Degrees of Genus-Two Split-Jacobian Loci and Humbert-Form Reconstruction

Abstract

Let $\mathcal{L}_n \subset \mathcal{M}_2$ be the locus of genus-two curves admitting a maximal degree-$n$ elliptic subcover, cut out in $\mathbb{P}(2,4,6,10)$ by an irreducible weighted-homogeneous polynomial $F_n \in \mathbb{Z}[J_2,J_4,J_6,J_{10}]$. Let $\nu(n)$ be the degree of $X_1(n) \to X(1)$, let $G_{n^2}$ be the Siegel modular form of level one with divisor the Humbert surface $H_{n^2}$, and let $k(H_{n^2})$ be its weight. We prove that the meromorphic Siegel modular form $F_n(\tau)$ obtained from $F_n$ has a pole of order exactly $\nu(n)$ along the product locus, that $\chi_{10}^{\nu(n)} F_n(\tau)$ is a constant multiple of $G_{n^2}$, and that $\deg_w F_n = k(H_{n^2}) - 10\nu(n)$ for every $n \geq 2$, even or odd. We determine the restriction of $G_{n^2}$ to the product locus as an explicit product of modular polynomials and, for $n \geq 3$, its leading Fourier-Jacobi coefficient as a product of theta functions over the torsion points of exact order $n$, and we characterize $G_{n^2}$, up to scalar, as the unique form of its weight vanishing on a single torsion divisor. These data convert the computation of $F_n$ from elimination into a linear problem of the size the formula prescribes, which we carry out for $n=5$.