Geometry of the 1-skeleta of singular nerves of moduli spaces of Riemann surfaces (Q1671986)

A compact Riemann surface \(\Sigma\) of genus \(g\geq 2\) is conformally equivalent to the orbit space \(\mathcal{H}/\Gamma\), where \(\mathcal{H}\) is the hyperbolic plane and \(\Gamma\) is a Fuchsian surface group of signature \((g; -)\). A finite group \(G\) is a group of automorphisms of \(\Sigma\) if there exists another Fuchsian group \(\Lambda\) containing \(\Gamma\) as a normal subgroup and such that \(G=\Lambda/\Gamma\). We may identify holomorphic actions of the group \(G\) on Riemann surfaces with epimorphisms \(\theta: \Lambda \rightarrow G\) having torsion free kernels. The signature of \(\Lambda\) is \((h; m_1, \dots, m_r)\) and \(\Lambda\) has a presentation \[ \langle a_1, b_1, \dots, a_g, b_g, x_1, \dots, x_r\;|\;x_1^{m_1}, \dots, x_r^{m_r}, \prod_{i=1}^r{x_i} \prod_{i=1}^g{[a_i,b_i]}\rangle. \] Let \(\varphi\) be an automorphism of prime order \(p\) on a Riemann surface \(\Sigma\) of genus \(g\geq 2\). We have in this case, \(\theta: \Lambda \rightarrow C_p=\langle \varphi \rangle\). If the signature of \(\Lambda\) is \((q; p, {\mathop{\dots}\limits^m}, p)\), we write \(\tau=(p, q; a_1, \dots, a_m)\), where \(\theta(x_i)=\varphi^{a_i}\). In the paper under review, the authors refer to the vector \(\tau\) as the topological type of the cyclic action of order \(p\). Two actions corresponding to \(\tau\) and \(\tau'\) are equivalent if and only if \((p,q)=(p',q')\) and there exist a permutation \(\sigma\) and an element \(\xi\in C_p^*\) for which \(a_i\equiv \xi a'_{\sigma{(i)}} \,\text{mod\,}p\). Since the topological type determines the order \(p\) and the genus of the orbit space, we can write \(p=p(\tau)\) and \(q=q(\tau)\). Let \(\mathcal{S}_g\) be the singular locus of the moduli space \(\mathcal{M}_g\) of a compact Riemann surface of genus \(g\). Let us consider the nerves \(\mathcal{N}_g\), \(\mathcal{N}^*_g\) and \(\mathcal{N}^{**}_g\), related to the families \(\mathcal{S}^{p,\tau}_g\), \(\mathcal{S}^{p,q}_g\) and \(\mathcal{S}^p_g\), consisting, respectively, of the points representing the classes of Riemann surfaces admitting an automorphism \(\varphi\) of prime order \(p\) of given topological type \(\tau\); admitting an automorphism \(\varphi\) of prime order \(p\) such that the orbit space \(\Sigma/\langle \varphi \rangle\) has genus \(q\); or admitting an automorphism of prime order \(p\). In the paper, the authors study the geometry of the 1-skeleton of the complexes \(\mathcal{N}_g(p)\) and \(\mathcal{N}^*_g(p)\), spanned on the set of vertices corresponding to automorphims of fixed order \(p\). The nerves are related by the following simplicial covering maps \(\pi: \mathcal{N}_g \rightarrow \mathcal{N}^*_g\) and \(\pi^*: \mathcal{N}^*_g \rightarrow \mathcal{N}^{**}_g\) induced by the mappings \(\tau \mapsto (p(\tau), q(\tau))\) and \((p,q) \mapsto p\). In Theorem 3.1 the degree of the map \(\pi^*\) over a vertex \(\mathcal{S}_g^p\) is calculated. Next, the geometry of the 1-skeleton of \(\mathcal{N}_g(p)\) is studied in two separate cases. Firstly, it is done for \(p\) odd prime. Theorems 3.8 and 3.10 give necessary and sufficient conditions so that two vertices of \(\mathcal{N}_g^*(p)\) (resp. \(\mathcal{N}_g(p)\)) are joined by a direct edge. In the second case, the complexes \(\mathcal{N}_g(2)\) and \(\mathcal{N}_g^*(2)\) are equal and the study becomes easier. The result is stated in Theorem 3.14. The authors provide two explicit examples. In the first one, they study the case with \(p=7\), \(g=106\) and describe the 1-skeleta of \(\mathcal{N}^*_{106}(7)\) and \(\mathcal{N}_{106}(7)\). The second example deals with the case \(p=2\) and \(g=11\).