On the Kodaira dimension of the moduli space of hyperelliptic curves with marked points

Abstract

It is known that the moduli space $\overline{\mathcal{H}}_{g,n}$ of genus $g$ stable hyperelliptic curves with $n$ marked points is uniruled for $n \leq 4g+5$. In this paper we consider the complementary case. We calculate the canonical divisor of $\overline{\mathcal{H}}_{g,n}$ and show that it is effective for $n=4g+6$ and big for $n\leq 4g+7$. This leads us to conjecture that $\overline{\mathcal{H}}_{g,n}$ has non-negative Kodaira dimension for $n = 4g+6$ and is of general type for $n \geq 4g+7$.