_U)\underset{i}{}H^{}(M_{H_i}^{ss}\varphi ^1(U)//N_0^{H_i})H_{S_i/L}^{}H_L^{n_L}$$

for all $`L(M)`$.

Now observe that the spaces that appear in (8.20) lie over $`GM_H^{ss}//GM_H^{ss}//N^H`$. Applying spectral sequence, we get a homomorphism of spectral sequences whose $`E_2`$-terms give us

(8.24)
$$[H^{}(M_H^{ss}\varphi ^1\left(U\right)//N_0^H)H_H^{}\left(𝒩_x\right)]^{\pi _0N^H}\underset{i}{}H^{}(M_{H_i}^{ss}\varphi ^1\left(U\right)//N_0^{H_i})H_{S_i/L}^{}\left(𝒩_{x,L}\right)H_L^{n_L}.$$

The right side of (8.24) is isomorphic to

(8.25)
$$\underset{i}{}H^{}(M_H^{ss}\varphi ^1(U)//N_0^H)H_{k_i^1S_ik_i/L_i}^{}(𝒩_{x,L_i})H_{L_i}^{n_L}$$

by conjugation, where $`L_i=k_i^1Lk_i`$. Note that $`k_i^1S_ik_i/L_i`$ and $`HN_0^{L_i}/L_i`$ share the same identity component say $`S_i^{}`$. Thus $`H_{k_i^1S_ik_i/L_i}^{}(𝒩_{x,L_i})`$ is the invariant subspace of $`H_{S_i^{}}^{}(𝒩_{x,L_i})`$ with respect to a finite group action. With the isomorphism (8.25), the fiber direction in (8.24) is exactly the truncation map

$$H_H^{}(𝒩_x)H_{S_i^{}}^{}(𝒩_{x,L_i})H_{L_i}^{n_L}$$

for $`V_{𝒩_x}^{}`$. Therefore taking the kernel of (8.20) for all $`L(M)`$ gives us

$$[H^{}(M_H^{ss}\varphi ^1(U)//N_0^H)V_{𝒩_x}^{}]^{\pi _0N^H}.$$

So we are done. ∎

Let $`Y=\left(𝒩_x\right)𝒩_x`$ and $`\widehat{Y}`$ be the blow-up of $`Y`$ at $`0𝒩_x`$. Consider the action of $`H`$ on $`Y`$ and $`\widehat{Y}`$ where $`H`$ acts trivially on the summand $``$.

###### Lemma 8.8.

The actions of $`H`$ on $`Y`$ and $`\widehat{Y}`$ are weakly balanced.

###### Proof.

We identify the hyperplane at infinity $`Y𝒩_x`$ with $`𝒩_x`$. The equation for the hyperplane at infinity is $`H`$-invariant and hence $`Y^{ss}`$ contains $`𝒩_x`$. Therefore $`Y^{ss}=𝒩_x𝒩_x^{ss}`$. Let $`0y𝒩_x`$ and suppose be the corresponding point $`\overline{y}`$ in $`𝒩_x`$ is semistable. By \[Kir85\] Lemma 4.3, $`y`$ is fixed by $`L`$ if and only if $`\overline{y}`$ is fixed by $`L`$. Hence we may consider only points in $`𝒩_x`$.

Let $`\mathrm{Stab}(x)=P`$. Since we could use any $`x\mu ^1(0)`$ as long as the infinitesimal stabilizer is $`\mathrm{Lie}H`$, we assume that $`P`$ is minimal among the stabilizers whose Lie algebra is $`\mathrm{Lie}H`$ so that $`𝒩_x=W`$ in the notation of Lemma 4.1.

First since the action of $`K`$ on $`M`$ is weakly balanced, the action of $`H`$ on $`𝒩_x`$ is weakly linearly balanced and so is the action of $`HN^L/L`$ on the $`L`$-fixed subspace $`𝒩_{x,L}`$. Hence we checked the weakly balanced condition for $`H`$.

