Limit points of the branch locus of \(\mathcal{M}_g\) (Q2334549)

The moduli space \(\mathcal{M}_g\) of Riemann surfaces of genus \(g \ge 2\) is the quotient of the Teichmüller space \(\mathcal{T}_g\) by the modular group \(\mathrm{Mod}_g\). Let \(\mathcal{B}_g \subset \mathcal{M}_g\) denote the branch locus of the projection \(\mathcal{T}_g \to \mathcal{M}_g = \mathcal{T}_g/\mathrm{M}_g\), consisting of all Riemann surfaces with a nontrivial automorphism group; every point of \(\mathcal{B}_g\) is fixed by a nontrivial finite subgroup \(G\) of the modular group \(\mathrm{M}_g\), and \(G\) is isomorphic to the group of biholomorphic automorphisms of the Riemann surface. The branch locus \(\mathcal{B}_g\) is stratified by sets of surfaces \(S\) with automorphism groups \(G\) which induce the same topological action on the surface; such a topological action is determined by the epimorphism \(\Phi:\pi_1(\mathcal{O}) \to G\) induced by the branched covering \(p: S \to S/G = \mathcal{O}\) where \(\pi_1(\mathcal{O})\) denotes the orbifold fundamental group of the quotient orbifold \(\mathcal{O} = S/G\), isomorphic to a Fuchsian group of the same signature for each stratum. Deligne and Mumford compactified the moduli space \(\mathcal{M}_g\) to an augmented moduli space \(\hat{\mathcal{M}}_g\) by adding non-smooth stable curves, and the different topological types of the Riemann surfaces with nodes attached to \(\mathcal{M}_g\) give a stratification also of \(\hat{\mathcal{M}}_g\) (``stratification by topological type''). The main purpose of the present paper is a combinatorial and topological description of the limit points of each stratum \(\mathcal{L}\) of \(\mathcal{M}_g\) in \(\hat{\mathcal{M}}_g\), in terms of the epimorphism \(\Phi:\pi_1(\mathcal{O}) \to G\). ``Our methods for the proofs arise from a natural topological and hyperbolic point of view and are mainly based on the study of the \(G\)-invariant admissible systems of multicurves of the quotient orbifold \(S/G\). Finally, in order to illustrate how our results may be used, we work out the case of the complex-2-dimensional stratum of the pyramidal action of the dihedral group \(D_n\) on surfaces of genus \(n\).''