We provide an easy characterization for the locus of indeterminacy of the Prym map in terms of the dual graphs of stable curves. As a corollary, we show that the closure of the Fridman-Smith locus coincides with the locus of indeterminacy of the Prym map.
We prove that the locus of Prym curves $(C,η)$ of genus $g \geq 5$ for which the Prym-canonical system $|ω_C(η)|$ is base point free but the Prym--canonical map is not an embedding is irreducible and unirational of dimension $2g+1$.
We show that families of Pryms of abelian Galois covers of $\mathbb{P}^1$ in $A_{g-1}$ (resp. $A_g$) do not give rise to high dimensional Shimura subvareties.
We study Shimura curves of PEL type in $\mathsf{A}_g$ generically contained in the Prym locus. We study both the unramified Prym locus, obtained using étale double covers, and the ramified Prym locus, corresponding to double covers ramified at two points. In both cases we consider the family of all double covers compatible with a fixed group action on the base curve. We restrict to the case where the family is 1-dimensional and the quotient of the base curve by the group is $\mathbb{P}^1$. We give a simple criterion for the image of these families under the Prym map to be a Shimura curve. Usin…
We give an upper bound for the dimension of a germ of a totally geodesic submanifold, and hence of a Shimura variety of A_{g-1}, contained in the Prym locus. First we give such a bound for a germ passing through a Prym variety of a k-gonal curve in terms of the gonality k. Then we deduce a bound only depending on the genus g.
We study Shimura (special) subvarieties in the moduli space $A_{p,D}$ of complex abelian varieties of dimension $p$ and polarization type $D$. These subvarieties arise from families of covers compatible with a fixed group action on the base curve such that the quotient of the base curve by the group is isomorphic to $\mathbb{P}^1$. We give a criterion for the image of these families under the Prym map to be a special subvariety and, using computer algebra, obtain 210 Shimura subvarieties contained in the Prym locus.
In the paper we consider the Jacobian locus $\overline{J_g}$ and the Prym locus $\overline{P_{g+1}}$, in the moduli space $A_g$ of principally polarized abelian varieties of dimension $g$, for $g\geq 7$, and we study the extrinsic geometry of $\overline{J_g}\subset \overline{P_{g+1}}$, under the inclusion provided by the theory of generalized Prym varieties as introduced by Beauville. More precisely, we study certain geodesic curves with respect to the Siegel metric of $A_g$, starting at a Jacobian variety $[JC]\in A_g$ of a curve $[C]\in M_g$ and with direction $ζ\in T_{[JC]}J_g$. We prove th…
Given the Prym variety of an étale double cover one can define analogues of the classical Brill-Noether loci on Jacobians of curves. Recent work by Lahoz and Naranjo shows that the Brill-Noether locus $V^2$ completely determines the covering. In this paper we describe the singular locus and the irreducible components of $V^2$.
We prove that in characteristic p>0 the locus of stable curves of p-rank at most f is pure of codimension g-f in the moduli space of stable curves. Then we consider the Prym map and analyze it using tautological classes. We study the locus of curves with an etale double cover of p-rank 0 in some detail. In particular, in genus 2 we obtain a formula for the number of such curves. We end with several examples illustrating our formula.
Given an Enriques surface $T$, its universal K3 cover $f: S\to T$, and a genus $g$ linear system $|C|$ on $T$, we construct the relative Prym variety $P_H=\Prym_{v, H}(\D/\CC)$, where $\CC\to |C|$ and $\D\to |f^*C|$ are the universal families, $v$ is the Mukai vector $(0,[D], 2-2g)$ and $H$ is a polarization on $S$. The relative Prym variety is a $(2g-2)$-dimensional possibly singular variety, whose smooth locus is endowed with a hyperkähler structure. This variety is constructed as the closure of the fixed locus of a symplectic birational involution defined on the moduli space $M_{v,H}(S)$. T…
We use Young tableaux to compute the dimension of $V^r$, the Prym-Brill-Noether locus of a folded chain of loops of any gonality. This tropical result yields a new upper bound on the dimensions of algebraic Prym-Brill-Noether loci. Moreover, we prove that $V^r$ is pure-dimensional and connected in codimension $1$ when $\dim V^r \geq 1$. We then compute the first Betti number of this locus for even gonality when the dimension is exactly $1$, and compute the cardinality when the locus is finite and the edge lengths are generic.
The main purpose of this paper is to present a conceptual approach to understanding the extension of the Prym map from the space of admissible double covers of stable curves to different toroidal compactifications of the moduli space of principally polarized abelian varieties. By separating the combinatorial problems from the geometric aspects we can reduce this to the computation of certain monodromy cones. In this way we not only shed new light on the extension results of Alexeev, Birkenhake, Hulek, and Vologodsky for the second Voronoi toroidal compactification, but we also apply this to ot…
We prove that the ramified Prym map $\mathcal P_{g, r}$ which sends a covering $π:D\longrightarrow C$ ramified in $r$ points to the Prym variety $P(π):=\text{Ker}(\text{Nm}_π)$ is an embedding for all $r\ge 6$ and for all $g(C)>0$. Moreover, by studying the restriction to the locus of coverings of hyperelliptic curves, we show that $\mathcal P_{g, 2}$ and $\mathcal P_{g, 4}$ have positive dimensional fibers.
Van Geemen and van der Geer, Donagi, Beauville and Debarre proposed characterizations of the locus of jacobians which use the linear system of $2Θ$-divisors. We give new evidence for these conjectures in the case of Prym varieties.
In this paper we study the second fundamental form of the Prym map $P_{g,r}: R_{g,r} \rightarrow {\mathcal A}^δ_{g-1+r}$ in the ramified case $r>0$. We give an expression of it in terms of the second fundamental form of the Torelli map of the covering curves. We use this expression to give an upper bound for the dimension of a germ of a totally geodesic submanifold, and hence of a Shimura subvariety of ${\mathcal A}^δ_{g-1+r}$, contained in the Prym locus.
We study the indeterminacy locus of the period map for double EPW-sextics. We recall that double EPW-sextics are parametrized by lagrangian subspaces of the third wedge-product of a 6-dimensional complex vector-space. The indeterminacy locus is contained in the set of lagrangians containing a decomposable vector. The projectivization of the 3-dimensional support of such a decomposable vector contains a degeneracy subscheme which is either all of the plane or a sextic curve. We show that the period map is regular on any lagrangian A such that for all decomposables in A the corresponding degener…
In this paper we consider the Prym map for double coverings of curves of genus $g$ ramified at $r>0$ points. That is, the map associating to a double ramified covering its Prym variety. The generic Torelli theorem states that the Prym map is generically injective as soon as the dimension of the space of coverings is less or equal to the dimension of the space of polarized abelian varieties. We prove the generic injectivity of the Prym map in the cases of double coverings of curves with: (a) $g=2$, $r=6$, and (b) $g= 5$, $r=2$. In the first case the proof is constructive and can be extended to …
We prove that, over any field, the dimension of the indeterminacy locus of a rational transformation $f$ of $P^n$ which is defined by monomials of the same degree $d$ with no common factors is at least $(n-2)/2$, provided that the degree of $f$ as a map is not divisible by $d$. This implies upper bounds on the multidegree of $f$.