Coarse base change fails for some modular curves

Abstract: For a congruence level

H s u b s e t m a t h r m {G L}_{2} (h a t m a t h b b Z)

, the formation of the modular curve

X_{H}

, i.e., of the coarse moduli space of the level

H

modular stack

m a t h s c r X_{H}

, is known to commute with arbitrary base change in a wide range of cases. We exhibit infinitely many

H

, for instance,

H = G a m m a_{1} (4)

, for which this coarse base change property fails. In our examples failure is witnessed for base change to

m a t h b b F_{2}

and for any

m a t h b b Z_{(2)}

-fiberwise dense open substack of

m a t h s c r X_{H}

. These examples fill in several open entries in a table in the book of Katz and Mazur.

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