Now let $`0y\mu _{𝒩_x}^1(0)`$ and let $`L`$ be the identity component of the stabilizer of $`y`$. Then from (8.8), we see that the normal space to $`GM_L^{ss}`$ in $`M^{ss}`$ is the same as the normal space to $`P_{}W^L`$ in $`W`$ at a generic point. But $`H`$ is the identity component of $`P`$ and $`𝒩_x=W`$. Hence the normal space to $`GM_L^{ss}`$ in $`M^{ss}`$ at a generic point is isomorphic to the normal space to $`H_{}𝒩_{x,L}`$ in $`𝒩_x`$ at a generic point. Moreover since the diffeomorphism in Lemma 4.1 is equivariant, the actions of $`L`$ on the normal spaces are identical. According to Definition 7.2, the weakly balanced condition is purely about the action of $`L`$ on the normal spaces to $`H_{}𝒩_{x,L}`$ for all $`L`$. Because the action of $`K`$ on $`M`$ is weakly balanced, we deduce that the action of $`H`$ on $`𝒩_x`$ is weakly balanced. So we proved that the action of $`H`$ on $`Y`$ is weakly balanced.

Note that $`\widehat{Y}`$ is the first blow-up in the partial desingularization for $`Y`$ and hence $`r(\widehat{Y})<r=r(M)`$ by \[Kir85\] 6.1. By Remark 8.1 (2), the action on $`\widehat{Y}`$ is also weakly balanced. ∎

If we let $`𝒩_x=\mathrm{Spec}A`$ for some polynomial ring $`A`$, then by definition \[MFK94\] there are homeomorphisms

$$𝒩_x//H\mathrm{Spec}A^H𝒩_x//H\mathrm{Proj}A^H$$

i.e. $`𝒩_x//H`$ is the affine cone of $`𝒩_x//H`$ and $`Y//H`$ is the projective cone of $`𝒩_x//H`$.

Since the equation for the hyperplane at infinity in $`Y`$ is invariant, by construction of $`Y//G`$ (\[MFK94\] Chapter 1 §4), it is obvious that the preimage of $`𝒩_x//H`$ by the GIT quotient map $`\varphi _Y:Y^{ss}Y//H`$ is $`𝒩_x`$. Because the action of $`H`$ on $`Y`$ is weakly balanced by Lemma 8.8, the Kirwan map for $`Y`$ restricted to $`𝒩_x`$

$$\kappa _{𝒩_x}^{ss}:H_H^{}(𝒩_x)IH^{}(𝒩_x//H)$$

is surjective by Proposition 6.2.

Now the (sheaf-theoretic) Kirwan map gives us a homomorphism of the spectral sequence for $`H_K^{}(𝒩_U)`$ to the spectral sequence for $`IH^{}(𝒩_U//K)`$. At $`E_2`$-level, we have a homomorphism

$$[H^{}(M_H^{ss}\varphi ^1\left(U\right)//N_0^H)H_H^{}\left(𝒩_x\right)]^{\pi _0N^H}[H^{}(M_H^{ss}\varphi ^1\left(U\right)//N_0^H)IH^{}(𝒩_x//H)]^{\pi _0N^H}.$$

But we know the left side spectral sequence degenerates (8.18) and $`H_H^{}H_H^{}(𝒩_x)`$ surjects onto $`IH^{}(𝒩_x//H)`$. Therefore the right side spectral sequence also degenerates and we have an isomorphism (\[Kir86b\] p495)

(8.26)
$$IH^{}(𝒩_U//K)[H^{}(M_H^{ss}\varphi ^1(U)//N_0^H)IH^{}(𝒩_x//H)]^{\pi _0N^H}$$

In view of (8.19) and (8.26), the proof of Proposition 8.6 is complete if we show the following lemma.

###### Lemma 8.9.

$`V_{𝒩_x}^{}IH^{}(𝒩_x//H)`$.

###### Proof.

As in the proof of Lemma 8.8, we may assume that $`\mathrm{Stab}(x)`$ is minimal among the stabilizers of points in $`\mu ^1(0)`$ whose Lie algebra is $`\mathrm{Lie}H`$. So we may use Lemma 4.1 with $`𝒩_x=W`$.

