Brill-Noether divisors for even genus (Q2439308)

Given any triple of positive integers \(g\), \(r\), \(d\) such that the Brill-Noether number \(\rho(g, r, d) := g - (r+1)(g-d+r) = -1\), the closure of the locus of curves of genus \(g\) admitting a linear system of rank \(r\) and degree \(d\) is an irreducible divisor inside the moduli space \(\overline{\mathcal{M}}_g\), which is denoted by \(\overline{\mathcal{M}}_{g,d}^r\) and is called a Brill-Noether divisor. The divisors obtained for fixed \(g\) and varying values of \(r\) and \(d\) are known to be linearly equivalent to each other. In the present paper, the authors show that if \(s\), \(e\) are chosen such that \(\rho(g, s, e) = -1\) again, \(r \neq s\) and \(e \neq 2g - 2 - d\), the divisors \(\overline{\mathcal{M}}_{g,d}^r\) and \(\overline{\mathcal{M}}_{g,e}^s\) have distinct supports. This was shown for odd genus in the precursor paper [J. Pure Appl. Algebra 216, No. 2, 377--384 (2012; Zbl 1234.14027)], while the even genus case is treated here. The proof proceeds by constructing a stable curve (consisting of two curves of genus \(g/2 - 1\) resp. \(g/2\) joined by an elliptic bridge) that is shown to admit a smoothable limit \(g^r_d\) but no limit \(g^s_e\).