Hyperelliptic curves with prescribed \(p\)-torsion (Q2487934)

In the description of abelian varieties defined over algebraically closed fields \(k\) of positive characteristic, two important arithmetic invariants are the \(p\)-rank and \(a\)-number of the variety. These invariants are understood and used to define stratifications of the moduli space \(\mathcal{A}_g\) of principally polarized abelian varieties of dimension \(g\). It is very important to understand how these strata intersect with the Torelli locus, if they intersect, or to find out that they do not intersect. More generally, one can ask for the dimension of the intersections of these strata with the image of the moduli spaces \(\mathcal {M}_g\) (of curves) and \(\mathcal{H}_g\) (of hyperelliptic curves) under the Torelli map. In the paper under review, the authors show that these intersections do occur by producing families of curves so that the \(p\)-torsion of the Jacobian of each fiber contains certain group schemes. More specifically, let \(V_{g,f}\) be the sublocus of \(\overline{\mathcal{M}}_g\) of curves of genus \(g\) with \(p\)-rank at most \(f\), then it is known by [\textit{C. Faber} and \textit{G. van der Geer}, J. Reine Angew. Math. 573, 117--137 (2004; Zbl 1075.14023)] that for every \(0\leq f\leq g\) this sublocus has codimension at most \(g-f\) in \(\overline{\mathcal{M}}_g\). Using this result the authors show that there exist smooth hyperelliptic curves of genus \(g\) with every possible \(p\)-rank \(f\). This follows from their first theorem, where they prove that for all \(g\geq1\) and \(0\leq f\leq g\), the locus \(V_{g,f}\cap\mathcal{H}_g\) is non empty and of dimension \(g-1+f\). Let \(T_{g,a}\) be the sublocus of \(\overline{\mathcal{M}}_g\) of curves with \(a\)-number at least \(a\). They show that \(T_{g,a}\neq\emptyset\) under certain conditions on \(g\) and \(a\) by producing curves \(X\) so that Jac\((X)[p]\) contains a multiple of the group scheme \(\alpha_p=\text{Spec}(k[x]/(x^p))\). Let \(\mathcal{H}_{g,n}\) be the sublocus of \(\mathcal{M}_g\) consisting of smooth curves with an action by \((\mathbb{Z}/2\mathbb{Z})^n\) so that the quotient is a projective line. They prove that if \(n\geq2\), \(p\geq 2n+1\) is a prime number, \(g\) is such that \(\mathcal{H}_{g,n}\neq\emptyset\) is of dimension at least \(n+1\), then \(\mathcal{H}_{g,n}\cap T_{g,n}\) has codimension at least \(n\) in \(\mathcal{H}_{g,n}\). For small values of \(n\), they were able to show that these families of curves actually intersect the hyperelliptic locus \(\mathcal{H}_g\). More precisely, if \(g\geq2\) and \(p\geq5\), then there exists a \((g-2)\)-dimensional family of smooth hyperelliptic curves of genus \(g\) whose fibers have \(a\)-number 2 and \(p\)-rank \(g-2\). Furthermore, if \(g\geq5\) is odd and \(p\geq7\), then there exists a \((g-5)/2\)-dimensional family of smooth hyperelliptic curves of genus \(g\) whose fibers have \(a\)-number at least 3.