April 19, 2001
We define a geometrically meaningful compactification of the moduli space of smooth plane curves, which can be calculated explicitly. The basic idea is to regard a plane curve D in P^2 as a pair (P^2,D) of a surface together with a divisor, and allow both the surface and the curve to degenerate. For plane curves of degree d at least 4, we obtain a compactification M_d which is a moduli space of stable pairs (X,D) using the log minimal model program. A stable pair (X,D) consists of a surface X such that -K_X is ample and a divisor D in a given linear system on X with specified singularities. Note that X may be non-normal, and K_X is Q-Cartier but not Cartier in general. We give a rough classification of stable pairs of arbitrary degree, a complete classification in degrees 4 and 5, and a partial classification in degree 6. The compactification is particularly simple if d is not a multiple of 3 - in particular the surface X has at most 2 components. We give a characterisation of these surfaces in terms of the singularities and the Picard numbers of the components. Moreover, we show that M_d is smooth in this case.
Similar papers 1
October 22, 2003
We construct a compactification M_d of the moduli space of plane curves of degree d. We regard a plane curve C as a surface-divisor pair (P^2,C) and define M_d as a moduli space of pairs (X,D) where X is a degeneration of the plane. We show that, if d is not divisible by 3, the stack M_d is smooth and the degenerate surfaces X can be described explicitly.
March 21, 2019
The goal of this paper is to construct a compactification of the moduli space of degree $d \ge 5$ surfaces in $\mathbb{P}^3$, i.e. a parameter space whose interior points correspond to (equivalence classes of) smooth surfaces in $\mathbb{P}^3$ and whose boundary points correspond to degenerations of such surfaces. We study a more general problem and consider a divisor $D$ on a Fano variety $Z$ as a pair $(Z, D)$ satisfying certain properties. We find a modular compactificatio...
March 3, 2007
In this paper, we completely work out the log minimal model program for the moduli space of stable curves of genus three. We employ a rational multiple $\alpha\delta$ of the divisor $\delta$ of singular curves as the boundary divisor, construct the log canonical model for the pair $(\bar{\mathcal M}_3, \alpha\delta)$ using geometric invariant theory as we vary $\alpha$ from one to zero, and give a modular interpretation of each log canonical model and the birational maps betw...
May 14, 2012
Inspired by the ideas of the minimal model program, Shepherd-Barron, Koll\'ar, and Alexeev have constructed a geometric compactification for the moduli space of surfaces of log general type. In this paper, we discuss one of the simplest examples that fits into this framework: the case of pairs (X,H) consisting of a degree two K3 surface X and an ample divisor H. Specifically, we construct and describe explicitly a geometric compactification $\bar{P_2}$ for the moduli of degre...
February 21, 2009
The space of smooth curves admits a beautiful compactification by the moduli space of Deligne-Mumford stable curves. In this paper, we undertake a systematic investigation of alternate modular compactifications of the space of smooth curves.
August 1, 2018
The aim of this paper is to study all the natural first steps of the minimal model program for the moduli space of stable pointed curves. We prove that they admit a modular interpretation and we study their geometric properties. As a particular case, we recover the first few Hassett-Keel log canonical models. As a by-product, we produce many birational morphisms from the moduli space of stable pointed curves to alternative modular projective compactifications of the moduli sp...
July 14, 2011
We give an introduction to the compactification of the moduli space of surfaces of general type introduced by Koll\'ar and Shepherd-Barron and generalized to the case of surfaces with a divisor by Alexeev. The construction is an application of Mori's minimal model program for 3-folds. We review the example of the projective plane with a curve of degree d > 3. We explain a connection between the geometry of the boundary of the compactification of the moduli space and the class...
July 23, 2018
We explicitly describe the KSBA/Hacking compactification of a moduli space of log surfaces of Picard rank 2. The space parametrizes log pairs $(S, D)$ where $S$ is a degeneration of $\mathbb{P}^1 \times \mathbb{P}^1$ and $D \subset S$ is a degeneration of a curve of class $(3,3)$. We prove that the compactified moduli space is a smooth Deligne--Mumford stack with 4 boundary components. We relate it to the moduli space of genus 4 curves; we show that it compactifies the blow-u...
October 30, 2003
The minimal model program suggests a compactification of the moduli space of hyperplane arrangements which is a moduli space of stable pairs. Here, a stable pair consists of a scheme X which is a degeneration of projective space and a divisor D=D_1+..+D_n on X which is a limit of hyperplane arrangements. For example, in the 1-dimensional case, the stable pairs are stable curves of genus 0 with n marked points. Kapranov has defined an alternative compactification using his Cho...
May 9, 2005
This paper is an elementary introduction to the theory of moduli spaces of curves and maps. As an application to enumerative geometry, we show how to count the number of bitangent lines to a projective plane curve of degree $d$ by doing intersection theory on moduli spaces.