Higher Weil-Petersson Volumes of Moduli Spaces of Stable $n$-pointed Curves

Abstract

Moduli spaces of compact stable $n$-pointed curves carry a hierarchy of cohomology classes of top dimension which generalize the Weil-Petersson volume forms and constitute a version of Mumford classes. We give various new formulas for the integrals of these forms and their generating functions. We also discuss their relation to the Kuenneth formula in quantum cohomology.