The stack of smooth hyperelliptic curves in characteristic two. (Le champ des courbes hyperelliptiques lisses en caractéristique deux) (Q2500594)

The author studies the moduli stack \(\mathcal{H}_g\) of hyperelliptic curves of genus \(g\geq 1\) over the algebraic closure of \(\mathbb F_2\). The main theorem of this paper describes this stack as a quotient of a smooth variety by a non-reductive group. Secondly, the author describes the structure of the Picard group of this stack: \(\text{Pic}(\mathcal{H}_g)\) equals \(\mathbb Z/(8g+4)\mathbb Z\) or \(\mathbb Z/(4g+2)\mathbb Z\), depending on whether \(g\) is odd or even. These two results are extensions to characteristic \(2\) of results (for any characteristic not dividing \(2g+2\)) by \textit{A. Arsie} and \textit{A. Vistoli} [Compos. Math. 140, No. 3, 647--666 (2004; Zbl 1169.14301)]. However, the methods differ. This is mainly due to the fact that the Galois group (associated with the double cover map) equals \(\mathbb Z/2\mathbb Z\). In characteristic 2 this group is not isomorphic to \(\mu_2\). The author continues by studying the stratification of \(\mathcal{H}_g\) by means of higher ramification data. Reviewer's remark: Some of the internal references are incorrect, e.g., the references to Remarque 4.3 should actually be Remarque 4.5.