Polynomial point counts and odd cohomology vanishing on moduli spaces of stable curves

Abstract

We compute the number of F_q-points on M_{4,n}, for n less than or equal to 3, and show that it is a polynomial in q, using a sieve based on Hasse-Weil zeta functions. As an application, we prove that the rational singular cohomology groups of moduli spaces of stable curves of genus g with n marked points vanish in all odd degrees less than or equal to 9, for all g and n. Both results confirm predictions of the Langlands program, via the conjectural correspondence with polarized algebraic cuspidal automorphic representations of conductor 1, which are classified in low weight. Our vanishing result for odd cohomology resolves a problem posed by Arbarello and Cornalba in the 1990s.