The abelian monodromy extension property for families of curves (Q1024196)

Let \({\mathcal X}\) be a separated Deligne-Mumford stack, and \(\overline X\) a compactification of it coarse scheme. The author defines the abelian monodromy extension (AME) property for the couple \(({\mathcal X}, \overline X)\): if \(S\) is a very small analytic neighborhood of a point \(p\), and \(U:=S\setminus \{p\}\), any morphism \(U\rightarrow {\mathcal X}\) extends to a regular map \(S\rightarrow \overline X\) whenever the image of the induced map \(\pi_1(U)\rightarrow \pi_1({\mathcal X})\) is virtually abelian (i.e. if it contains an abelian subgroup of finite index). If the AME property holds, \(\overline X\) is said to be an AME compactification of \(\mathcal X\). If such a compactification exists, it is proved that there is a unique maximal one. The author shows that, over the complex numbers, - the standard D-M compactification of the moduli space of curves \(\mathcal M_g\) is its unique maximal AME compactification; - the Baily-Borel compactification \(\mathcal A_g^{BB}\) of the moduli space of abelian varieties \(\mathcal A_g\) is its unique maximal projective AME compactification. Let \(V\) be an open subavariety of an irreducible normal variety \(Y\). From the above results, the author can derive a necessary and sufficient condition for extending a family of smooth curves over \(V\) to a family of stable curves over \(Y\), and a sufficient condition for extending a family abelian varieties over \(V\) to a family \(Y\rightarrow \mathcal A_g^{BB}\).