We give a vanishing and classification result for holomorphic differential forms on smooth projective models of the moduli spaces of pointed K3 surfaces. We prove that there is no nonzero holomorphic k-form for $0<k<10$ and for even $k>19$. In the remaining cases, we give an isomorphism between the space of holomorphic k-forms with that of vector-valued modular forms ($10\leq k \leq 18$) or scalar-valued cusp forms (odd $k\geq 19$) for the modular group. These results are in fact proved in the generality of lattice-polarisation.

Irregular cusps of an orthogonal modular variety are cusps where the lattice for Fourier expansion is strictly smaller than the lattice of translation. The presence of such a cusp affects the study of pluricanonical forms on the modular variety using modular forms. We study toroidal compactification over an irregular cusp, and clarify there the cusp form criterion for the calculation of Kodaira dimension. At the same time, we show that irregular cusps do not arise frequently: besides the cases when the group is neat or contains $-1$, we prove that the stable orthogonal groups of most (but not all) even lattices have no irregular cusp.

We prove that the Kodaira dimension of the n-fold universal family of lattice-polarised holomorphic symplectic varieties with dominant and generically finite period map stabilises to the moduli number when n is sufficiently large. Then we study the transition of Kodaira dimension explicitly, from negative to nonnegative, for known explicit families of polarised symplectic varieties. In particular, we determine the exact transition point in the Beauville–Donagi and Debarre–Voisin cases, where the Borcherds $\Phi _{12}$ form plays a crucial role.

Yoshikawa in [Invent. Math. 156 (2004), 53–117] introduces a holomorphic torsion invariant of $K3$ surfaces with involution. In this paper we completely determine its structure as an automorphic function on the moduli space of such $K3$ surfaces. On every component of the moduli space, it is expressed as the product of an explicit Borcherds lift and a classical Siegel modular form. We also introduce its twisted version. We prove its modularity and a certain uniqueness of the modular form corresponding to the twisted holomorphic torsion invariant. This is used to study an equivariant analogue of Borcherds’ conjecture.

We prove that the quotient by ${\mathrm{SL} }_{2} \times {\mathrm{SL} }_{2} $ of the space of bidegree $(a, b)$ curves on ${ \mathbb{P} }^{1} \times { \mathbb{P} }^{1} $ is rational when $ab$ is even and $a\not = b$.