A remark on the moduli space of hyperelliptic period matrices with level 2 structure (Q1842021)

Let \(A_ g (n)\) be the moduli space of \(g( \geq 2)\)-dimensional principally polarized abelian varieties with level \(n\)-structure. The moduli space \(\text{Hyp}_ g\) of hyperelliptic curves of genus \(g\) can be considered as a subvariety of \(A_ g(1)\), by Torelli's theorem. \(\text{Hyp}_ g(2) = p^{-1} (\text{Hyp}_ g)\), where \(p : A_ g (2) \to A_ g(1)\) is a canonical Galois covering with Galois group \(\text{SP}_ g (\mathbb{F}_ 2)\), which is the moduli space of hyperelliptic period matrices with level 2-structure. This group acts transitively on the set of irreducible components of \(\text{Hyp}_ g (2)\). We prove that the stabilizer group is the symmetric group \(S_{2g + 2}\) of \(2g + 2\) letters; hence \(\text{Hyp}_ g (2)\) has \[ \#\text{Sp}_{2g} (\mathbb{F}_ 2)/ \#\text{S}_{2g + 2} = 2^{g^ 2} (2^{2g} - 1) (2^{2g - 2} - 1) \cdots (2^ 2 - 1)/(2g + 2)! \] irreducible components. By the same way as this proof, we get a short proof of the following: Every irreducible component of \(\text{Hyp}_ g (2)\) is a connected component; in other words, \(\text{Hyp}_ g (2)\) is smooth.