As $`𝒩_x//H`$ is a cone with vertex point $``$, it is well-known that

$$IH^i(𝒩_x//H)=0$$

for $`in_H`$ and if $`i<n_H`$, we have

$$IH^i(𝒩_x//H)IH^i(𝒩_x//H)IH^i(𝒩_x\varphi _x^1()//H)$$

where $`\varphi _x:𝒩_x𝒩_x//H`$ is the GIT quotient map and the following diagram commutes:

(8.27)
$$\begin{array}{ccc}IH^i(𝒩_x//H)& & IH^i(𝒩_x\varphi _x^1()//H)\\ \varphi _{x,H}^{}& & \varphi _{x,H}^{}& & \\ H_H^i(𝒩_x)& & H_H^i(𝒩_x\varphi _x^1())\end{array}$$

As $`\varphi _x^1()`$ is the union of the complex cones over the unstable strata of $`𝒩_x`$ and the real codimension of each unstable stratum is greater than $`n_H`$ by the weakly balanced condition, the real codimension of $`\varphi _x^1()`$ is greater than $`n_H`$. Hence, the bottom horizontal map is an isomorphism.

We claim that the the right vertical in (8.27) is injective and the image is $`V_{𝒩_x\varphi _x^1()}^i`$. Consider the following commutative diagram

we see that

$$\stackrel{~}{\gamma }^1ϵ^1(𝒩_x//H)=\delta ^1\gamma ^1(𝒩_x//H)=\delta ^1(𝒩_x\varphi _x^1())𝒩_x\varphi _x^1().$$

For the last isomorphism, observe that $`𝒩_x\varphi _x^1()`$ does not intersect with the blow-up center. Moreover, if $`y𝒩_x\varphi _x^1()`$, the closure of $`H_{}y`$ does not meet $`0`$ (if it does, the point belongs to $`\varphi _x^1()`$) and thus $`y`$ is semistable as a point in $`\widehat{Y}`$ by \[Kir85\] Remark 7.7.

Because the action of $`H`$ on $`\widehat{Y}`$ is weakly balanced and $`r(\widehat{Y})<r=r(M)`$, Theorem 7.7 is true for $`\widehat{Y}`$. In particular, if we apply the theorem for the preimage $`𝒩_x\varphi _x^1()`$ of the open set $`ϵ^1(𝒩_x//H)`$ by $`\stackrel{~}{\gamma }`$ we obtain the isomorphism

$$IH^i(𝒩_x\varphi _x^1()//H)V_{𝒩_x\varphi _x^1()}^i.$$

Therefore, from (8.27), it suffices to show that

$$V_{𝒩_x}^iV_{𝒩_x\varphi _x^1()}^i$$

for $`i<n_H`$ by restriction. To see this, we note once again that for $`i<n_H`$,

$$H_H^i(𝒩_x)H_H^i(𝒩_x\varphi _x^1())$$

is an isomorphism and the same is true for

$$H_{HN_0^L/L}^j(𝒩_{x,L})H_L^kH_{HN_0^L/L}^j(𝒩_{x,L}\varphi _x^1())H_L^k$$

if $`kn_L`$, $`j<n_Hkn_Hn_L`$, because the action of $`HN_0^L/L`$ on $`𝒩_{x,L}`$ is weakly linearly balanced. ∎

## 9. Examples

Let

$$P_t^K(W)=\underset{i0}{}t^idimH_K^i(W)$$

$$IP_t(W)=\underset{i0}{}t^idimIH^i(W)$$

be the Poincaré series.

### 9.1. $`^{}`$-action on projective space

Consider a $`^{}`$-action on $`M=^n`$ via a representation $`^{}GL(n+1)`$. Let $`n_+`$, $`n_0`$, $`n_{}`$ be the number of positive, zero, negative weights. Suppose the action is weakly balanced, i.e. $`n_+=n_{}`$. In this case, we can easily compute the intersection Betti nubmers by Theorem 7.7.

From the equivariant Morse theory \[Kir84\],

(9.1)
$$\begin{array}{cc}\hfill P_t^{S^1}((^n)^{ss})& =\frac{1+t^2+\mathrm{}+t^{2n}}{1t^2}\frac{t^{2n_0+2n_+}+\mathrm{}+t^{2n}}{1t^2}\frac{t^{2n_0+2n_{}}+\mathrm{}+t^{2n}}{1t^2}\hfill \\ & =\frac{1+t^2+\mathrm{}+t^{2n_0+2n_{}2}t^{2n_0+2n_+}\mathrm{}t^{2n}}{1t^2}.\hfill \end{array}$$

In this case, $`=\{S^1\}`$ and $`M_{S^1}^{ss}=^{n_01}`$, $`n_H=n_++n_{}1=2n_{}1`$.

