Connectedness of the boundaries of the strata of differentials

Abstract

Let $\mathcal{P}(\mu)^{\circ}$ be a connected component of the projectivized stratum of differentials on smooth complex curves, where the zero and pole orders of the differentials are specified by $\mu$. When the complex dimension of $\mathcal{P}(\mu)^{\circ}$ is at least two, Dozier--Grushevsky--Lee, through explicit degeneration techniques, showed that the boundary of $\mathcal{P}(\mu)^{\circ}$ is connected in the multi-scale compactification constructed by Bainbridge--Chen--Gendron--Grushevsky--M\"oller. A natural question is whether the connectedness of the boundary of $\mathcal{P}(\mu)^{\circ}$ is determined by its intrinsic properties. In the case of meromorphic differentials, we provide a concise explanation that the boundary of $\mathcal{P}(\mu)^{\circ}$ is always connected in any complete algebraic compactification, based on the fact that the strata of meromorphic differentials are affine varieties. We also observe that the same result holds for linear subvarieties of meromorphic differentials, as well as for the strata of $k$-differentials with a pole of order at least $k$. In the case of holomorphic differentials, using properties of Teichm\"uller curves, we provide an alternative argument showing that the horizontal boundary of $\mathcal{P}(\mu)^{\circ}$ and every irreducible component of its vertical boundary intersect non-trivially in the multi-scale compactification.