Stability of genus five canonical curves

Abstract

We analyze GIT stability of nets of quadrics in $\mathbb{P}^4$ up to projective equivalence. Since a general net of quadrics defines a canonically embedded smooth curve of genus five, the resulting GIT quotient gives a birational model of the moduli space of genus 5 curves. We study the geometry of the associated contraction and prove that the constructed GIT quotient is the final step of the log minimal model program for the moduli space of genus 5 curves.