Tangent spaces in moduli via deformations with applications to Weierstrass points (Q1068146)

Consider a curve of genus \(g\geq 4\) that is a (g-1) or fewer sheeted cover of \({\mathbb{P}}^ 1({\mathbb{C}})\) with only one point of (total) ramification and otherwise generic. The ramification point on the curve is then an exceptional Weierstrass point and the corollary to the last theorem of the paper is that, on the contrary, all the other Weierstrass points have normal gap sequence \(1,...,g-1,g+1\). More results on Weierstrass points and on the dimensions of subvarieties W of the moduli space of curves of genus g, representing curves with Weierstrass points of certain types, are obtained. The method is by making up a deformation theory for a system consisting of a curve C, a finite set of its points and a line bundle on the curve. The obstruction to extending a section of the line bundle supported by the marked points to a deformation is indicated by a ''Kodaira-Spencer'' cohomology class in \(H^ 1(C,{\mathcal O})\). Thus the tangent spaces to the subvarieties W can be calculated.