Degenerations of Prym varieties and intersections of three quadrics (Q1089403)

Prym varieties were studied classically by \textit{A. C. Dixon} [''Notes on the reduction of a ternary quartic to a symmetrical determinant'', Proc. Camb. Philos. Soc. 11, 350-351 (1902)] in connection with discriminant of nets of quadrics in \({\mathbb{P}}^{2k}\). The modern approach to this subject is treated in the thesis of Miles Reid and the works of \textit{A. N. Tyurin} [Usp. Mat. Nauk 30, No.6(186), 51-99 (1975; Zbl 0328.14014)] and \textit{A. Beauville} [Ann. Sci. Éc. Norm. Super., IV. Sér. 10, 309-391 (1977; Zbl 0368.14018)]. The results are as follows: Let \(X=Q_ 1\cap Q_ 2\cap Q_ 3\) be the base locus of a generic net of quadrics in \({\mathbb{P}}^{2k}\), \(k\geq 3\). Then there is a 1-1 correspondence between such X and smooth plane curves C of degree \(2k+1\), together with an étale double cover \(\eta: C\to C\) such that if \(L\in Pic(C)\) is the 2-torsion point corresponding to \(\eta\), then \(h^ 0(C,{\mathcal O}_ C(k-1)\otimes L)=0\). Under this correspondence the intermediate Jacobian JX is isomorphic to the Prym variety P(C,\(\eta)\). The main result of the paper under review is a theorem which states that the restriction of the Prym map to the set of the above pairs (C,\(\eta)\) is generically injective. This gives the generic Torelli theorem for intersections of three quadrics in \({\mathbb{P}}^{2k}\), \(k\geq 3\). The authors degenerate a plane curve to an irreducible nodal curve whose normalization \(\Gamma\) is generic in the moduli space. In the case where the genus of \(\Gamma\) is at \(least\quad 7,\) they apply the generic Prym Torelli [\textit{R. Friedman} and \textit{R. Smith}, Invent. Math. 67, 473-490 (1982; Zbl 0506.14042); \textit{V. Kanev}, Math. USSR, Izv. 20, 235-257 (1983); translation from Izv. Akad. Nauk SSSR, Ser. Math. 46, No.2, 244- 268 (1982; Zbl 0566.14014)].