On the monodromy group of the family of smooth quintic plane curves (Q7006046)

In the space \(\mathcal{P}_d\) of smooth complex projective plane curves of degree \(d\) there is the tautological family of plane curves defined over \(\mathcal{P}_d\) which has an associated monodromy representation \(\rho_d:\pi_1(\mathcal{P}_d)\rightarrow \mathrm{Mod}(\Sigma_g)\), where \(g=\binom{d-1}{2}\) and \(\mathrm{Mod}(\Sigma_g)\) is the mapping class group of the fiber, i.e. the surface \(\Sigma_g\) of genus \(g\). For \(d\leq 4\), classical algebraic geometry implies the surjectivity of \(\rho_d\). For \(d\geq 5\), the existence of a \((d-3)\)rd root of the canonical bundle implies that \(\rho_d\) cannot be surjective.\N\NThe main result of this paper is that for \(d=5\), the image of \(\rho_5\) is as large as possible, subject to this constraint. This requires combining the algebro-geometric work of Lönne with Johnson's theory of the Torelli subgroup of \(\mathrm{Mod}(\Sigma_g)\).