Abel maps and limit linear series (Q1945108)

Suppose \(X\) is a smooth curve of genus \(g\) and \(L\) is a \(g^r_d\) on \(X\), then one can think of the linear series \(|L|\) geometrically as a \(\mathbb{P}^r\) in the fiber of the Abel map \(A_d:S^dX\rightarrow \mathrm{Pic}^d(X)\). The paper under review studies how such pictures degenerate when \(X=Y\cup Z\) become the union of two smooth curves glued at a single node and \(L\) become an exact limit linear series \(\mathfrak{g}\). For such \(\mathfrak{g}\), the authors construct a closed subscheme \(\mathbb{P}(\mathfrak{g})\) in the fiber of the Abel map. It is proved that \(\mathbb{P}(\mathfrak{g})\) is indeed the flat limit of \(\mathbb{P}^r\) and is reduced, connected and Cohen-Macaulay.