Towards large genus asymtotics of intersection numbers on moduli spaces of curves

Abstract

We explicitly compute the diverging factor in the large genus asymptotics of the Weil-Petersson volumes of the moduli spaces of $n$-pointed complex algebraic curves. Modulo a universal multiplicative constant we prove the existence of a complete asymptotic expansion of the Weil-Petersson volumes in the inverse powers of the genus with coefficients that are polynomials in $n$. This is done by analyzing various recursions for the more general intersection numbers of tautological classes, whose large genus asymptotic behavior is also extensively studied.