As $`H_{S^1}^{}(^n)H_{S^1}^{}((^n)^{ss})H_{S^1}^{}(^{n_01})`$ is surjective, we have only to subtract out the Poincaré series of $`_{i2n_{}}H^{}(^{n_01})H_{S^1}^i`$, which is precisely

$$\frac{t^{2n_{}}(1+t^2+\mathrm{}+t^{2n_02})}{1t^2}.$$

Therefore,

$$IP_t(^n//^{})=\frac{1+t^2+\mathrm{}+t^{2n_{}2}t^{2n_0+2n_+}t^{2n_0+2n_++2}\mathrm{}t^{2n}}{1t^2}$$

which is a palindromic polynomial of degree $`2n2`$.

### 9.2. Ordered $`2n`$-tuples of points of $`^1`$

Let us consider $`G=SL(2)`$ action on the set $`M=(^1)^{2n}`$ of ordered $`2n`$-tuples of points in $`^1`$ as Möbius transformations. Then the semistable $`2n`$-tuples are those containing no point of $`^1`$ strictly more than $`n`$ times and the stable points are those containing no point at least $`n`$ times. Let $`H`$ be the maximal torus of $`G`$. Then

$$(M)=\{H\}$$

$$M_H^{ss}=\{q_I|I\{1,2,3,\mathrm{},2n\},|I|=n\}$$

where $`q_IM`$, the j-th component of which is $`\mathrm{}`$ if $`jI`$, $`0`$ otherwise. Therefore, the action is weakly balanced.

The normalizer $`N^H`$ satisfies $`N^H/H=/2`$ and $`N_0^H=H`$. Hence,

$$H_{N^H}^{}(M_H^{ss})=[_{|I|=n}H_H^{}]^{/2}.$$

The $`/2`$ action interchanges $`\mathrm{}`$ and $`0`$, i.e. $`q_I`$ and $`q_{I^c}`$, and therefore, from now on, we only think of those $`I`$’s that contain $`1`$ so that we can forget the $`/2`$ action.

$`H_K^{}(M)=H_K^{}((^1)^{2n})`$ has generators $`\xi _1,\xi _2,\mathrm{},\xi _{2n}`$ of degree 2 and $`\rho ^2`$ of degree 4, subject to the relations $`\xi _j^2=\rho ^2`$ for $`1j2n`$. The $`I`$-th component of the restriction map

$$H_K^{}(M)H_{N^H}^{}(M_H^{ss})=_IH_H^{}$$

maps $`\rho ^2`$ to $`\rho ^2`$ and $`\xi _j`$ to $`\rho `$ if $`jI`$, $`\rho `$ otherwise. From \[Kir84\],

$$P_t^K(M^{ss})=\frac{(1+t^2)^{2n}}{1t^4}\underset{n<r2n}{}\left(\genfrac{}{}{0pt}{}{2n}{r}\right)\frac{t^{2(r1)}}{1t^2}.$$

###### Proposition 9.1.

$$IP_t(M//G)=P_t^K(M^{ss})\frac{1}{2}\left(\genfrac{}{}{0pt}{}{2n}{n}\right)\frac{t^{2n2}}{1t^2}$$

###### Proof.

By Theorem 7.7, we have only to subtract out the Poincaré series of

$$Im\{H_K^{}(M^{ss})_IH_H^{}\}\{_I_{in_H}H_H^i\}$$

where $`n_H`$ is in this case $`2n3`$. By the lemma below, which is essentially combinatorial, the image contains $`_I_{i2n3}H_H^i`$ and thus the intersection is $`_I_{i>2n3}H_H^i`$, whose Poincaré series is precisely

$$\frac{1}{2}\left(\genfrac{}{}{0pt}{}{2n}{n}\right)\frac{t^{2n2}}{1t^2}.$$

So we are done. $`\mathrm{}`$

###### Lemma 9.2.

The restriction map $`H_K^{2k}(M^{ss})_IH_H^{2k}`$ is surjective for $`kn1`$.

