The birational type of the moduli space of even spin curves (Q1047658)

The author studies the birational geometry of a compactification \(\bar S^+_g\) of the moduli space of pairs \((C,\eta)\), where \(C\) is a curve of genus \(g\) and \(\eta\) is an even theta-characteristic on \(C\). The author writes the expression of the canonical class \(K\), in terms of the Euler divisor and the boundary divisors on \(\bar S^+_g\). Then he compares \(K\) with the effective divisor \(\Theta_{null}\) of pairs for which the theta-characteristic \(\eta\) has non trivial sections. Using the expression, the author proves that \(\bar S^+_g\) has general type, for \(g>8\). In the case \(g<8\), the author constructs a covering family of curves which intersects \(K\) negatively. The family shows that \(\bar S^+_g\) is uniruled, when \(g<8\). Notice that the remaining case \(g=8\) has been solved, in another recent paper, by the author and S. Verra. They prove indeed that the Kodaira dimension of \(\bar S^+_8\) is \(0\).