A Ball Quotient Parametrizing Trigonal Genus 4 Curves

Abstract

We consider the moduli space of genus 4 curves endowed with a (which maps with degree 2 onto the moduli space of genus 4 curves). We prove that it defines a degree cover of the nine-dimensional Deligne-Mostow ball quotient such that the natural divisors that live on that moduli space become totally geodesic (their normalizations are eight-dimensional ball quotients). This isomorphism differs from the one considered by S. Kondō, and its construction is perhaps more elementary, as it does not involve K3 surfaces and their Torelli theorem: the Deligne-Mostow ball quotient parametrizes certain cyclic covers of degree 6 of a projective line and we show how a level structure on such a cover produces a degree 3 cover of that line with the same discriminant, yielding a genus 4 curve endowed with a.