###### Proof.

It is equivalent to show that $`H_K^{2k}(M)_IH_H^{2k}`$ is surjective. Let $`\xi =\xi _2+\mathrm{}+\xi _{2n}`$ and consider, for each $`I=(1,i_2,\mathrm{},i_n)`$,

$$\eta _I=(\xi \xi _{i_2})^{k_2}\mathrm{}(\xi \xi _{i_n})^{k_n}.$$

Then since $`\xi |_{q_J}=\rho `$ for all $`J`$, $`\eta _I|_{q_J}=(2\rho )^k`$ if $`J=I`$ and $`0`$ otherwise, where $`k=k_2+\mathrm{}+k_n`$, $`k_i1`$. Therefore, the images of those $`\eta _I`$ span $`_IH_H^{2k}`$ for any $`kn1`$ and thus the restriction is surjective. $`\mathrm{}`$

### 9.3. Intersection pairing

Consider the $`^{}`$ action on $`^7`$ by a representation with weights $`+1,0,1`$ of multiplicity $`3,2,3`$ respectively. Hence, $`n_+=n_{}=3`$, $`n_0=2`$. Then

$$H_{S^1}^{}(^7)=[\xi ,\rho ]/\xi ^2(\xi \rho )^3(\xi +\rho )^3$$

where $`\xi `$ is a generator in $`H^2(^7)`$ and $`\rho `$ is a generator in $`H_{S^1}^2`$.

The equivariant Euler classes for the two unstable strata are $`\xi ^2(\xi \rho )^3`$, $`\xi ^2(\xi +\rho )^3`$ respectively. Therefore,

$$H_{S^1}^{}((^7)^{ss})=[\xi ,\rho ]/\xi ^2(\xi \rho )^3,\xi ^2(\xi +\rho )^3$$

A Gröbner basis for the relation ideal is

$$\{\xi ^5+3\xi ^3\rho ^2,\xi ^4\rho +\frac{1}{3}\xi ^2\rho ^3,\xi ^3\rho ^3,\xi ^2\rho ^5\}$$

where $`\xi >\rho `$. Hence as a vector space,

$$H_{S^1}^{}((^7)^{ss})=\{\xi ^i\rho ^j|i=0,1,j0\}\{\xi ^i\rho ^j|2i+j<9,i2,j0\}$$

By definition, as $`n_{S^1}=5`$, we remove $`\{\xi ^i\rho ^j|i=0,1,j3\}`$ to get

$$V=_{0i6}V^{2i}$$

$$V^0=,V^2=\{\rho ,\xi \},V^4=\{\rho ^2,\xi \rho ,\xi ^2\},$$

$$V^6=\{\xi \rho ^2,\xi ^2\rho ,\xi ^3\},V^8=\{\xi ^2\rho ^2,\xi ^3\rho ,\xi ^4\},$$

$$V^{10}=\{\xi ^2\rho ^3,\xi ^3\rho ^2\},V^{12}=\{\xi ^2\rho ^4\}.$$

First, consider the pairing $`V^2V^{10}V^{12}`$. As $`\rho (\xi ^2\rho ^3)=\xi ^2\rho ^4`$, $`\rho (\xi ^3\rho ^2)=\xi ^3\rho ^3=0`$, $`\xi (\xi ^2\rho ^3)=\xi ^3\rho ^3=0`$, $`\xi (\xi ^3\rho ^2)=\xi ^4\rho ^2=\frac{1}{3}\xi ^2\rho ^4`$, the pairing matrix is up to a constant

$$\left(\begin{array}{cc}1& 0\\ 0& \frac{1}{3}\end{array}\right)$$

The determinant is $`\frac{1}{3}0`$ and the signature is $`0`$.

Next, consider the pairing $`V^4V^8V^{12}`$. One can similarly use the Gröbner basis to compute the pairing as above. The pairing matrix is up to a constant

$$\left(\begin{array}{ccc}1& 0& \frac{1}{3}\\ 0& \frac{1}{3}& 0\\ \frac{1}{3}& 0& 1\end{array}\right)$$

The determinant is $`\frac{8}{27}0`$ and the signature is 1.

Similarly, the intersection pairing matrix for $`V^6V^6V^{12}`$ is up to a constant

$$\left(\begin{array}{ccc}1& 0& \frac{1}{3}\\ 0& \frac{1}{3}& 0\\ \frac{1}{3}& 0& 1\end{array}\right)$$

The determinant is $`\frac{8}{27}0`$ and the signature is 1.

In this way, one can compute the intersection pairing for any $`n_0,n_{}=n_+`$.

In a subsequent paper, we will compute the intersection pairing of the moduli spaces of holomorphic vector bundles over a Riemann surface of any rank and degree, using the nonabelian localization theorem of Jeffrey and Kirwan.