The ring of projective invariants of eight points on the line via representation theory

The ring of projective invariants of eight ordered points on the line is a quotient of the polynomial ring on V, where V is a fourteen-dimensional representation of S_8, by an ideal I_8, so the modular fivefold (P^1)^8 // GL(2) is Proj(Sym* (V)/I_8). We show that there is a unique cubic hypersurface S in PV whose equation s is skew-invariant, and that the singular locus of S is the modular fivefold. In particular, over Z[1/3], the modular fivefold is cut out by the 14 partial derivatives of s. Better: these equations generate I_8. In characteristic 3, the cubic s is needed to generate the ideal. The existence of such a cubic was predicted by Dolgachev. Over Q, we recover the 14 quadrics found by computer calculation by Koike, and our approach yields a conceptual representation-theoretic description of the presentation. Additionally we find the graded Betti numbers of a minimal free resolution in any characteristic. The proof over Q is by pure thought, using Lie theory and commutative algebra. Over Z, the assistance of a computer was necessary. This result will be used as the base case describing the equations of the moduli space of an arbitrary number of points on P^1, with arbitrary weighting, in a later paper, completing the program of our previous paper (Duke Math. J.). The modular fivefold, and corresponding ring, are known to have a number of special incarnations, due to Deligne-Mostow, Kondo, and Freitag-Salvati Manni, for example as ball quotients or ring of modular forms respectively.