The Picard group of \(\mathcal M_{1,1}\) (Q969265)

The authors compute the Picard group of the moduli stack of elliptic curves and its canonical compactification over general base schemes. The paper deals with the moduli stack \(\mathcal{M}_{1,1}\) classifying elliptic curves and also with its standard compactification \(\overline{\mathcal{M}}_{1,1} \). For a scheme \(S\), the authors consider the fibre product \(S\times_{{\mathrm{Spec}} (\mathbb{Z})}\mathcal M_{1, 1}\) and denote it by \(\mathcal M_{1,1,S}\). Analogously, one defines \(\overline{\mathcal{M}}_{1,1,S}\). Let \(p:\mathcal{M}_{1,1, S}\to \mathbb A^1_S\) be the map defined by \(j\)-invariant. There is the Hodge bundle \(\lambda\) on \(\mathcal{M}_{1,1}\), which extends canonically to \(\overline{\mathcal{M}}_{1,1}\). By abuse of notation its extension is also denoted by \(\lambda\). Theorem~1.1 and Theorem~1.3 are the main results of the paper. Theorem~1.1 states that \(\mathrm{Pic}(\mathcal M_{1,1,S})\) is isomorphic to the group \(\mathbb Z/(12)\times \mathrm{Pic}(\mathbb A^1_S)\) if \(S\) is either a \(\mathbb Z[1/2]\)-scheme or reduced. The isomorphim \(\mathbb Z/(12)\times \mathrm{Pic}(\mathbb A^1_S)\to \mathrm{Pic}(\mathcal M_{1,1,S})\) is given by \((i, \mathcal L)\mapsto \lambda^{i}\otimes p^*\mathcal L\). This generalizes the result of \textit{D. Mumford} from [Arithmetical algebraic Geom., Proc. Conf. Purdue Univ. 1963, 33--81 (1965; Zbl 0187.42801)], where \(\mathrm{Pic}(\mathcal M_{1,1,S})\) had been computed for \(S\) being a spectrum of a field of characteristic different from \(2\) and \(3\). Theorem~1.3 says that \(\mathrm{Pic}(\overline{\mathcal{M}}_{1,1,S})\) is isomorphic to \(\mathbb Z \times \mathrm{Pic}(S)\), the isomorphism \(\mathbb Z \times \mathrm{Pic}(S)\to \mathrm{Pic}(\overline{\mathcal{M}}_{1,1,S})\) is given by \((n, M)\mapsto \lambda^n\otimes_{\mathcal O_S}M\). The paper consists of 7 Sections. In the introduction, the authors recall some basic facts and definitions about elliptic curves, formulate the main results of the paper, and provide an outline of the paper. Section~2 deals with the proof of Theorem~1.1 in the case when \(6\) is invertible. In Section~3, the proof of Theorem~1.1 is given for the case when \(S\) is normal. The case of a reduced scheme \(S\) is considered in Section~4. The proof of Theorem~1.1 for a scheme over \(\mathbb Z[1/2]\) is finally given in Section~5. In Section~6, it is shown that Theorem~1.1 fails for nonreduced schemes in characteristic \(2\). Section~7 is devoted to the proof of Theorem~1.3. In fact, the authors prove a stronger statement. They consider the Picard stack \(\mathcal{P}{ic}(\overline{\mathcal{M}}_{1,1,S})\) over \(S\), which associates to every scheme \(T\) over \(S\) the group of line bundles on \(\overline{\mathcal{M}}_{1,1,T}\). It is an algebraic Artin stack over \(S\) by [Manuscr. Math. 119, No. 1, 37--56 (2006; Zbl 1094.14001)]. The authors show in Theorem~7.2 that the morphism of stacks \(\mathbb Z\times B\mathbb{G}_{m, S}\to \mathcal{P}{ic}(\overline{\mathcal{M}}_{1,1,S})\), \((n, L)\mapsto \lambda^n\otimes_{\mathcal O_S}L\) is an isomorphism. Theorem~1.3 then follows by evaluation of this isomorphism on S and passing to isomorphism classes. Reviewer's remark: Note that the title of Section~5 is misleading, it says that Section~5 deals with the proof for the case when \(S\) is a reduced scheme. At the end of Section~4 the authors state that they finished the proof for the case of a scheme over \(\mathbb Z[1/2]\) while in fact they mean the proof for \(S\) reduced.