The Moduli of Singular Curves on K3 Surfaces

Abstract

In this article we consider moduli properties of singular curves on K3 surfaces. Let $\mathcal{B}_g$ denote the stack of primitively polarized K3 surfaces $(X,L)$ of genus $g$ and let $\mathcal{T}^n_{g,k} \to \mathcal{B}_g$ be the stack parametrizing tuples $[(f: C \to X, L)]$ with $f$ an unramified morphism which is birational onto its image, $C$ a smooth curve of genus $p(g,k)-n$ and $f_*C \in |kL|$. We show that the forgetful morphism $$\eta \; : \; \mathcal{T}^n_{g,k} \to \mathcal{M}_{p(g,k)-n}$$ is generically finite on one component, for all but finitely many values of $p(g,k)-n$. We further study the Brill--Noether theory of those curves parametrized by the image of $\eta$, and find a Wahl-type obstruction for a smooth curve with an unordered marking to have a nodal model on a K3 surface in such a way that the marking is the divisor over the nodes.