A bound on the dimension of a totally geodesic submanifold in the Prym locus (Q1736923)

The Prym moduli space $\mathcal{R}_g$ parametrizes isomorphism classes of pairs $[(C,\alpha)]$, for $C$ a smooth complex projective genus $g$ curve and $\alpha$ a two-torsion line bundle on $C$. \par Let $\mathcal{A}_g$ denote the moduli space of principally polarized abelian varieties of dimension $g$. The Prym map $\mathrm{Pr}: \mathcal{R}_g \rightarrow \mathcal{A}_{g-1}$ sends points $[(C,\alpha)] \in \mathcal{R}_g$ to their principally polarized Prym variety $P(C,\alpha)$. \par Let $\mathcal{R}^0_g \subseteq \mathcal{R}_g$ be the open set where the Prym map is an immersion with respect to the orbifold metric on $\mathcal{A}_{g-1}$. This metric is induced by the symmetric metric on the Siegel space. \par In the present article, the authors study geodesic submanifolds of $\mathcal{A}_{g-1}$. For example, they establish the following result. \par Theorem. Assume that $[(C,\alpha)] \in \mathcal{R}^0_g$ where $C$ is a $k$-gonal curve of genus $g$ with $g \geq 9$ and $k \geq 3$. Let $Y$ be a germ of a totally geodesic submanifold of $\mathcal{A}_{g-1}$ which is contained in the Prym locus and passes through the Prym variety $P(C,\alpha)$. Then $\dim Y \leq 2g + k - 1$. \par Using this theorem, the authors prove: \par Theorem. If $g \geq 9$ and if $Y$ is a germ of a totally geodesic submanifold of $\mathcal{A}_{g-1}$ which is contained in the Prym locus and intersects $\text{Pr}(\mathcal{R}^0_g)$, then $\dim Y \leq \frac{5}{2} g + \frac{1}{2}$. \par The techniques used to establish these results are partly based on those of \textit{E. Colombo} et al. [Int. J. Math. 26, No. 1, Article ID 1550005, 21 p. (2015; Zbl 1312.14076)].