On the geometry of splitting models

Abstract

We consider Shimura varieties associated to a unitary group of signature $(n-s,s)$ where $n$ is even. For these varieties, by using the spin splitting models from Zachos-Zhao, we construct flat, Cohen-Macaulay, and normal $p$-adic integral models with reduced special fiber and with an explicit moduli-theoretic description over odd primes $p$ which ramify in the imaginary quadratic field with level subgroup at $p$ given by the stabilizer of a $\pi$-modular lattice in the hermitian space. We prove that the special fiber of the corresponding splitting model is stratified by an explicit poset with a combinatorial description, similar to Bijakowski-Hernandez, and we describe its irreducible components. Additionally, we prove the closure relations for this stratification.