Cornalba-Harris equality for semistable hyperelliptic curves in positive characteristics (Q2565945)

Let \(k\) denote an algebraically closed field. Let \(Y\) be a nonsingular projective curve over \(k\) and let \(f:X\rightarrow Y\) be a semistable curve of genus \(g\geq 2\) such that \(X\) is smooth and the generic fiber of \(f\) is a smooth hyperelliptic curve. When \(k=\mathbb C\), \textit{M.~Cornalba} and \textit{J.~Harris} [Ann. Sci. Éc. Norm. Supér., IV. Sér. 21, No.3, 455--475 (1988; Zbl 0674.14006)] established a formula for the class of the \((8g+4)\)th tensor power of the Hodge bundle of this family in terms of the classes of the singular fibers. This formula was extended to the case when the characteristic of \(k\) is greater than two by \textit{I.~Kausz} [Compos. Math. 115, No.1, 37--69 (1999; Zbl 0934.14015)]. The author shows that the Cornalba-Harris formula also holds when the characteristic of \(k\) is two. The strategy of the proof is to use the result in characteristic zero and a compactification \(\overline{\mathcal I}_g\) of the algebraic stack (over \(\mathbb Z\)) of smooth hyperelliptic curves of genus \(g\) to derive the result in all characteristics. A key element in the proof is a result of \textit{S. Maugeais} [Espace de modules des courbes hyperelliptiques stables et une inégalité de Cornalba-Harris-Xiao, preprint, \texttt{http://arxiv.org/abs/math.AG/0107015}] that is used to establish the irreducibility of the specialization of \(\overline{\mathcal I}_g\) to characteristic two.