The Picard groups of the stacks $Y_0(2)$ and $Y_0(3)$

Abstract

We compute the Picard group of the stack of elliptic curves equipped with a cyclic subgroup of order two, and of the stack of elliptic curves equipped with a cyclic subgroup of order three, over any base scheme on which 6 is invertible. This generalizes a result of Fulton-Olsson, who computed the Picard group of the stack of elliptic curves (with no level structure) over a wide variety of base schemes.