Products of Jacobians as Prym-Tyurin varieties (Q1018067)

For each \(i= 1,\dots, m\), let \(f_i: X_i\to\mathbb{P}^1\) be a simple covering of degree \(n\) with \(X_i\) of genus \(g\geq 2\), and with pairwise disjoint branch loci. The main theorem of the paper shows that the product \(JX_1\times\cdots\times JX_m\) of their Jacobian varieties admits the structure of a Prym-Tyurin variety of exponent \(n^{m-1}\). For the proof, the authors employ some group theoretic argument developed by themselves [Prym-Tyurin varieties via Hecke algebras, to appear in J. Reine Angew Math.; \url{arXiv.0805.4563}]. They show that the Galois group of the Galois closure of \(f_i\) over \(\mathbb{P}^1\) is the \(n\)th symmetric group \(S_n\). Thereafter they show the validity of a group theoretic criterion for the subgroup \(= \langle(12\cdots n-1),(12)\rangle\cong S_{n-1}\), viewed as the stabilizer of a point in a general fiber, and the standard representation of \(S_n\) as well as its pullbacks under the natural projections \((S_n)^m\to S_n\), thereby concludes the proof of the main theorem.