Local degeneration of the moduli space of vector bundles and factorization of rank two theta functions I

G. Daskalopoulos and R. Wentworth

In this paper we study the behavior of the moduli space of rank 2 holomophic vector bundles on a compact Riemann surface and the associated space of nonabelian theta functions as the Riemann surface structure degenerates. The main result is a "factorization" theorem for theta functions of the type predicted by physical considerations.