On the uniqueness of the Prym map

Abstract

The classical Prym construction associates to a smooth, genus $g$ complex curve $X$ equipped with a nonzero cohomology class $\theta \in H^1(X,\mathbb{Z}/2\mathbb{Z})$, a principally polarized abelian variety (PPAV) $\mbox{Prym}(X,\theta)$. Denote the moduli space of pairs $(X,\theta)$ by $\mathcal{R}_g$, and let $\mathcal{A}_h$ be the moduli space of PPAVs of dimension $h$. The Prym construction globalizes to a holomorphic map of complex orbifolds $\mbox{Prym}: \mathcal{R}_g \to \mathcal{A}_{g-1}$. For $g\geq 4$ and $h \leq g-1$, we show that $\mbox{Prym}$ is the unique nonconstant holomorphic map of complex orbifolds $F:\mathcal{R}_g \to \mathcal{A}_h$. This solves a conjecture of Farb. A main component in our proof is a classification of homomorphisms $\pi_1^{\mbox{orb}}(\mathcal{R}_g) \to \mbox{Sp}(2h,\mathbb{Z})$ for $h \leq g-1$. This is achieved using arguments from geometric group theory and low-dimensional topology.