Geometric invariant theory

In mathematics Geometric invariant theory (or GIT) is a method for constructing quotients by group actions in algebraic geometry, used to construct moduli spaces. It was developed by David Mumford in 1965, using ideas from the paper (Hilbert 1893) in classical invariant theory.

Geometric invariant theory studies an action of a group G on an algebraic variety (or scheme) X and provides techniques for forming the 'quotient' of X by G as a scheme with reasonable properties. One motivation was to construct moduli spaces in algebraic geometry as quotients of schemes parametrizing marked objects. In the 1970s and 1980s the theory developed interactions with symplectic geometry and equivariant topology, and was used to construct moduli spaces of objects in differential geometry, such as instantons and monopoles.

Invariant theory is concerned with a group action of a group G on an algebraic variety (or a scheme) X. Classical invariant theory addresses the situation when X = V is a vector space and G is either a finite group, or one of the classical Lie groups that acts linearly on V. This action induces a linear action of G on the space of polynomial functions R(V) on V by the formula

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