The boundary of the $p$-rank $0$ stratum of the moduli space of cyclic covers of the projective line

Abstract

We study the $p$-rank stratification of the moduli space of cyclic degree $\ell$ covers of the projective line in characteristic $p$ for distinct primes $p$ and $\ell$. The main result is about the intersection of the $p$-rank $0$ stratum with the boundary of the moduli space of curves. When $\ell =3$ and $p\equiv 2\mathrm{mod}3$ is an odd prime, we prove that there exists a smooth trielliptic curve in characteristic $p$, with every genus $g$, signature type $(r,s)$ and $p$-rank $f$ satisfying the clear necessary conditions.

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