Moduli of abelian covers of elliptic curves (Q890665)

Let \(G\) be a finite abelian group. The author considers the moduli space \(M_{1,n}(BG)\), the interior of the moduli space which Abramovich-Corti-Vistoli compactified. This space parametrizes Galois covers \(p : D \to C\) with Galois group \(G\), where \(C\) is a genus one curve with \(n\) marked points, and the branch locus of \(p\) is contained in the marked points. This moduli space breaks up into components indexed by the monodromy around each of the markings, which are well defined elements of \(G\) since we are in the abelian case. Of particular interest is what the author calls the ``totally ramified'' case, which is when the local monodromies generate \(G\). All such components of the moduli space are irreducible. In general, if one lets \(R\) denote the subgroup of \(G\) generated by local monodromies and \(E\) the quotient, then \(p\) factors as a totally ramified \(R\)-covering and an unramified \(E\)-covering. The first result of the author is a complete determination of the components of \(M_{1,n}(BG)\): each component is described in terms of discrete data, and each component can be identified with a certain open subvariety of the \(n\)th fibered power of the universal curve over a modular curve. Roughly, the fact that the moduli spaces are irreducible in the totally ramified situation means that he only neads to deal with the case of an unramified \(E\)-covering, for varying \(E\): these, in turn, are described in terms of modular curves. The author also deduces that all of the totally ramified components are birationally equivalent to \(M_{1,n}\) itself. Note that the obvious forgetful map which forgets the \(G\)-cover is not that birational equivalence. Finally the author studies the Picard group of the compactified versions of these moduli space. It is generated by boundary divisors and he finds a complete list of relations between these divisors.