The Picard group of M₁,1

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Publication:969265



Abstract: We compute the Picard group of the moduli stack of elliptic curves and its canonical compactification over general base schemes.


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.











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