A limit linear series moduli scheme (Q877538)

In 1986 Eisenbud and Harris developed a theory to study the degeneration of a linear series on a family smooth curves as the curves degenerate to a certain type of reducible curve, the so-called compact type curve; all curves being defined over a base field of characteristic zero. Since then, some generalizations of this theory have appeared [see e.g. \textit{E.\ Esteves}, Mat. Contemp. 14, 21-35 (1998; Zbl 0928.14007) and \textit{M. Teixidor i Bigas}, Duke Math. J. 62, No. 2, 385--400 (1991; Zbl 0739.14006)]. In the present paper, the author proposes another generalization, removing the assumption on the characteristic of the base field and working with a more general family of curves, which he calls a smoothing family. This approach is more functorial in nature, and seems to be better suited to generalizations to higher-dimensional varieties and higher-rank vector bundles. In short, the author associates a functor to a smoothing family and the main result of paper states that this functor is representable by a projective scheme. The author also presents results on smoothing linear series from the special fiber when the dimension is expected, including the cases of positive and mixed characteristic.