The fibers of the Prym map

Abstract

In this work we use the bigonal, trigonal and tetragonal constructions to describe the fibers of the Prym map P : R_{g} ---->A_{g-1} inthe cases when it is dominant, i.e. for g < 7. The most interesting cases are g = 5, where the fiber is a double cover of the Fano surface of lines on a cubic threefold, and g=6, where the map is generically finite (of degree 27) with Galois group WE_{6}, so that the general fiber has the structure of the 27 lines on a cubic surface. For g > 6, the map is known to be generically injective. The tetragonal construction gives many counterexamples to injectivity, and we conjecture that all noninjectivity is due to the tetragonal construction.

71 pages, LATEX, (This is a reformatted version. It should print better than its predecessor.)