Birational geometry of moduli spaces of configurations of points on the line (Q2027531)

The central object is the compactification of \(\mathcal{M}_{0,n}\) given by the GIT quotient \(\Sigma_{m}:=(\mathbb{P}^{1})^{m+3}/\!\!/\mathrm{PGL}(2)\) of configurations of \(m=n-3\) points on \(\mathbb{P}^{1}\) with respect to the symmetric polarization on \((\mathbb{P}^{1})^{m+3}\). All results are proved using original techniques of projective geometry and birational geometry. The starting point is in [\textit{C. Kumar}, Bull. Lond. Math. Soc. 35, No. 2, 152--160 (2003; Zbl 1034.14020)] , where it is explicitly described a birational map \(\phi:\mathbb{P}^{m}\dashrightarrow\Sigma_{m}\). The author resolves the map \(\phi\) with a composition of blow-ups \(X\rightarrow\mathbb{P}^{m}\) centered at linear subspaces. This is used to compute the divisor class group and the Picard group of \(\Sigma_{m}\). The last part of Section \(2\) is dedicated to the computation of the Mori cone and the cone of moving curves of \(\Sigma_{2m}\). The generators of those two cones are given explicitly. The proof uses the fact that \(\Sigma_{m}\) is a Mori dream space when \(m\) is an even integer. Section \(3\) is dedicated to the computation of the Hilbert polynomial of \(\Sigma_{m}\) for every integer \(m\). In the last section, the authors compute the automorphisms group of \(\Sigma_{m}\), with different techniques in the cases \(m\) odd and \(m\) even. They prove that \(\mathrm{Aut}(\Sigma_{m})\) is the symmetric group on \(m+3\) elements.