The kernel of the monodromy of the universal family of degree d smooth plane curves

Abstract

We consider the parameter space [Formula: see text] of smooth plane curves of degree [Formula: see text]. The universal smooth plane curve of degree [Formula: see text] is a fiber bundle [Formula: see text] with fiber diffeomorphic to a surface [Formula: see text]. This bundle gives rise to a monodromy homomorphism [Formula: see text], where [Formula: see text] is the mapping class group of [Formula: see text]. The main result of this paper is that the kernel of [Formula: see text] is isomorphic to [Formula: see text], where [Formula: see text] is a free group of countably infinite rank. In the process of proving this theorem, we show that the complement [Formula: see text] of the hyperelliptic locus [Formula: see text] in Teichmüller space [Formula: see text] has the homotopy type of an infinite wedge of spheres. As a corollary, we obtain that the moduli space of plane quartic curves is aspherical. The proofs use results from the Weil–Petersson geometry of Teichmüller space together with results from algebraic geometry.