The Bernoulli-number formula for the orbifold Euler characteristic of moduli space

Let g2g\geq 2 be an integer. Let eg(z0)e_g(z_0) be the genus-gg generating function, written in partial fractions with coefficients q(0)q_\ell^{(0)}, let C(g)C^{(g)} be the associated constant, let B2gB_{2g} denote the even Bernoulli number, and let MgM_g be the moduli space of genus-gg Riemann surfaces. Then

Bernoulli-number conjecture. The coefficients satisfy

C(g)==03g3q(0)=B2g4g(g1)=χorb(Mg).-C^{(g)}=\sum_{\ell=0}^{3g-3}q_\ell^{(0)}=\frac{B_{2g}}{4g(g-1)}=\chi_{\mathrm{orb}}(M_g).

This conjecture identifies the constant term from the map-counting generating function with the orbifold Euler characteristic of the moduli space of genus-gg Riemann surfaces. The source reports numerical verification for 2g1002\leq g\leq100 and attributes the conjecture to earlier work, but gives no proof or resolution.

Sources & referencesView supporting material

Primary source

Nicholas Ercolani, Joceline Lega and Brandon Tippings, “Map enumeration from a dynamical perspective”, arXiv:2308.06369 (2025).

Additional references

3 papers in this index state this conjecture (2006–2023). The statement above is taken from the most recent of them; the others are arXiv:1912.00765, arXiv:math/0607514.

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