Split degenerate superelliptic curves and $\ell$-adic images of inertia

Abstract

Let $K$ be a field with a discrete valuation, and let $p$ and $\ell$ be (possibly equal) primes which are not necessarily different from the residue characteristic. Given a superelliptic curve $C : y^p = f(x)$ which has split degenerate reduction over $K$, with Jacobian denoted by $J / K$, we describe the action of an element of the inertia group $I_K$ on the $\ell$-adic Tate module $T_\ell(J)$ as a product of powers of certain transvections with respect to the $\ell$-adic Weil pairing and the canonical principal polarization of $J$. The powers to which the transvections are taken are given by a formula depending entirely on the cluster data of the roots of the defining polynomial $f$. This result is demonstrated using Mumford's non-archimedean uniformization of the curve $C$.