Kuga-Satake Abelian Varieties in Positive Characteristic

Abstract

Kuga and Satake associate with every polarized complex K3 surface (X,L) a complex abelian variety called the Kuga-Satake abelian variety of (X,L). We use this construction to define morphisms between moduli spaces of polarized K3 surface with certain level structures and moduli spaces of polarized abelian varieties with level structure over C. In this note we study these morphisms. We prove first that they are defined over finite extensions of Q. Then we show that they extend in positive characteristic. In this way we give an indirect construction of Kuga-Satake abelian varieties over an arbitrary base. We also give some applications of this construction to canonical lifts of ordinary K3 surfaces.