Number of moduli of irreducible families of plane curves with nodes and cusps (Q856808)

Let \(\Sigma^n_{k,d}\subset {\mathbb P}^{n(n+3)/2}\) be the family of irreducible plane curves of degree \(n\) with \(d\) nodes and \(k\) cusps as singularities. The author finds sufficient conditions in order that an irreducible component \(\Sigma \subset \Sigma^n_{k,d}\) has the expected number of moduli; under these conditions the Brill-Noether number is not positive and \(\Sigma\) has finite number of moduli. Then, by using induction on the degree \(n\) and on the genus \(g\) of the general curve of the family, she produces examples of families of irreducible plane curves with nodes and cusps verifying such conditions. A large part of the paper is obtained by working out ideas and techniques used by \textit{E. Sernesi} [Invent. Math. 75, 25--57 (1984; Zbl 0541.14024)].