Abelianisation of orthogonal groups and the fundamental group of modular varieties (Q731226)

Many moduli spaces in algebraic geometry can be described via period domains as quotients of a symmetric space by a discrete group, or modular group. In this paper the authors are concerned with the case of the symmetric space \(D_L\) associated with a lattice \(L\) of signature \((2,n)\), and discrete subgroups of the orthogonal group \(O(L)\) that act on \(D_L\). Such groups arise in the study of the moduli of \(K3\) surfaces and of polarised abelian surfaces. They study the commutator subgroups and abelianisations of orthogonal modular groups of this kink, especially for lattices of signature \((2,n)\). They give applications to modular forms and to computing the fundamental groups of some moduli spaces.